Anyone who knows Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, is aware he is not a friend of Cannabis. From “jokes” about the KKK and open letters the House, the former Alabama Senator seems to have the Cannabis Community completely against him but, why exactly?
As of 2017, Jeff Sessions is our 84th congressional Attorney General but operated as the Republican Senator of Alabama from 1997 to 2017. The former US Army Captain has had a long political career starting as the Alabama State Attorney back in 1981. Under Trump’s Administration and not without contest, Sessions was confirmed by a vote of 52-47.
Not soon after, he made his first Department of Justice motion against the Cannabis Industry. In May of 2017, Sessions wrote a letter to Congressional leaders urging them not to renew the Rohrabacher–Farr Amendment. The Amendment prohibits to DOJ from using federal funds to interfere with legal MMJ laws and companies in legal states.
“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime,” Sessions wrote in his letter.
The Rohrabacher–Farr Amendment was originally was seen as a victory for Cannabis advocates. It was the first bipartisan legislature to protect medical Cannabis and took nearly six years to get approved.
The letter was seen as a scare tactic and a call to Trump’s campaign rhetoric, questioning his support of Medical Marijuana in light of Sessions’ actions. Though nothing came of his letter, it made a clear line in the sand on how the Attorney General felt about Cannabis, legal or not.
His fight didn’t end there either.
In January of 2018, Sessions made another move against the Cannabis industry by rescinding the 2013 Cole Memo. The memo adopted a non-interference policy with individual state Cannabis laws.
The motion was not taken as lightly as the letter Sessions wrote the year previously.
The US Attorney’s Office in Colorado released a statement saying there are no plans to change marijuana prosecutions:
“Today the Attorney General rescinded the Cole Memo on marijuana prosecutions, and directed that federal marijuana prosecution decisions be governed by the same principles that have long governed all of our prosecution decisions. The United States Attorney’s Office in Colorado has already been guided by these principles in marijuana prosecutions — focusing in particular on identifying and prosecuting those who create the greatest safety threats to our communities around the state. We will, consistent with the Attorney General’s latest guidance, continue to take this approach in all of our work with our law enforcement partners throughout Colorado.”
In response, many states fought the DOJ’s actions to undermine the Cannabis Industry. Ironically enough, in his attempts to squash the industry, Sessions’ has propelled talks amongst other Senators about federal legalization to remedy the federal problems the industry is faced with.
It’s no surprise that he’s gotten on the bad side of a good portion of those advocating for legal Cannabis.
Since then, President Trump has personally spoke with Colorado Senator, Cory Gardner. They struck a deal that states would be protected if Gardner ended his standoff with DOJ nominations.
Sessions has made a lot of commotion in the industry and has become a household name as a result. There are even products ironically named after him, following his actions to destroy the industry. His actions heighten the uncertainty in an industry seeking stability, especially with California (seen as the Cannabis Capital of the US) going through their recreationally legal process at the moment.
Despite his best efforts, Sessions’ constant moves against the industry has opened the conversation about federal legalization more as time goes on. The more time Cannabis has in the limelight, the more people are abandoning the Reefer Madness Propaganda and learning for themselves. The industry has spent a lot of time working to get rid of the negative stigma and educate the public in the wake of it all. In an interesting turn of events, Sessions might actually be the one to unintentionally make that easier.
The MMJ world’s biggest enemy might become our greatest champion.
Written by: Joycelin A.
