Trump Is Being Pulled In Opposite Directions On The Marijuana Question

The big news out of the Justice Department this weekend, of course, is the sudden decision by the Regime to fire all 46 Obama-DOJ Prosecutors, including Preet Bharara, the country's most effective corruption fighter. This was especially odd because both Trump and Sessions had asked him to stay on and he had agreed to do so. Did Trump just realize out of the blue that his seat of corruption in Trump Tower is part of Bharara's jurisdiction.

Recently Jeff Sessions-- who once famously explained that he thought the KKK were a bunch of fine guys until he realized they were a bunch of pot heads-- has been chomping at the bit to go after legalized marijuana businesses. "States, you know, can pass whatever laws they choose," Sessions drawled, "but I’m not sure we’re going to be better, healthier nation if we have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store…we’ll have to work our way through that."

He said he's dubious about marijuana, and he made those remarks after Spicer told reporters that the Department of Justice would use the federal law banning marijuana to crack down on recreational pot sales while allowing states to regulate the drug for medical use. Recreational marijuana use is legal in Washington, Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Alaska (+ Washington, DC).

Legalization backers were quick to criticize Sessions for suggesting that pot might be sold “at every corner grocery store.”

“No states allow this,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, a pro-legalization group.

As a presidential candidate, Trump said that he would leave the question of legalization to individual states. But his choice of Sessions in November set off immediate panic among legalization backers.

Sessions, a longtime opponent of legalization as a former Republican senator from Alabama, caused a stir last year when he said at a Senate hearing that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.”

At his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions gave conflicting signals on what he would do. In Washington state, where voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, the uncertainty has many politicians worred about a possible crackdown.

When Sessions was asked at his confirmation hearing whether he would use federal resources to investigate and prosecute sick people who use medical marijuana, he replied: “I won’t commit to never enforcing federal law.”

But he also said that enforcing the law is “a problem of resources for the federal government.” And he said that Obama’s Justice Department had set out policies that are “truly valuable in evaluating cases.”

Sessions also said that Congress should set marijuana policy and the attorney general should enforce the law.

“I think one obvious concern is that the United States Congress has made the possession of marijuana in every state, and distribution of it, an illegal act... We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we’re able,” Sessions said.

Spider's statement was "President Trump sees a big difference between use of marijuana for medical purposes and for recreational purposes. The president understands the pain and suffering that many people go through who are facing terminal disease and the comfort that some of these drugs, including medical marijuana, can bring to them. I think that when you see something like the opioid addiction crises blossoming in so many states around the country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people."

Longtime Trump political consiglieri, self-serving crackpot Roger Stone, has warned Trump not to let Sessions screen around with pot policy. As with most of what Trump himself says, his stands on marijuana change depending on the audience he's talking to and his stands vary drastically... and incoherently. Stone urged Trump to take a hands-off approach and to ignore anti-pot fanatic Jeff Sessions. He wrote that one of the many controversial decisions Trump is getting ready to make "is whether to continue the federal stand-down by the us Justice department in which DOJ does not enforce federal marijuana laws where they contradict state laws legalizing the legal use and sale of marijuana in the 37 states where it is currently legal in some form." Stone:

Canceling the order by Obama attorney general Eric Holder to stand down on Marijuana would cause a major dislocation in multiple states that are currently budgeting millions in state revenue from the taxation of marijuana and un-employing hundreds of thousands of people currently working in an industry legalized by the states. I would urge President-Elect Trump to view this as a business man; U.S. government cannot turn back the clock on federal marijuana law enforcement.

...A great many pro-marijuana organizations, publications, and Internet outlets put their support behind Donald Trump based on his positive statements about Medical Marijuana. People who have marijuana rights as their primary political issue turned to Trump, many against long time party affiliation, in hopes of greater freedom and less abuse at the hands of Federal Agencies.

If, after winning the election, Donald Trump listens to the likes of Chris Christie and Jeff Sessions he risks alienating his base and his newly won supporters in a very tangible way. Both Sessions and Christie come from ‘Old World’ War on Drugs thinking.

Criminalized Marijuana has directly lead to the persecution of countless individuals, the vast majority of whom are poor and minorities. That this was the desired result of the designers of the system of criminalization cannot be reasonable doubted.

“Laws to suppress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit. This is the fine point on which all legal professions throughout history have based their jobs security.”- Frank Herbert.

We cannot leave it to ‘Law Enforcement’ types to decide what is to be allowed and what is to be prohibited. The People must decide for themselves, and they have decided. Overwhelmingly so. They have decided they want legalized marijuana.

“If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.”- Thomas Jefferson.

Drain the Swamp. Limit Federal Power. Reel-in out-of-control Alphabet Soup agencies. Return respect for law. These are all things Donald Trump made as major issues for his campaign platform.

“The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.”- Albert Einstein.

A precipitous move by the Trump administration to change the equation on legal marijuana in the states could in fact bring action by congress where a coalition of liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans are moving towards legislation to legalize the plant.

There's a bi-partisan bill pending before Congress, Virginia Republican Tom Garrett's H.R. 1227, the "Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017." The legislation aims to totally ending the federal prohibition of marijuana. Among the Republicans co-sponsoring it are Scott Taylor (R-VA), Don Young (R-AK) and Justin Amash (R-MI), all of whom represent districts that Trump won in November. Montana was a big Trump state, for example. He won 55.6-35.4% in that state-- with 279,240 votes. More people in Montana voted for Initiative 182-- expanding Medical Marijuana-- than voted for Trump: 284,531 Montanans. In Maine Trump didn't win but he got 357,735 votes. Question 1 on the same ballot, though, got 378,288 votes for legalizing recreational marijuana.

Meanwhile, of course, the regime is causing confusion and uncertainty in the marijuana industry. Ever watch American Psycho? I watched it for the first time last night on HBO. It reminded me of Trump.