Will Trump Allow Jeff Sessions To Re-Criminalize Medical Marijuana?

Yesterday, Newsweek warned that Jeff Sessions is planning to end the recognition of the legitimacy of medical marijuana before the end of the year. Sessions doesn't care that most states have legalized medical marijuana and that 94% of Americans support legalization. Sessions believes he can kill it on December 8.

Congress has until that day to decide whether to include the Rohrabacher-Farr Act (also known as Rohrabacher-Blumenauer) in a bill that will fund the government through the next fiscal year. Right now, that law, made up of just 85 words, blocks the Department of Justice from using any money to prosecute medical marijuana in states where it's legal.

The text of the Rohrabacher-Farr (also known as Rohrabacher-Blumenauer) Act, which blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from spending any money to prosecute medical marijuana in states where it's legal.

In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed back against the bill when he sent a strongly worded letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, asking them to oppose protections for legal weed and allow him to prosecute medical marijuana.

“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.

...In a statement on Friday, Sessions announced that the Justice Department would halt the practice of guidance memos, and review Obama administration guidance memos on legal pot to see if they went too far.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Justice Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), House Commerce Committee Chair Greg Walden (R-OR), and Science Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) blocked renewal of Rohrabacher-Farr in the House, giving Sessions a green light for a crackdown.

Last summer Kentucky attorney Jasper Ward wrote a guest post, Green Wave that made the point that "For Democrats to actually change America for the better, it is not enough to just get rid of Trump and the GOP Congressional majority. There must also be some sort of actual policy success in the 2019 or 2021 sessions. And while minimum wage, Medicare For All, postal banking, and trying to undo the damage of Trump are good progressive priorities, there is not one issue that affects so many people and so many other issues as marijuana legalization." His point was that Democrats need to run on a legalization platform. He has since told me that "If a Democratic candidate in 2018 wants to run on being something new, they have to be something new. And not just a new candidate, the candidate has to offer a new thing to the voters that affects the voters’ own lives. Legalizing medical marijuana will motivate Democratic base voters without turning off the voters Democrats need to get over the top.We’ve done polling in two red states, in addition to all of the available national polling, and all of that shows us that this is a popular issue that doesn’t hurt candidates to talk about and support. There is no downside. The upside is tremendous. A Democratic candidate who is talking about jobs, crime, civil rights, law enforcement, agriculture and taxes in a way that gets voters who otherwise wouldn’t listen to listen is a Democratic candidate who can win. In any state or district in America."

The Blue America-endorsed candidates I've discussed legalization with are all enthusiastic about it. Dan Canon, who's running for a seat in Indiana against Trump rubberstamp Trey Hollingsworth, has included legalization on his campaign website's issues page: "Removal of marijuana as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, and ultimately the cessation of all federal criminal regulation of cannabis." This is what he told us that wasn't on his website-- a more fleshed out version:

At long last, Americans are realizing that the 80 years of racist anti-marijuana propaganda they've been exposed to was, and is, a lie. A few months ago, I filed suit to abrogate laws against medical cannabis on behalf of ordinary patients who need access to safe, natural, nonaddictive, affordable medicine that has been proved to work for them, and which in many cases has been recommended to them by medical professionals. Congress needs to act to decriminalize cannabis immediately, for the sake of patients like my clients, but for a lot of other reasons.

First, cannabis is a cash cow. The state of Colorado pulled in nearly $200 million in tax revenue last year thanks to its $1.3 billion in marijuana revenue. Cannabis sales are forecasted to grow at a compound rate of 25%, from $6.7 billion in 2016 to $20.2 billion by 2021. If you extend that policy to nationwide sales, and cut the head off the federal government's ridiculous 80-year vendetta against cannabis users, we are talking about a big revenue booster. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Last I checked, drug dealers and other black-market "professionals" don't pay taxes. But a legitimate marijuana industry takes away needless taxpayer expenditures on the criminal justice system, creates jobs, and boosts all tax revenues substantially. For all the GOP (and some Democrat) bellyaching of "how can we possibly pay for healthcare" in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we've got a gigantic revenue source right under our noses. We can turn that revenue into prescription drug monitoring programs, expanded access to healthcare services, and effective, ongoing treatment programs for addicts.

But there's more. More than a hundred people in the United States die from opioid use every day. And yet these opioids are prescribed by the fistful by doctors in states like Indiana who can't prescribe a safe, legal, non-addictive alternative like cannabis even if they wanted to, for fear of losing their licenses or their liberties. Legal medical cannabis has cut opioid deaths as much as 20%, while it is increasing in states without it. All relevant, available data so far suggests that marijuana is not a "gateway drug," but an exit drug. I've seen this firsthand. Many of my clients who use medical cannabis do so because it allows them to avoid the use of addictive pharmaceuticals.

Our farmers, our workers, our towns and cities need a new industry to help replace jobs we’ve lost, and the Midwest in particular will benefit from growing, processing, researching, and providing medicine to the people who need it. And there's no downside to it. The only conceivable reason for Sessions to pursue medical cannabis providers and users is to perpetuate a racist, expensive, ineffective drug war that we've been losing for decades. The drug war is Sessions' white whale; he will never catch it, but our system of mass incarceration and modern-day slavery depends on him continuing to chase it.

The progressive contender running for the Houston area seat occupied by do-nothing Republican John Culberson is award-winning cancer doctor Jason Westin. I turned right to him when this issue came up. "My thoughts on medical marijuana are influenced by talking with my patients," he replied. "Many people treated for cancer suffer from nausea, fatigue, lack of appetite, and depression. Some of them tell me that they or family members have obtained marijuana for them to use to fight these treatment related side effects-- and most of them say they feel better. As a doctor and cancer researcher, if someone told me they had a chemical that would help my patients-- I'd want research to learn more, and if the research showed it worked, I'd want my patients to have access. Our current restrictions on this type of research prevent us from obtaining this important information, and could be denying people like my patients a potentially potent medication to improve their quality of life."

David Gill is also a physician-- and also running for a seat occupied by a rubber-stamp Republican-- this one in central Illinois (CA-13). "As a physician and a  supporter of the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, I'm appalled by any consideration of a return to the criminalization of the medical use of marijuana. But this is par for the course for the current Administration, as such a decision would fly in the face of established science. Having worked in Emergency Departments for nearly 20 years, it's very clear to me that the demonizing of marijuana makes no sense at all; large parts of my work day are dedicated to the many problems related to the use of legal alcohol, but it is extremely rare that I see a marijuana-related emergency. For many years, politicians engaged in fraudulent scare tactics to drum up support against the legalization of marijuana. But such tactics no longer work-- a large majority of the public has moved forward on this issue, leaving behind politicians such as Trump and Sessions."

Southwest Michigan Democratic candidate Paul Clements has some questions for the AG. "Does Jeff Sessions want people to experience greater pain? Is he against the right of states to support the health and well-being of their people? Does he want to fill jails with people who present no danger to public safety, reduce state tax revenues, and increase organized crime? It is simply outrageous that Sessions wants to re-criminalize medical marijuana."

Sam Jammal is the only viable candidate, of half a dozen, seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump-Ryan rubber stamp Ed Royce. This morning he reminded us that "California voters have twice spoken on marijuana. We believe it should be available for regulated medicinal and recreational purposes. For a group that loves to espouse federalism, the Department of Justice should respect the will of California voters. So many Californians rely on medical marijuana to treat their illnesses, changing the precedent set up by the Obama Administration puts these individuals in harm's way. Someone being treated for cancer should focus on getting better, not on what Jeff Sessions wants to do."