Attorney General Jeff Sessions Admits Department of Justice Won’t Interfere with State Cannabis Laws
Protections from federal interference on state-level cannabis laws remain in effect, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions admitted Tuesday as he was grilled on Russian election interference in a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.
After failing to dismantle the Cole memo, which blocks federal prosecutors from cracking down on cannabis, Sessions conceded that the federal government will continue its hands-off approach on state cannabis laws, for now.
“Our policy is the same, really, fundamentally as the Holder-Lynch policy, which is that the federal law remains in effect and a state can legalize marijuana for its law enforcement purposes but it still remains illegal with regard to federal purposes,” stated Sessions. Sessions is referring to a directive issued from former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. under the Obama administration. The Department of Justice, under Holder and his successor Loretta Lynch, allowed states to enact their own cannabis laws to a degree.
It’s important to remember that Sessions, as attorney general, has the power to reschedule cannabis. “In a nutshell, administrative rescheduling begins when an actor—the Secretary of Health and Human Services or an outside interested party—files a petition with the Attorney General or he initiates the process himself,” John Hudak and Grace Wallack wrote for the Brookings Institution.
Sessions is unlikely to budge any further on cannabis, given his spotty history of denying the health benefits of medical cannabis. “I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store,” Sessions said in a speech last March. “And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana—so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life,” he added.
When Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) asserted that cannabis is not as dangerous as heroin, Sessions replied “I think that’s correct,” meaning he can now differentiate between the two. It’s a positive sign for the future of cannabis in America.
