Jeff Sessions Pushes Congress to Allow Him to Prosecute Medical Cannabis Providers

photo by Ryan J. Reilly

The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment is the only piece of federal legislation that road-blocks the Justice Department from cracking down on medical cannabis. The amendment is attached to the Fiscal Year omnibus appropriations bill signed by President Trump on May 5. Although the amendment receives substantial bipartisan support, it was revealed on Monday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is fighting the amendment and is still interested in cracking down on medical cannabis providers.

Tom Angell of MassRoots first obtained the letter from an anonymous Congressional staffer and the letter was confirmed by The Washington Post. Because Rep. Sam Farr retired in 2015, the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment was renamed to the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment.

The letter, dated May 1, outlines Session’s desire to crack down on medical cannabis. “I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions,” Jeff Session wrote in a letter to Sen. McConnell, Sen. Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Rep. Pelosi.  “Particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.” Snopes recently debunked Session’s claim that legalized cannabis is linked to violent crime. Violent crime dropped 6.7 percent from 2014 to 2015 in Colorado. Even the National Institute on Drug Abuse admits that overdoses have fallen in states that have adopted medical cannabis.

In the same letter, Sessions explained that consuming cannabis causes “psychosis, respiratory ailments such as lung infections, cognitive impairments such as IQ loss . . . ” The Justice Department fought against the amendment while under the Obama Administration as well.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Cole listed eight situations that warrant a federal crackdown in the Cole memo. Session implied he might add more restrictions to the Cole memo in March. The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment is a popular provision. 94 percent of the public said they supported the amendment in an April Quinnipiac poll.