Marijuana, Politics

ICYMI: 'Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan.' -- Jeff Sessions And Marijuana

Recreational marijuana states and those who participate in recreational marijuana businesses should remain cautious.

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Jeff Sessions (Generated by JG JPEG Library)

Jeff Sessions (Generated by JG JPEG Library)

Last week, Steve Bannon, Trump’s newly named chief White House strategist, told The Hollywood Reporter the following:

“Darkness is good . . .Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power. It only helps us when they [alluding to “liberals and the media”] get it wrong. When they’re blind to who we are and what we’re doing.”

Amid the “darkness,” we can add for the marijuana industry the appointment of Jeff Sessions as our new attorney general, which may give rise to a new battle regarding the survival of state-by-state marijuana legalization.

As I mentioned in my column last week on Trump’s pot policy, Sessions has been hostile to marijuana for a long time, and he’s a known drug war proponent. For the general flavor of Sessions talking about marijuana, go here and here.

Even though eight out of nine states voted yes to marijuana legal reform this election season, the appointment of Sessions as U.S. Attorney General is not very encouraging for the marijuana industry. The main question right now is where does that leave the state-legal marijuana industry? Just because Sessions doesn’t like marijuana and thinks only “bad people” use it does not automatically mean increased law enforcement action against marijuana users or marijuana businesses in states that permit them. Any federal attempt to roll back marijuana’s big gains would be incredibly unpopular politically, and it seems Sessions wants to focus on national security, terrorism, and immigration as his primary areas of attention. He may rant and rave against marijuana (and poor Lady Gaga’s alleged addiction to it), but actions speak loudest, and taking action against state-legal marijuana may be too costly even for Sessions.

Sessions is also limited in what he can do when it comes to medical marijuana. So long as the federal spending bill continues to say that the federal government cannot spend money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws, Sessions should be hamstrung in his ability to take action in those states.

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Still, that means recreational marijuana states and those who participate in recreational marijuana businesses should remain cautious. There is nothing stopping federal agents from raiding recreational marijuana businesses, as possession, distribution, and manufacture of marijuana remain illegal under federal law and the federal spending bills only apply to medical marijuana. The Cole Memo isn’t going to stop the Department of Justice, and Sessions can withdraw that memo with the stroke of a pen. Logistically, however, there simply are not enough federal agents or resources to enforce federal marijuana laws everywhere, but that won’t necessarily stop them from targeting big players to set an example.

Lastly, Sessions still has to go through the confirmation process. Last time he went through the process in trying to secure a federal judgeship, in 1986, he was rejected for having made racist comments. I doubt he will be rejected this time, but political pressure on Sessions to maintain his focus on real law enforcement and leave marijuana policy to the states can have a significant impact.

Even if Sessions is appointed as the new attorney general, the hope will be that he and the Department of Justice will have far bigger fish to fry than state-legal marijuana. But only time will tell. So, stay tuned.

Hilary Bricken bio photoHilary Bricken is an attorney at Harris Moure, PLLC in Seattle and she chairs the firm’s Canna Law Group. Her practice consists of representing marijuana businesses of all sizes in multiple states on matters relating to licensing, corporate formation and contracts, commercial litigation, and intellectual property. Named one of the 100 most influential people in the cannabis industry in 2014, Hilary is also lead editor of the Canna Law Blog. You can reach her by email at hilary@harrismoure.com.

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