With the recent successes for legalized marijuana, recreational or medical, in the November elections, there is, as always, cause for optimism as support continues to increase, as recreational use is now represented on both coasts of the United States.
However, all that optimism may be in jeopardy over the next few years pending confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for United States Attorney General, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama.
Going beyond Sessions’ horrible track record with civil rights, both in alleged remarks and in his voting record and public positions, there is much cause for concern for those engaged in the effort to gain complete legalization of marijuana on a national level. This is, after all, the same guy who now famously said “good people” don’t smoke marijuana during an April 2016 hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.
The potential confirmation of Sessions, a man whose track record was so woeful he was shut down by the Senate while contending for a federal judgeship 30 years ago, could spell a marathon of steps backward for the legalization movement. Sooner than that, this could bring about serious complications for the four states that just recently voted to legalize adult recreational use of marijuana (California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maine).
For example, Sessions as Attorney General could lobby Congress to change the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment, which prohibits the Justice Department from spending federal funds to enforce federal prohibition laws in states where medical marijuana has been legalized. With an asset forfeiture infrastructure in dire need of repeal at best and reform at the very least, this brave new world with a Sessions-led Justice Department could mean a massive new revenue possibility for law enforcement, and off the backs of men, women, families, and businesses.
Sessions could also take a hard look at the Cole Memo, a product of the Eric Holder AG office, which says the federal government will not interfere with states that legalize recreational and/or medical marijuana, so long as a series of guidelines are followed.
Lizzy Acker of Oregon Live provided some good insights from those monitoring the situation in her coverage of the Sessions nomination, although there is still some room for sideways glancing, as I’m sure there will be for quite a few things in the coming months.
Good insight #1- The Trump administration will back off, preferring to use political capitol on more pressing issues, rather than stirring up more headaches with political pressure or public dissatisfaction.
Good insight #2- To avoid damaging the already floor level popularity of politicians at the moment, the Trump administration and its staff would do good to carefully examine polling data on these issues before deciding on a course of action.
Both are good points, but both are also ultimately flawed by perception. The incoming administration has a long way to go before demonstrating they are willing to take the public’s viewpoint on much of anything, let alone issues of public interest and/or support. As of the present, the Trump presidency looks to continue much where the campaign left off- doing pretty much whatever, and either shrugging it off or angrily Tweeting at it. Trump is a guy that handles public criticism, hell, any criticism, by cornering himself and putting his hands up for a fight. Don’t look for much compromise on this issue, especially of his hand-picked point man puts a “no” in his ear. His mind will be, at least for the time being, made up for him.
As to popularity and polling, let’s be honest here. There are two levels to Trump’s popularity, as he gauges it- there are those who rightfully like him, then there are the assorted dirty named individuals who don’t. If the majority of the public likes or dislikes an issue, there is nothing in the way of evidence that a President Trump would even pretend to pretend to give a shit. All you have to do is look back to the campaign, not all that long ago, and look at the shoddy and blatantly misleading polls that the networks inexplicably “got wrong” on election night, along with Trump’s own verbalized mistrust of those very same polls. You know, unless they were shoddy and blatantly misleading polls in his favor, or course. Add all that up, and the numbers don’t look good for polling data having all that much use or sway in a Trump White House.
For all those various reasons, for the nominee himself, his poor track record, his disdain of civil rights, and the likely amount of power he would wield from the office, the American Marijuana Party must vehemently object to the nomination and/or confirmation of Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to the office of Attorney General of the United States of America.
Thomas Keister is the founder and Chairman of the American Marijuana Party, and was the party's 2016 U.S. Presidential nominee.