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U.S. To End Policy That Let Legal Pot Flourish
- 40acres 9y agoI doubt that prosecutors in liberal states with legal markets (Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada) will clamp down on the industry, in fact under certain conditions I could see them clarifying their stance and perhaps clearing confusion as to how federal law will be enforced. However, I do think that this may halt the spread of the industry into midwest and north east markets.
- olfactory 9y agoI think it may already be too established in the midwest for anything like this to threaten the spread of the legal pot industry. I suspect this is a tactic to justify Federally taxing marijuana, and would be consistent with Trump's broader approach of making tax policy tweaks that hit the bluest states and regions the hardest.
- beamatronic 9y agoNever forget: Trump did not even want to be president, as revealed yesterday. So this is the alt-rights way of exacting revenge for 8 years of Obama, by punishing the 52% of voters who didn't vote for Trump. The right is getting their licks in while they can. Edited for clarity
- olfactory 9y agoNot sure why my comment was down-voted so viciously, was it that stupid? I think there may be a mod bot that automatically bestows -2 points to any comment mentioning Trump, we'll soon find out :)
- gervase 9y agoNote that these are federal prosecutors, not state prosecutors; they have no incentive to respect state law over federal law. In particular, if the Justice Department intended to respect states' rights, then I suspect they wouldn't have changed these regulations. Of course, this isn't an official announcement; we can save most of the hand-wringing, moral outrage, and/or smug satisfaction (depending on your views) until after the official policy change, at which point I'm sure it will show up here on the front page again.
- mmmBacon 9y agoActually they do have incentives to care about local and state laws because they need cooperation from local and state governments to enforce the law.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoThey can always enforce federal law themselves, it’s just more expensive for them. Getting into street-level marijuana dealing isn’t something the FBI or DEA have resources for.
- chc 9y agoThey were busting California medical marijuana dispensaries left and right as recently as 10 years ago, which is more than a decade after we passed Proposition 215. It seems a bit optimistic to think that now they'll bow to state law.
- goalieca 9y agoSo much for « states rights » > Sessions, who has assailed marijuana as comparable to heroin and has blamed it for spikes in violence Pot smokers aren’t violent people because it tends to chill you out. The growers and dealers can belong to criminal organizations and cause problems. So naturally, keeping the gangs in business by keeping pot illegal is top priority.
- imglorp 9y agoThe giant opioid industry--pharma--is the biggest criminal gang, and they oppose legalizing pot. Maybe that's where this political push is really coming from.
- jnagro 9y agoThe Trump administration has also been tied to the private prison industry.
- adventured 9y agoThat's doesn't make much sense as a premise data wise. The prison boom around the war on drugs overwhelmingly involved the government prison complex, from 1980 to 2010. Clinton didn't have meaningful ties to the private prison industry (which barely existed at the time), and a frightening number of people were thrown into prison for drug crimes during his eight years. About ~95% of all people put into prison over those 30 years from 1980 to 2010, went into government prisons. Who benefitted? We spent over a trillion dollars on the government prison complex. Millions of government employees pocketed hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars in cash from the scheme. It makes the private prison industry and its meager profits look hilariously tiny by comparison. The US has about a million law enforcement related employees it doesn't need, used to prosecute the war on drugs in various ways. Those are government employees, they benefit from the government prison system, they were made possible by government laws that date back five decades or more. They cost $80-$100 billion per year. Now compare just that one section of the government prison complex, to the private prison complex money. CoreCivic generates $200m in profit per year. That's equal to about the cost of just ~3,000 cops. The US has at least several hundred thousand more cops than it needs, due to the war on drugs. That's how truly massive the government side of this is by comparison. Private prisons only began to meaningfully expand in the middle of George W Bush's Presidency. In the 1990s, when such an extraordinary number of people were put into prison, the private prison industry was miniscule. Blaming any of this mess on the private prison complex, is pretty absurd given the facts of what happened in prisons and the war on drugs in the 30 to 40 years pre ~2005. And this post is in no way arguing in favor of the private prison system, it shouldn't exist.
- danschumann 9y agoI think weed should be legal. I also think Sessions should enforce every law, lest he pick and choose what is illegal and what is not, thus becoming the most powerful law-maker ( or unmaker ) in the land. Passing a law is the act of the legislative, and repealing a law is too. If he does not enforce all the laws, he basically is seizing the power of congress and repealing those laws, for his term. Imagine Sessions chose not to enforce every law. He could choose to stop enforcing tax laws to people from his home state. No. He has to enforce every law. It is congress's job to repeal the stupid law, and I hope they do, especially if this creates more pressure for them.
- scarface74 9y agoThat's nice in theory, but there are so many laws on the books and limited resources, any executive branch has to choose what laws to go after.
- LanceH 9y agoWhat's nice in theory is having net neutrality established through legislation rather than regulation. Same thing here. I cringe a little every time something I might want gets implemented merely through the benevolence of those in power because those people change. This should be decided through legislation, or possible through judicial neutering of the commerce clause. But the commerce clause knows no bounds thanks to the decisions made regarding the ACA, so here we are.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mcny 9y agoWhy just marijuana? Why not every drug? In fact, why is possession of anything a crime? We already have laws about improper storage of hazardous materials. Possession of anything should be legal. Now distribution and sale is a trickier subject but pretty easy as well. As long as you don't misrepresent what you're selling, it should be legal as well. If we are for a small government, we have to walk the walk.
- Havoc 9y agoThis guy is messing with my gains. Can't he go rant about tax deductions and too much regulation like a normal republican?
- tenpies 9y agoKeep in mind this is based on two anonymous sources. The track record for those has been less than stellar since Trump began his administration.
- Bahamut 9y agoSometimes the leaks are intentional to gauge public reaction, and then actual action is taken based in part on feedback.
- e40 9y agoLeaks of this sort are almost always trial balloons. I'm sure this was an intentional leak. They're looking for a backlash, at which point they can quietly forget about it (if they don't want the fight) and pretend it never happened.
- asdjasldkjkljd 9y agoIn these cases it also helps further the "fake news" narrative. I wouldn't be surprised if leaks are happening just to make the claim.
- kylejamzz 9y agoSessions has clearly never had a session.
- knieveltech 9y agoGiven the frequency with which old guard Republican politicians get caught soliciting liaisons in public mens rooms while openly supporting legislation that discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community I'd drug test Sessions before I made any assumptions about his use habits.
- sedtrader 9y ago> as polls show a solid majority of Americans believe the drug should be legal I am for the legalizing of marijuana, but considering the majority of Americans live in only 9 of the states, decisions should not be made based on the "majority". Federal law based on what the majority wanted was one of the things that the framers were afraid of. 9 states should not be able to dictate what occurs in the other 41 states and vice versa. Full state rights. Again I am for the legalization marijuana, but this needs to be a state by state decision, not federal govt.
- dbingham 9y agoTo flip this, the minority of the country that live in 39 states should not be able to dictate the law to the majority of the country who just happen to be concentrated in a relatively small area. That's tyranny of the minority, which is arguably far worse than the tyranny of the majority the framers feared.
- mieseratte 9y agoOn the other hand one could frame this as the majority of states decided and those nine states are the tyrannical minority.
- SauciestGNU 9y agoEmpty land doesn't have a right to suffrage, people do.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mieseratte 9y agoWe're not talking about "empty land," we're talking about member states of a federation. Those members get to decide, you merely tell your state, vaguely, what you want.
- BearGoesChirp 9y ago
- bediger4000 9y agoWhy? What harm can the Feds point to, with respect to legal marijuana? It's been mostly good in Colorado. Sales tax on marijuana has offset some budget problems citizens of Colorado inflicted on themselves (TABOR). Apparently, crime in Colorado isn't uniformly rising: most categories of crime are less common since legalization, a few have risen a bit. This is in line with a secular drop in crime in all of th USA, however, so, again, mixed bag.
- btbuildem 9y agoIt harms the pharmaceutical industry, the private prisons and police budgets, to name a few examples.
- louky 9y agoPolice unions are also uniformly opposed to legalization, as it will reduce the need for police by definition if the hundreds of thousands of "crimes" per year vanish into smoke. Fewer officers, less money and less power. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana (ACLU).
- jdironman 9y agoSo, all their favorites.
- nsfmc 9y agoThis reads like a strong warning to the already cautious payment processors that legalization hasn’t eased any of the uncertainty around processing payments for dispensaries or made banking any simpler for them despite a massive market having just opened.
- conductr 9y agoThis is poised to be a giant states rights issue/fight and there's nothing Trump likes more than a fight
- bradleyjg 9y agoIf I were a US Attorney trying to bring pot cases in California, Colorado, or Washington I'd be very worried about jury nullification. Maybe I'd be able to solve the problem in voir dire but I wouldn't bet on it.
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoMost people don't know what jury nullification is, and the courts specifically do not instruct juries on it. Hence, it is not a big concern really.
- bradleyjg 9y agoPeople don't need to know what jury nullification or be instructed on it in order to engage in it. It was happening in England before this country even existed. Ask any prosecutor and she'll tell you about a case where it happened to her.
- dragonwriter 9y ago“Legal” is incorrect in the headline, as there is no “legal pot” in the United States (well, aside from very narrow research, etc., allowed by the feds, which is not the focus of this policy.) The fact that states don't have espionage laws covering everything in the federal espionage act doesn't mean that those states have “legal espionage”.
- an_account 9y agoYou’re conflating two different things. In the former, states have set up legal framework for marijuana sales. In the later, state laws don’t have any opinion on the matter.
- dragonwriter 9y agoIf a state like California sets up an imprisonment scheme under it's laws that violates federal law (to choose an example that has happened recently), it's still illegal prison overcrowding, not legal prison overcrowding. A system under state law in violation of valid federal law is, because of the supremacy clause, an illegal system.
- shams93 9y agoIf you look at the fine print he's still leaving the decision to crack down to each stares attorney general but sessions is doing exactly what you would want to do is you want to see the opiate crisis get much worse. These people in DC are so stupid they don't even have the brain power of an earthworm but they want to treat us lower than dogs like we were born to be Jeff Sessions slaves. I'm so sick of these bullies.
- DanBC 9y agoCannabis use isn't the solution to opioid deaths. Other countries have strict laws about cannabis, and those laws are enforced, and they don't have the problems of opioid deaths that the US has. The real solution to opioid death is adequate treatment for pain; and treating addiction as a health problem not a criminal justice problem.
- hfourm 9y ago"The real solution to opioid death is adequate treatment for pain" Like.... medical marijuana? Hard to believe you wrote those three sentences without putting two and two together. Regardless if I partially agree with you, further criminalizing marijuana is also NOT the solution to opioid deaths.
- _acme 9y agoMarijuana may treat some forms of light pain, but it is in no way comparable to opioids as an adequate treatment for pain. It may be similar to Tylenol 3 (small amount of codeine plus APAP) on an opioid scale that goes much, much higher to medications such as hydromorphone, oxymorphone and fentanyl. Even heroin would only be classified as a 'medium strength' opioid compared to these examples.
- DanBC 9y agoThere's not much evidence of efficacy for cannabis as a treatment for long term pain.
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- rufugee 9y agoIs there an easy way to track donations from alcohol/big pharma lobbyists to the Republican party? I'm betting quite a bit of money, rather than concern for the prole's welfare, is behind this. Sessions said this in March: "I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. 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,” he told law enforcement officials in March. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life." As it happens, a person close to me who was a true alcoholic (physically dependent, would have seizures if they didn't drink, tried AA and failed through the 12 steps a number of times) successfully stopped drinking by choosing to safely vape pot instead. They vape about every two days. How exactly did pot destroy this person's life? - edited to add big pharma
- existencebox 9y agoI was considering writing this on a throwaway but no, this makes me so incensed I have to speak up as myself. As a long-term, gainfully employed and rather successful engineer, marijuana was the _one_ reason I was able to get my unhealthily low body weight up to par after years of attempting other methods. I would go multiple days without eating/without an appetite, between this and my weight resulting in a multitude of unfortunate ailments. To say that pot "destroyed" my life is about as far from the truth as you can get. This is such a heartless decision, paramount in my mind to the same corrupt ideologues who enabled prohibition; and while I'm in no means surprised, I feel like there needs to be stronger action at this point to fight back.
- mr_spothawk 9y agosessions isn’t talking about Med, he’s talking about Rec. fuck him, anyway. i’m glad weed gets you feeling better. it was only ever made illegal because racism and the cotton lobby. fuck this system. fuck these entrenched interests. fuck you, dad! i’m smoking weed no matter what u say!
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- shams93 9y agoIf you're trying to destroy the country on behalf of Putin forcing millions of middle aged chronic pain patients off cannabis onto opiates and inevitably heroin and fentynal is an efficient way to murder millions of people without firing a single shot.
- _acme 9y agoFentanyl is legal and safe when used appropriately, just like heroin is in some countries like the UK, which uses diamorphine where US hospitals might use morphine or hydromorphone.
- dang 9y agoPlease don't post inflammatory rants here. Any point worth making can be made civilly and substantively. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- madengr 9y agoIt’d be nice if pro drug and pro gun laws were both exempt from federal pre-emption. In Kansas, state law says guns made in the state are exempt from federal regulation. Of course the federal government disagrees. Pot and gun enthusiasts should band together.
- mancerayder 9y agoMaybe this is a good thing: policies like this are going to damage the Republicans in the midterms. There's only so much war waged on progressive policies before more and more even right-wing types feel their toes being stepped on.
- runesoerensen 9y agoThe Justice Dept has now issued a memorandum https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-memo-marijuana-enforcement https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-mem...
- mnm1 9y agoThe states that have legalized it should do everything in their power to not provide any assistance to the federal government in this or any other investigations till the policy is improved, just like sanctuary cities are doing. The states have a lot of legal options on how to handle this. We'll see if they do the right thing or if they bend over backwards for a piece of shit racist AG who has already allegedly (my ass) perjured himself.
- protomyth 9y agohttps://www.popehat.com/2018/01/04/lawsplainer-attorney-general-sessions-threatened-action-on-marijuana/ https://www.popehat.com/2018/01/04/lawsplainer-attorney-gene... Popehat's response is, as always, fun to read and more informative and less fear mongering than most sources of information.