Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era policy on legalized marijuana on Wednesday, a move that will have repercussions for state-legal marijuana programs across the country. The new guidelines will not interfere with state laws governing marijuana, but the rescinded big bud auto policies will make it harder for state governments to enforce federal laws if the state does. The reversal is a big victory for marijuana supporters. It means more people will be able to buy the drug legally, and it will give entrepreneurs more time to grow and sell marijuana.
While the move marks an important step toward ending the prohibition of marijuana, some advocates have expressed concern that it may be too much. The new attorney general’s decision does not explicitly direct the administration to increase prosecutions or resources against the industry. Instead, Sessions rescinded a memo written by a former deputy attorney general that clarified federal policy on legalized marijuana. In addition, the new policy is a slap in the face to the marijuana industry and its advocates.
The change in Sessions’ policy is a stark change from the Obama administration’s approach, which was very soft on marijuana. Under the Obama administration, marijuana businesses were largely legalized at the state level, but federal law enforcers would still raid them if they met certain criteria. However, Jeff Sessions’ recent decision to reverse the memo has left the industry and pot advocates in a precarious position. While many state-level reforms were successfully passed, it is unclear how long it will take for Sessions to repeal the law.
As part of his rollback, Sessions has rescinded memos that were issued by the Obama administration that encouraged the non-interference in state-legal marijuana laws. But Sessions’ decision has not ended the legalization of marijuana. But it still represents a significant shift from the previous administration, which emphasized that it is an issue of states’ rights. In addition to the repeal of the memos, he has also pushed for federal prosecutors to prioritize their resources based on the evidence.
Sessions rescinded the memos arguing that federal law still applies to marijuana. But the decision wasn’t as bold as some advocates had hoped. He said that the memos didn’t go far enough, and did not explicitly direct more prosecutions. But he rescinded the memos that he had written in conjunction with the deputy attorney general of the Justice Department, Jim Cole, the man who had argued for the harmonization of state legalization efforts with state-legalized states.
The memo’s main purpose was to discourage state-legalized marijuana. While it didn’t specifically mention marijuana, it did highlight that it was illegal under federal law. The new guidelines for legal marijuana, however, do not go far enough. By the way, it only addresses state-legalized marijuana and states’ laws on legalization. This means that marijuana sales in other states will remain illegal. In the meantime, the new administration will continue the anti-legalization stance that the Obama administration has taken.
The new administration will also rescind the Obama-era policy on marijuana. The former attorney general of the Justice Department has been strongly opposed to the legalization of the drug for decades. He has blamed legal marijuana for spikes in violent crimes and compared it to heroin. The new guidance will allow federal prosecutors to determine how aggressively they will enforce federal law. The changes will not be immediately effective, but they are an important step in the right direction.
The memo did not provide new guidelines on enforcement. But it did signal that the previous administration’s policy on marijuana was unnecessary. The Obama-era guidance was not intended to target state laws, but to challenge federal law-enforcement policies. Therefore, the current guidance is not a major change. In fact, it only means that the administration’s new approach to legalized marijuana is more flexible. The memo does not have any new regulations.