Can We Get Out of This Without a Civil War?
GOP Rep Wants a Full Investigation Into Belmont University After Videos Expose Rogue...
Inflation Is Down Since January and Should Keep Improving
Protect Farmers, Period
Bibi Tells the Truth
The Judicial Tyranny of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Are Conservatives Demoralized?
Jews 2025
Mamdani Isn't Inevitable. Here's How to Beat Him.
A Rare and Encouraging Rollback of Government Handouts
The Coming Collapse of Academia
Ignore the Rhetoric: Americans Support Republican Medicaid Reforms
Dismantling Judeo-Christian Values, One Case at a Time?
An Epidemic of Mal-Parenting
A California Professor Allegedly Threw Tear Gas at ICE Agents
Tipsheet

Sessions Ends Obama-era Marijuana Policy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era policy that helped the sale of legalized marijuana in the United States, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Advertisement

Sessions issued a one-page memo to U.S. federal prosecutors explaining the change.

“In deciding which marijuana activities to prosecute under these laws with the Department’s finite resources, prosecutors should follow the well-established principles that govern all federal prosecutions,” Sessions wrote, by considering the seriousness of the crime and its impact on the community.

The new policy will allow U.S. attorneys in the states where marijuana is legal to decide whether or not to enforce federal marijuana law. The move may add to confusion over whether one can grow, buy or use marijuana in states that have legalized it, given the federal restrictions on it.

Officials were unable to tell AP initially what the announcement's impact will be on the legal marijuana industry or whether it will lead to more prosecutions.

The decision comes just days after the legalized sale of recreational marijuana began in California.

Advertisement

Sessions said that marijuana was “slightly less awful” than heroin in a speech to law enforcement officials in March.

“I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store,” he said. “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. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”

This post has been updated.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement