Jeff Sessions recently asked Congress to allow him to be able to prosecute medical marijuana providers, even though there are federal protections prohibiting that exact thing.

Heres what we know about Jeff Sessions: hes absolutely hell-bent on moving forward with a war on drugsdespite a lack ofevidence that itslinked to an uptick in crime and the fact that its incredibly unpopular with the American people. Sessions is particularly obsessed with marijuana, so much so that he has now asked Congress to allow him to prosecute medical marijuana providers, even though there are federal protections to prohibit the Justice Department from doing exactly that whichhave been in place since 2014.

The protections, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment,prohibit the Justice Departmentfrom using federal funds to prevent certain states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana." [...]

Sessions argued that the amendment would "inhibit [the Justice Department's] authority to enforce the Controlled Substances Act." He continues:I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.

Lets get really clear on what Sessions is attempting to dohere. He is justifying his rabid obsession with drugs and locking up people of color by appealing to his fellow conservatives and their senseoflaw and order. Except none of this is based in any reality. The historic drug epidemic to which he refers is actually not an epidemic of marijuana abuse but instead of opioid abuse. The opioid epidemic is disproportionately affecting white America, and there is new research to suggest that its hitting nearly all age groups in rural and urban areas. This is a massive crisis. And there is no evidence whatsoever that focusing on medical marijuana will yield any kind of success in eliminating drug use in this country. Of course, it all depends on how one defines success. If you are defining success as the reduction of drug abuse and overdosesthen no, this absolutely will not work. But if your version of success is criminalizing marijuana, which we know sends more black and brown folks to prison and for longer, harsher sentences than it does white people (regardless of the fact that both blacks and whitesuse the drug at equal rates)then this plan is a home run.

See the article here:

Jeff Sessions continues his obsession with a war on drugs, this time targeting medical marijuana - Daily Kos