If U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions intends to take aim on legalized marijuana in Washington and other states, he should at least employ facts and logic. Instead, while signaling a desire to use federal authority as a cudgel against marijuana operations, Sessions has chosen to weigh ideology more heavily than facts.
Undoubtedly, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. But that has not prevented 28 states from legalizing the drug, including eight that have approved recreational use. Thus far in a war of words regarding marijuana policy, Sessions’ only argument has been that he might shut down the state operations simply because he can.
As The Columbian has written editorially in the past, it is incumbent upon Congress to end an unnecessary fight and legalize recreational use nationally. Surveys demonstrate that a majority of Americans approve legalization, and that support continues to expand.
Meanwhile, a letter sent last month to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson demonstrates Sessions’ illogical thinking on the issue. In the letter, he questions the state’s lack of regulations for medical marijuana, ignoring the fact that the Legislature addressed that issue last year. He also makes other inaccurate assertions regarding how Washington is implementing legalization. “Honestly, it’s hard to take him seriously if he relies on such outdated information,” Ferguson told The Seattle Times.
Sessions’ view has been a maddening collection of falsehoods, innuendo, and outdated thinking. For example, he praised the DARE program, an effort that was prominent during the 1980s to have kids “just say no” to drugs. But numerous empirical studies have marked the program as ineffective. As a 2009 report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance said: “There have been more than 30 evaluations of the program that have documented negligible long-term impacts on teen drug use. One intensive, six-year study even found that the program increased drug use among suburban teens by a small amount.”
For another example, Sessions was hoping to find ammunition for his crusade in a report by The Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety. But, according to the Associated Press, the task force “has come up with no new policy recommendations to advance the attorney general’s aggressively anti-marijuana views.” The report is not expected to be released publicly, allowing Sessions to cling to his view that marijuana use increases crime while letting him avoid evidence to the contrary. State officials argue that returning marijuana to the black market would increase crime by removing well-regulated oversight.
Finally, Sessions’ stance on marijuana represents hypocrisy. He has challenged states’ rights regarding civil asset forfeiture and sanctuary cities — in addition to marijuana. He has championed states’ rights regarding bathrooms for transgender citizens and the Voting Rights Act. In other words, the attorney general of the United States supports states’ rights — except when he doesn’t.
Certainly, there are issues to be ironed out regarding legalization. Recent reports detailed how the smuggling of marijuana into states where it remains illegal is a problem — but that is a problem that existed long before recreational use became legal, and it will not be solved by a federal crackdown.
In the end, Sessions should accept an offer from Inslee and Ferguson for a face-to-face meeting to discuss the issue. He just might learn something — assuming that he is interested in hearing the facts.
