Thanks to several pending marijuana bills and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ ongoing attacks on state-approved legal weed, congressional insiders say 2018 is likely the year Americans will see Congress make some significant changes to national marijuana policy.
Late last month, 54 members of Congress sent a letter to the Trump administration asking the president to stop the Department of Justice’s ongoing attacks on weed legal states throughout the country.
The lawmakers are arguing that Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ reversal of the Cole memo, which gave legal states the ability to build a regulatory framework around the sale of marijuana, not only weakens enforcement but also tramples states’ rights.
“These new policies have helped eliminate the black market sale of marijuana and allowed law enforcement to focus on real threats to public health and safety. This action by the Department of Justice has the potential to unravel efforts to build sensible drug policies that encourage economic development as we finally move away from antiquated practices that have hurt disadvantaged communities,” they wrote.
And as lawmaker frustration grows along with a realization that voters are increasingly in favor of new laws allowing for marijuana research and legalized medical cannabis, so is the mountain of legislation to weaken federal marijuana restrictions.
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