AG Jeff Sessions grossly misguided on weed policy | Casey Hoff
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is waging a war against marijuana and marijuana users.
In 2016, then-Sen. Sessions said, “good people don’t smoke marijuana.”
Sessions’ belief informs his misguided policy on the issue.
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Because I can honestly say I have never used marijuana, I’m glad Sessions wouldn’t consider me a “bad person.”
However, according to Sessions’ logic, anyone who has smoked marijuana is a “bad person.”
Don’t tell that to Paul McCartney, Michael Phelps, Rush Limbaugh, LeBron James, Bill Gates, Clarence Thomas, Oprah Winfrey or Steve Jobs.
Sessions wants to reverse a national trend toward legalization of marijuana and crack down on it.
In May, Sessions asked Congress to get rid of a law that has protected medical marijuana states from federal prosecutions. According to a Quinnipiac poll, nearly 75 percent of voters are against the federal government prosecuting people for marijuana in states that have legalized it.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul has publicly criticized Sessions’ approach to marijuana enforcement, saying, “I will oppose anybody from the administration or otherwise that wants to interfere with state policy.”
Former NFL player Marvin Washington is suing Sessions in a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the federal government absurdly classifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug, in the same category as heroin.
By comparison, cocaine and crystal meth are Schedule II drugs, and therefore considered less addictive and less dangerous than marijuana.
Washington would like to open a business to allow NFL players suffering from extreme pain to use medical marijuana, as opposed to having to use far more addictive, prescribed opioids.
Between 2001 and 2010, nearly 90 percent of the more than 8 million marijuana arrests in the United States were for simple possession of marijuana, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The prohibition on marijuana possession places an incredibly heavy burden on valuable law enforcement resources. In 2012, FBI statistics showed there were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession and only 256,000 for “cocaine, heroin and their derivatives.”
Enforcing possession of marijuana laws costs almost $4 billion annually in the United States.
The overwhelming majority of Americans favor legalization of marijuana and recognize the wrongheaded approach of locking up more marijuana users.
A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 94 percent of voters support medical marijuana and 60 percent of voters support full legalization.
A majority of the states in our nation have legalized marijuana in some way, whether for medicinal use or recreational use. This issue is one of the few that unites many Democrats and Republicans in red and blue states.
In Wisconsin, support for marijuana legalization is also strong. A 2016 Marquette University Law School poll found 59 percent of Wisconsinites support full marijuana legalization.
State Rep. Melissa Sargent has introduced legislation to legalize marijuana. Sargent says “the most dangerous thing about marijuana in Wisconsin is that it remains illegal.” She touts her legislation as one means of raising revenue.
The evidence is in, and it does not favor Sessions’ “tough on crime,” fear-mongering mantra against ganja.
Contrary to the “marijuana-is-a-gateway-drug” theory, a recent study from the Drug and Alcohol Dependence report shows opioid abuse and overdose deaths are lower in places that have legalized marijuana. Sessions said he was “astonished” to hear about this evidence.
A study published by the Journal of School Health concluded the gateway theory is associated with alcohol, rather than marijuana use. People who do use harder drugs are likely to do so because of far more powerful influencing factors, such as their social environment, negative peer groups, mental illness and poverty.
Despite the fear-mongering predictions of critics, marijuana legalization has not led to a rise in crime rates. FBI crime data demonstrate no increase in crime and point to a decrease in violent crime, such as homicide and assault. Washington, for example, saw its violent crime rate drop by 10 percent after legalization of marijuana.
The tax revenue generated from legalized marijuana has been even better than expected for taxpayers, and it has virtually wiped out the drug cartel market in legalization states. Legal marijuana is now a $6 billion-per-year industry that has created 150,000 jobs.
Some Wisconsin municipalities have essentially decriminalized recreational marijuana use, recognizing that locking up more non-violent drug offenders has proven to be an abject failure and an unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars.
Although marijuana use is not without negative side effects and societal costs, the floodgates have not opened to a substantial increase in marijuana use or crime in states where it has been legalized.
Wisconsinites and the rest of the country should continue to reject Sessions’ misguided, outdated and harmful approach to marijuana and marijuana users.
Casey Hoff is a criminal defense attorney based in Sheboygan.