Attorney General Jeff Sessions believes medical marijuana has been “hyped” up.
Following a speech given in Richmond, Va., about the Justice Department’s continued efforts to fight violent crime, Sessions told reporters: “I think medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much.”
Sessions’ prepared remarks reiterated his anti-marijuana stance, and urged people to “say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”
He echoed those words again to reporters after his remarks, and said he is “personally not in favor” of the idea that there is “nothing wrong with” recreational marijuana.
He noted that federal law still makes marijuana illegal in every state. Federal law is “not eviscerated because the state ceases to enforce it in that state,” Sessions said.
Marijuana, Sessions added, is “only slightly less awful” than heroin.
Medical marijuana is legal in 28 states plus the District of Columbia. It is legal to carry recreational marijuana in eight states.
