Attorney General Jeff Sessions submitted his resignation on Wednesday — at President Trump’s request. As Trump considers his replacement, he should pick someone that is willing to pursue a pragmatic approach to drug policy — specifically, marijuana legalization.
With Sessions at it’s head, the Department of Justice turned back the clock on drug policy, treating marijuana as an evil threat straight out of “Reefer Madness” rather than a substance with widely acknowledged medicinal uses and increasingly legalized for recreational use by popular ballot proposals. Instead, he angled to enforce federal law to the letter by prosecuting marijuana as an illegal Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act regardless of state law.
Those actions were against the tide of rising voter support, as shown by victories for marijuana on Tuesday in Michigan, where voters passed Proposal 1, making Michigan the 10th state (plus Washington, D.C.) with legalized recreational marijuana.
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On Tuesday, voters in Utah and Missouri joined 31 other states that had already passed legal medical marijuana, demonstrating a steady momentum towards marijuana policy reform in the United States.
Despite growing support, Sessions remained a key opponent to marijuana. He is so opposed to the drug that Trump would be hard-pressed to pick someone worse on the issue to be his replacement.
Famous for statements like “we need grown-ups in Washington to say marijuana is … in fact a very real danger” and “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” Sessions has long been an outspoken marijuana opponent. He used his role at the head of the Department of Justice to reignite the war on drugs and moved to enforce federal rules relaxed under the Obama administration even as more states supported legalization.
In April 2017, Sessions said that the DOJ Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety would have a new subcommittee that would be taking a look at how federal marijuana laws were being enforced. Months later, that backfired when the committee recommended no new polices, instead recommending additional study of the issue.
Sessions also tried to push Congress to lift restrictions in the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment that prevented the Department of Justice from spending federal dollars to go after medical marijuana in states where it was legal. That effort was also unsuccessful.
Then Sessions finally scored a victory in his fight against marijuana. In January 2018, he rescinded the “Cole memo” issued by Deputy Attorney General James Cole in 2013 that provided guidance to prosecutors, limiting when they could enforce criminal laws on marijuana in states where it had been legalized. With the memo gone, that meant federal prosecutors would be able to prosecute marijuana crimes under federal law, regardless of state laws, as they saw fit.
In short, for progress on marijuana policy, good riddance to Sessions. With a replacement on the way, there is even reason to be hopeful for real progress at the federal level.
Trump himself has expressed his support for leaving the decision on marijuana up to states. Democrats, who won control of the House on Tuesday, indicated they would push to remove marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug.
Either a Trump-supported bipartisan deal, or even just a better policy from the Department of Justice, could pave the way for marijuana to become a key campaign point for Trump in 2020. The popular issue enjoys broad support across the country and could be a rallying cry on a path to victory for the president.
