By Katie Burke
July 27, 2017, was the deadline Attorney General Jeff Sessions had given Congress to respond to a list of changes and reversals on his agenda. Medical marijuana was at the top of that list. The senators have responded, with a rejection of his request for receiving federal funding to prosecute people in states where medical marijuana is legal.
According to Fortune and a number of other publications, AG Sessions and The Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety is expected to issue a report, sometime next week, trying to link violent crimes to cannabis. He is advocating for tougher sentences for users, sellers, and producers. This scare tactic will not fool the American people. The cannabis community will rally. He is relentless in his efforts to get Congress to remove all federal protections in place for the 29 states that recognize cannabis for medical purposes. With prescription drug overdoses amassing more than cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and amphetamines combined it’s astonishing that he’s going after medical marijuana.
The filthy tactics he’s using trickle down to local governments and infects the uneducated. A little over a week ago at a Lemon Grove city council meeting, city council woman Jennifer Mendoza had voiced her concern over an armed robbery at a dispensary in Encanto. There are no legal dispensaries operating in Encanto, no permitted dispensaries in all of district 4. This is just one of many reasons why cities need to get with the program. Legal dispensaries must follow strict safety and security protocols. This ensures safe access for patients and communities. The point is, as a councilwoman we expect more from her. Since the city of San Diego began issuing conditional use permits and regulating dispensaries, not one of these dispensaries has been robbed. There is no room for comparison when referencing legal dispensaries to illegal dispensaries. It’s just another example on why our local representatives should be issuing the permits faster
When people’s rights are in question lawsuits ensue. It’s not at all surprising legal action is currently being brought against Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. According to the New York Post, there’s a group of five people, including former New York Jets defensive end Marvin Washington, filing a federal lawsuit against Sessions and the two federal agencies in regards to the 1970 Controlled Substances Act which established federal drug policy and put narcotics into different schedules.
The group is challenging the constitutionality of the act, citing the law’s racist origins. Criminalization, as explained in the lawsuit “arose out of the enactment of legislation underwritten by illegal racial and ethnic animus, and implemented and enforced at the federal level by those who have chosen to disregard its scientific properties and benefits, and have been motivated by hatred and outright bigotry…Classifying cannabis as a ‘Schedule I drug’ is so irrational that it violates the U.S. Constitution.” It is unconstitutional for the DEA to still use verbiage stating cannabis has zero known medical uses in the United States when 29 states have passed laws for its use as medicine.
With public pressure by caring people, education, and lawsuits the U.S should be able to legalize medical marijuana in all 50 states.
I was praying that he would be Fired! That man is so far behind the times. He is still living in regan era. That is dangerous
So it’s unconstitutional, I doubt the DEA cares. Pressure needs to be applied to the DEA because they seem to do what they want regardless of the fact that cannabis has obvious medical benefits. It seems like something Kafka would have written.