{"id":7165,"date":"2017-01-21T23:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T23:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=5696"},"modified":"2017-01-21T23:00:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T23:00:32","slug":"pot-advocates-see-some-hope-in-sessions-vague-answers-on-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/pot-advocates-see-some-hope-in-sessions-vague-answers-on-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Pot Advocates See Some Hope In Sessions\u2019 Vague Answers On Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/pot-advocates-see-some-hope-in-sessions-vague-answers-on-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Washington &#8211; Marijuana legalization advocates struggled Tuesday to find hope in comments that Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for attorney general, made at his Senate confirmation hearing about federal tolerance for states that have legalized pot.<\/p>\n<p>Sessions, who has been fiercely anti-marijuana as a U.S. senator from Alabama, has the power as attorney general to reverse the Obama administration\u2019s tolerance of marijuana in the states that have legalized its growth, sale and use.<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but eight states, including California, Colorado and Washington, have legalized pot for recreational use and 28 others allow medicinal use of marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Sessions was asked whether he\u2019d use federal resources to investigate and prosecute sick people who are using medical marijuana in states where it\u2019s legal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won\u2019t commit to never enforcing federal law,\u201d Sessions said. But he added that enforcing the law is \u201ca problem of resources for the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sessions said the Justice Department under President Barack Obama did set out some policies that are \u201ctruly valuable in evaluating cases.\u201d Those policies eschewed federal enforcement except in certain cases, including whether states were permitting sales to minors or allowing legal marijuana to become part of illegal trafficking operations.<\/p>\n<p>Sessions was later asked if the Obama administration\u2019s tolerance of pot in states that legalized it was a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. Sessions responded that Congress made marijuana illegal and if the views have changed then Congress needs to change the law.<\/p>\n<p>Erik Altieri, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the hearing offered no clarity on what Sessions will do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf anything, his comments are a cause for concern and can be interpreted as leaving the door open for enforcing federal law in legalized states,\u201d Altieri said.<\/p>\n<p>But Robert Capecchi, director of federal policies for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project, called it a hopeful sign that Sessions did not commit to vigorously enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized weed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was given the opportunity to take an extreme prohibitionist approach, and he passed on it,\u201d Capecchi said.<\/p>\n<p>The National Cannabis Industry Association also expressed optimism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn today\u2019s hearing, Senator Sessions indicated that the Justice Department\u2019s current guidelines for marijuana policy enforcement are \u2018truly valuable\u2019 in setting departmental priorities,\u201d said Aaron Smith, executive director of the association. \u201cThat belief, along with the support for state sovereignty on cannabis policy expressed by President-elect Trump and his team, should lead Sen. Sessions to maintain the current federal policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/pot-advocates-see-some-hope-in-sessions-vague-answers-on-marijuana.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Katelyn Baker <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\" target=\"_blank\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article125755694.html\" target=\"_blank\">Pot Advocates See Some Hope In Sessions\u2019 Vague Answers On Marijuana<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Sean Cockerham<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/customer-service\/contact-us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Herald<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Andrew Harnik<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Herald<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington &#8211; Marijuana legalization advocates struggled Tuesday to find hope in comments that Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for attorney&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2017\/01\/pot-advocates-see-hope-sessions-vague-answers-marijuana\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1597,9,1,3],"tags":[4165],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}