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Politics

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he plans to end America's legalization experiment: “One RICO prosecution against one marijuana retailer in one state that has so-called legalization ends this façade and this flaunting of the Supremacy Clause. Will you be bringing such a case?”

Sessions demurred, “I think it’s a little more complicated than one RICO case.” But the cannabis world is paying attention. The Christian Science Monitor reports that some in law enforcement “worry that Mr. Sessions [hard on crime stance] is taking an outdated approach to head off a problem that may not exist.”

In a memo, Sessions advised U.S. attorneys to focus on violent crime and to renew emphasis on seeking mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.

The Cannabist asks whether the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause could be used to justify a crackdown of state cannabis industries. It’s one of a three-part series by Alicia Wallace on marijuana during the Trump presidency.

The Supremacy Clause ( Article VI, Clause 2) states that the Constitution is the “supreme Law of the land.” In this case, it may be at odds with the Bill of Rights’ Tenth Amendment which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

The Justice Department told all 46 remaining U.S. attorneys from the Obama Administration to resign. Preet Bhahara, Manhattan’s powerful federal prosecutor, said he had no plans to resign setting up a showdown with the Justice department.

The AP reports that Sessions’ recusal from investigating the election will enable him to focus on remaking the Justice Department in accordance with his hardline ideas on crime, drugs and immigration.

In New York, Dominican green card holder Jose Guerrero was “ripped” from his pregnant wife’s arms during what he expected to be a routine check in with immigration authorities. Following a 2007 incident, Guerrero was convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession. Though there haven’t been further run-ins with law enforcement, he’s now awaiting deportation.  

Voters in the city of Los Angeles, the world’s largest cannabis market, approved Measure M in a landslide, giving the City Council power to regulate the industry. L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell thinks it’s possible that federal raids will target the cannabis industry.

In L.A. Weekly, I wrote that pot businesses are keeping their cool about the feds, so far. But there also could be local raids mounted against unlicensed businesses in unincorporated L.A. County.

The military will expand drug testing to include opiates and synthetic cannabis. Last year Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the military might loosen rules regarding past cannabis use. It’s not clear whether current Defense Secretary James Mattis agrees.

The head of Maine’s National Guard worries that REC legalization will make it harder for young people to “ make good choices,” especially since it “complicates enlisting in the military.”

Republican Senator Johnny Isakson (Ga.) mildly endorsed rescheduling. MED is back in Montana. Pennsylvania’s auditor general said REC could close the state’s budget gap.

Proposed legislation in Florida would limit MED growing licenses to seven existing producers, an idea that’s unpopular, someone said, with everyone except the seven producers’ lobbyists.

After a contentious year, Oakland has revised and expanded its equity licensing requirements. I wrote about the issue in December for California Sunday Magazine.

The two men behind Ohio’s failed 2015 REC legalization effort, want a MED growing license.

Despite promises of this spring, Canada is not in a rush to legalize REC. The Israeli government voted to decriminalize.