GreyjoyBastard posted:

Well, did either of them sign?

quote:

“When you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people,” [Spicer] said.

karlor posted:

https://twitter.com/radleybalko/status/834862805148901377

So, uh... so much for state's rights

karlor posted:

https://twitter.com/radleybalko/status/834862805148901377

So, uh... so much for state's rights

karlor posted:

https://twitter.com/radleybalko/status/834862805148901377

So, uh... so much for state's rights

quote:

During a White House briefing Thursday, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement” of federal drug laws prohibiting use of recreational marijuana during the Trump administration. But medical marijuana is a different question, Spicer said, noting that states with medical marijuana laws were protected from federal interference by a congressional budget rider passed in 2014.

Spicer's comments are the strongest suggestion yet that the Trump administration will take more of a hard line approach to marijuana enforcement than the Obama administration. Under Obama, the Justice Department explicitly adopted a policy of noninterference with state marijuana laws, provided that a number of guidelines — like keeping marijuana out of the hands of adolescents — were met. That unofficial policy was established by a 2013 memo, which the Justice Department under the Trump administration can easily ignore. However, the administration is bound by legislation passed in 2014 prohibiting use of Justice Department funds to impede medical marijuana laws in the 28 states that have legalized it and D.C.

Seven states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana.

The comments come on the same day a Quinnipiac poll shows that 71 percent of American voters — including 55 percent of Republicans — say that they oppose “the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana.” That poll, which surveyed 1,323 voters nationwide last week, also showed that 59 percent of voters say they support fully legalizing the use of marijuana in the United States, and that 93 percent of voters support the medical use of marijuana under a doctor's supervision.

At the news briefing, Spicer appeared to tie the question of recreational marijuana use to concerns about the nation's opioid epidemic.


“When you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country,” Spicer said, “the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people — there's a federal law that we need to abide by when it comes to recreational marijuana and other drugs of that nature.”

Researchers have consistently found that access to medical marijuana is associated with lower rates of opioid abuse and mortality. A similar relationship may exist between recreational marijuana and opioid use, although not as much research has been done on that front.

“Spicer has it exactly backwards,” said Ethan Nadelmann of the drug policy reform group Drug Policy Alliance in a statement. “Greater access to marijuana has actually led to declines in opioid use, overdoses and other problems.”

“Trump seems insistent on throwing the marijuana market back into the hands of criminals, wiping out taxpaying jobs and eliminating billions of dollars in taxes,” Nadelmann added.

Legal marijuana, recreational and medical, was a $1.3 billion industry in Colorado in 2016. Independent consultants estimated the industry supported 18,000 new jobs in the state in 2015.

SwampDonkey posted:

More details for those that didn't watch the press briefing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...here-its-legal/

quote:

That has not prompted the Nevada agency tasked with crafting rules governing recreational marijuana sales to change its timeline for ensuring dispensaries can open this summer, said agency spokeswoman Stephanie Klapstein.

"As of now, the Department of Taxation is moving forward with our regulation development as planned," she said.

The Democratic leader of Nevada's state Senate, Aaron Ford, criticized the White House for what he called an "overzealous attack on the will of Nevada voters."

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval is currently budgeting tens of millions of dollars in marijuana tax revenue over the next two years to fund public education.

"Any action by the Trump administration would be an insult to Nevada voters and would pick the pockets of Nevada's students," Ford said.

Zamujasa posted:

Nevada still moving ahead despite threats


We're in for a fun time.

quote:

Reaction to Spicer’s comments was swift Thursday night.

“In Maine, we are working very hard to accommodate the desires of the voters to allow the recreational use of marijuana and the need to regulate its cultivation and distribution in a manner consistent with the health and safety of the public,” said Attorney General Janet Mills in a written statement. “Marijuana has not been the top priority of law enforcement in Maine since we decriminalized the possession of small amounts 40 years ago. It would be an unwise use of federal resources, in my view, to focus on marijuana prosecutions in a state like Maine.”

David Boyer, Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group, said the president should leave legalization laws like Maine’s alone.

“Maine voters have already made their decision on the issue of regulating and taxing marijuana, and we hope this administration will continue to allow states to determine their own policies,” Boyer said in a written statement Thursday evening.

Opponents of legalization applauded Spicer’s comments.

“We welcome strong federal leadership on marijuana that is focused on policies that will protect communities and youth from the harms posed by the increasing commercialization and normalization of the drug,” Scott M. Gagnon, chairman of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in a written statement Thursday night.

“The marijuana industry is already using the Big Tobacco playbook using multimillion-dollar political campaigns to mislead the public with fake data and fake science. We saw that right here in Maine with the Yes On 1 campaign,” Gagnon said.

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

A reminder that SAM is freaking terrible, and as skilled concern-trolls and the media's go-to "gotta interview both sides" option, one of our more dangerous opponents:

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

Administration declares a full-on War on (Recreational) Weed (I'd find it almost unfathomable if they tried to seriously crack down on MMJ)

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

Aging Millenial posted:

That's my thinking. There's literally no political upside to going after weed in legal states.

MGDRAGOON posted:

So what would happen if legal cannabis states just passed a law saying that it would be considered an over the counter medication with no need for a prescription?

Zamujasa posted:

But in all seriousness, is it possible that the issue could be tied into ~foreigners~/Mexico/other drugs and turn the public hostile towards legalization? Or could the mix of legal medical and widening recreational/decrim be enough to prevent that?

I just worry that it might even be pushed back to going after MMJ.

Google Butt posted:

i don't have strong feelings for or against Obama, but he can go gently caress himself for not taking the five minutes to deschedule during his 8 god drat years

WampaLord posted:

Seriously, it would have put Trump in a hell of a spot. If he re-schedules it he looks like a huge rear end in a top hat and pisses off pro-pot Republicans.

fishmech posted:

Uh, he hasn't been shy about looking like a huge rear end in a top hat and pissing off tons of Republicans. Have you been asleep since January 20th?

Google Butt posted:

So how long until Sessions subpoenas MMJ dispensaries and cross references those records with the gun registry database?

the black husserl posted:

That'll be one of the countless power grabs to come after the first mass shooting or terrorist attack.

Google Butt posted:

All those private prisons are going to be filled to the brim with people serving 5 years to life for weed.

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Marijuana-appears-to-be-tough-sell-in-Legislature-10958065.php posted:

Marijuana appears to be tough sell in Legislature

By Ken Dixon, Connecticut Post Published 12:00 am, Saturday, February 25, 2017

...

Pending marijuana bills include:

Exempting veterans from paying fees for participating in the medical marijuana program.

Requiring the DMV to be notified of marijuana-related infractions by juveniles.

Allowing those convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana before October, 2015, to apply for pistol permits from which they are currently banned.

Republican and Democratic versions of the retail sale and taxation of recreational marijuana.

A bill to remove previous marijuana-related convictions as barriers to obtaining marijuana-related business licenses.

Two Republican bills on blood testing for drivers suspected of marijuana intoxication.

Establishing a 6 percent tax on ales of medical marijuana.

Another would allow patients from out-of-state medical-marijuana programs to visit marijuana dispensaries here while visiting.

quote:

*He repeated his disdain for drugs, including marijuana. "I don't think America is going to be a better place when more people are smoking pot," he said. Sessions said he was studying an Obama-era memo that sets out priorities for federal prosecution in states which have legalized the drug in some form. The attorney general said he met Monday with his counterpart in the state of Nebraska, who expressed concerns about a "big overflow" of marijuana from Colorado, where the drug is legal. "I'm definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana," he said.

Aging Millenial posted:

The nervous attitude the marijuana community currently has is testament to the need for more activism. This helplessness should remind us that there's no right and wrong but only power, and the nexus of the collective interests of law enforcement, career politicians, private prisons and the pharmaceutical industry are more impacting on society than the opinion of weed enthusiasts and those who happen to think marijuana legalization is fine. Sessions is the equivalent of a bigot when it comes to marijuana -- he is proud of his distaste for the substance itself. Just as gay marriage could not have passed without a substantial portion of the population respecting homosexuality itself, so too are we not likely to see marijuana legalization come about quicker without a substantial portion of the population coming to regard marijuana consumption more favorably and tolerably. We need to get to the place where Jeff Sessions feels the need to hold back his opinion on marijuana consumption just like he holds back his opinion on homosexuality.

SwampDonkey posted:

Latest from Sessions on cannabis:


http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/27/517583304/attorney-general-jeff-session-focuses-on-violent-crime-and-police-morale