Sessions asks Congress to let him prosecute medical marijuana providers

Sessions wants greater freedom to prosecute medical marijuana businesses in states where the drug is legal, particularly if they are connected to "dangerous drug traffickers" or global "criminal organizations" that federal authorities say are allegedly diverting legal marijuana products to states where the drug is still illegal, according to a May 1 letter to members of Congress obtained this week by the Massroots.com and The Washington Post. To further buttress his request in the letter, Sessions warns that "drug traffickers" are already operating under "the guise" of state marijuana laws.

Speaking as though he believes that the current opioid and heroin epidemics sweeping the nation are one and the same with the use and sale of pot, Sessions writes, "I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime".

"The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and unsafe drug traffickers who threaten American lives", he writes as justification for allowing the DOJ to use their own discretion in funding prosecutions.

Since 2014, federal appropriations bills have prohibited the U.S. Department of Justice from spending money to prevent states "from implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana". In the letter, which was provided to MassRoots by a congressional staffer, Sessions argues that the amendment prevents the DOJ from cracking down on gangs that operate in states where medical marijuana is lawful. A growing body of research (acknowledged by the National Institute on Drug Abuse) has shown that opiate deaths and overdoses actually decrease in states with medical marijuana laws on the books.

In all, 29 states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana, and recreational marijuana is legal in eight states and the District of Columbia, although federal law still classifies it as an illegal, controlled substance.

The Washington Post verified that the letter was real, and noted that the "historic drug epidemic", which Sessions referred to, is mostly opioid-based drugs, not marijuana.

He also said, like Sessions has in the past, said that "scientists have found that there's no accepted medical use for" marijuana-a notion that Scientific American shredded in its Wednesday column.

President Trump, for his part, said on the campaign trail that he supports states experimenting with medical marijuana laws.

This statement seemed to indicate that the Attorney General was willing to adhere to the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, focusing the DOJ's cannabis enforcement efforts on recreational cannabis, rather than medical cannabis-related activities.

Rosenstein may have also raised some eyebrows at the National Academy of Sciences, which recently reviewed almost 100 studies and found "substantial evidence" that marijuana is effective at controlling pain and muscle spasms, and "conclusive evidence" that cannabis products can prevent nausea.

Last Friday, the medical marijuana implementation bill passed the legislature. In fact, places where the US has legalized medical marijuana have lower rates of opioid overdose deaths. If Sessions' letter has any impact on lawmakers in this politically charged time remains to be seen. He urged the attorney general to listen to parents whose children have overcome seizure disorders by turning to cannabis oil or related treatments. He points to a recent set of indictments alleging the holder of a Colorado medical marijuana license was the ringleader of a criminal conspiracy to ship marijuana out of state.

In the letter, Sessions claims foreign drug gangs "often find a place for themselves within state regulatory systems".