Congress Will Not Fund Sessions’ Aggressive Cannabis Policy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made no secret about his feelings toward Cannabis. He has made the claim that it is only “slightly less awful than heroin”, and has vowed to prosecute existing federal laws against states that have chosen to legalize for recreational and medical purposes. He even once joked that he used to think the KKK were good guys until he found out some of them smoke Marijuana. While this has left many in those states feeling uncertain about the future of this new industry, there appears to be a silver lining to this strange, dark cloud.

Congress avoided a government shutdown by passing a spending bill right before the deadline. While the $1 Trillion budget allocates funding for some programs that will make Sessions happy, like $1.5 Billion for increased border security, there was one pet project of his they chose not to include: going after states that have legalized Cannabis.

It is surprising that a Republican led congress would not give Sessions the opportunity to crack down on states that have legalized Cannabis. Even though conservatives talk at great length about states rights, this is one area that many of them seem to feel is an exception. When Washington DC voted to legalize for recreational use, Republicans thwarted the city’s ability to do so. However, this budget may be proof that the Republican Party is changing its tone. Cannabis legalization is seeing majority support from the American public, and the GOP may now realize that interfering with states that have chosen to do so may have negative consequences.

At the center of the issue is the fact that Cannabis remains a Schedule 1 Drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule 1 Drugs are considered by the federal government to have a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use for treatment in the US, and that there is a lack of accepted safety for use. This puts Cannabis in the same category as Heroin, while Cocaine and Meth are considered Schedule 2 drugs, which is a lower classification. When states make recreational and medicinal Cannabis legal, they find themselves in direct opposition to federal law, which overrides state law. Because the Obama administration had a hands off approach to this issue, this is the first time we are really seeing the inherent conflict play out.

So what does this mean going forward? The Justice Department and the DEA will not have the funding to aggressively prosecute Cannabis businesses in states that have chosen legalization. We can expect to see, for the time being, similar circumstances as what existed under President Obama. However, this budget is only temporary. In September, Congress will have to pass a new budget, and given Sessions' clearly stated opinion on the subject, it is almost certain that he will push for funding that will allow him to go after states that have legalized. The only hope of stopping him may be voters letting their representatives know that they do not want their tax dollars to go toward this cause.