Oregon was the first American state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis and, at the same time, among the first to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. One attempt to place cannabis under restriction once more has already been turned down in 1997 by Oregon voters.
However, president-elect Donald J. Trump seeks to nominate Senator Jeff Sessions as a candidate for attorney general. At first glance, this decision seems rather harmless, except Sessions has been quoted in the past saying “good people don’t smoke marijuana”, during a Senate hearing in April.
Mr. Trump says that he intends to nominate the former federal prosecutor, Mr. Sessions, as the next U.S. Attorney General on November 25th.
More worrying is the fact that Jeff Sessions does not seem to agree with the Oregon’s policy on cannabis use for medical purposes. In fact, he states that he does not agree with the use of marijuana at all, no matter the reasons.
Furthermore, he seeks support from “grownups in Washington” to assist him in banning the use of marijuana altogether or, at least impose strict measures on facilities that use this kind of treatment. The main worry, as far as Mr. Sessions is concerned, is that by making marijuana socially acceptable more and more people will become addicted over time.
Moreover, this is not the first time Mr. Sessions makes an enemy out of the Beaver state. Back in the 1980s, he allegedly stated that the KKK members were “ok”. However, he changed his view after he learned that they used to smoke marijuana. Shortly after, Jeff Sessions called the entire incident a mere joke.
Medical Marijuana Supporters’ Response
Meredith Overstreet from Grasshopper’s Oil Extractor has a hard time believing something could be done in order to roll back the legalization of marijuana in Oregon. Mainly because the costs involved would be too great to support by the party that wishes to ban cannabis altogether.
As of 2016, marijuana is legal in many different forms in 26 states across America, including the District of Columbia. The regulators at the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) say that they still follow the last policy memo available. Hence, the federal authorities cannot get involved with regulating marijuana use within the states’ boundaries.
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