Donald Trump's selection of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as his attorney general poses a threat to the booming marijuana industry.
Sessions is a staunch opponent of marijuana, despite legalization of the drug for recreational use in seven states and legalization of the drug for medical use in 27 states.
"You've got a huge increase in marijuana-related emergency room visits," Sessions said during an April Senate hearing by the U.S. Drug Caucus titled "Protecting the Public from the Impact of State Recreational Marijuana Legalization."
"This is as obvious as night following day. You make more marijuana more available, you basically say it's not very dangerous – and the young people have a right to participate with it and older people do, too – you're going to have more problems."
Marijuana use is still illegal under federal law and Sessions could use federal law enforcement to sue state regulators to block state systems, according to John Hudak at the Brookings Institution.
"As attorney general, Sessions would have the ability to rescind two Justice Department directives — known as the Cole and Ogden memos — that called for stepping back from marijuana prosecutions," Hudak told the New York Times.
"The only person who can stop the attorney general is the president, and it is unclear whether Trump will direct or delegate drug policy — the latter option being what should worry California the most.”
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