For the past few years, a number of states such as Colorado and Washington State have allowed the recreational use of Marijuana. Despite the fact that pot is still a controlled substance on the federal level, the Obama administration had chosen to look the other way. But with the new Trump administration, the pot party may be about to end. The Trump White House is sending mixed signals, but it looks like it may be on its way to crack down on legal recreation marijuana. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a particularly old school approach to dealing with pot heads.
Yahoo News is reporting that a group of senators, mostly Democrats, are entreating the administration not to pursue marijuana users in states where the substance is legal. They are backed up by public opinion. Roughly 71 percent of Americans would oppose a crackdown on pot according to Quinnipiac.
Marijuana has caused some problems in states where it is legal just as legal alcohol has. Driving while stoned has become an issue with no easy way to determine whether a motorist is impaired. The problem of underage toking exists, just as it was when pot was illegal. Smuggling of marijuana from states where it is legal to states where it is illegal has caused headaches for law enforcement.
On the other hand, some states have reaped a bounty from taxes on the sale of legal pot.
People have become used to being able to buy a bag of weed and partake in the privacy of their own homes without fear of the knock at the door. They will likely view a rolling back to the bad old days of people being busted for pot with lots of resentment.
Federalism is a good conservative value and Sessions hinted during his confirmation hearing that he would respect the principle where marijuana is concerned.
The case can be made that the problems that would arise as a result of a crackdown would far outweigh those that would result from leaving things alone. With immigration, health care reform, taxes, infrastructure and all the rest will occupy enough of the federal government’s time that it may behoove the administration to pursue the latter course.
