Is Jeff Sessions Leading America Back into Reefer Madness?

[Mystic Wanderer]

Maybe I should have posted this in the "Hot Button" forum because this really pisses me off!  

It seems Jeff Sessions is trying to demonize marijuana again and support the federal government going after states that have legalized it, even for medicinal purposes.  Sigh...    Did Big Pharma get to him?

As threatened back in February, Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has plans to aggressively go after states that have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana — the latter despite Sean Spicer’s promise that Trump sees “a big difference” between the two.

After making baseless statements that marijuana is “only slightly less awful” than heroin and that “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” the attorney general, Jeff Sessions – who once “joked” that he thought the violent white supremacists of the KKK were “okay until I found out they smoked pot” – has established a task force to investigate the connection between marijuana and violent crime.

 

In said letter, he referred to a “historic drug epidemic”, willfully conflating marijuana use with the crisis of opiate addiction plaguing our country. (Sessions either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that opiate deaths have actually decreased in states that have legalized medical marijuana, partly because it can serve as a gentler alternative to addictive prescription painkillers.)

He scapegoats marijuana for violent crime once more. He even claims marijuana is “linked to an increased risk of psychiatric disorders such as psychosis”, which sounds a lot like “reefer madness” to me. As with Trump’s Muslim ban, Sessions notes this issue is too important to respect the rights of states to make their own laws.

I left out a big portion of the above article because there is more we need to discuss on this issue. You can read the full article here:

Jeff Sessions is leading America back into Reefer Madness

Now we need to take a look and ask, where is the money going from these drug arrests for marijuana?

Why is the 'establishment' fighting so hard to keep it illegal?

Legalized marijuana may have taken root in Colorado and Washington, but that doesn’t mean it has to spread to other parts of the country, as far as a bevy of special interests are concerned.
 
Some of the most lucrative and powerful industries in America oppose marijuana decriminalization because it threatens their financial bottom-line or jobs for their workers. Five different interest groups form the backbone of the anti-pot campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political spending.
 
First, there’s the spirits, wine and beer companies. Legalized marijuana represents a direct threat to this industry’s business model. The more people can legally smoke a bud, the less need they’ll have to buy a Bud. Four years ago, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors contributed $10,000 to help defeat California’s Proposition 19, which sought to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
 
Law enforcement groups also want to maintain criminal penalties for pot possession. If the country stops waging its war on drugs, including marijuana, fewer government dollars will flow to police efforts to address this public policy issue. Municipalities will also receive less money from property seized in drug raids.
 
Others in the criminal justice world that want to keep the status quo of locking up marijuana offenders are private prison operators and prison guard unions. States that legalize marijuana use are likely to experience a decline in prison populations—and that will reduce the need for government to hire private prison companies and correctional officers.
 
The nation’s largest for-profit prison business, Corrections Corporation of America, once stated in a regulatory filing that: “[A]ny changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them,” according to OpenSecrets.org.
 
Another example is the Golden State’s mighty prison guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), a major player in state politics for decades. CCPOA contributed $1 million in 2008 to defeat Proposition 5, which sought more drug treatment and rehabilitation programs for inmates.
 
Finally, there’s the legal drug industry: Big Pharma. It opposes marijuana decriminalization because it could mean people spend less money on painkillers and anti-inflammatory remedies like ibuprofen. Its primary lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), has loads of money to spend. Two years ago, it dropped nearly $22 million on congressional races, demonstrating how big a war chest it can muster.

Who’s Funding the Anti-Marijuana Movement?

Okay, so it's going to hurt the alcohol industry and the state funded prisons, and, of course, the pharmaceutical industry, if marijuana is legalized?     

They would rather keep a natural plant that can help with all kinds of health issues illegal, while allowing alcohol to be consumed freely on the market, knowing the high numbers that are killed on the roadway, and to keep the prisons full, while allowing millions to die of cancer and live in needless pain?    

We need to write Pres. Trump and let him know this is not what the American people want.

I swear if he prevents marijuana from being legalized, I'll not vote for him in the next election!!! 

I've been waiting years to get this legally for my arthritis, and now they are threatening to take away my hope? 

This isn't right... on ANY level!