Likely Attorney General Jeff Sessions: A Proud Soldier in the Drug War

Will his appointment ruin the progress of the legalization movement?

Trump's nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to be the next Attorney General hasn't been welcomed by liberals and progressive groups, to say the least. Most of this criticism relates to his comments that resulted in losing a nomination for a federal judgeship in the 1980s. He stated that the NAACP and ACLU were "un-American...communist-inspired...and tried to force civil rights down the people's throats." Sessions testified that the comments were taken out of context, but the most severe damage to his reputation came from his comments about the KKK. In private, Sessions said that he felt the KKK was "OK until he found that they smoked marijuana." He claimed that his words were just a joke. One witness backed up his claim while another felt that his words were sincere. In fairness, it's difficult to believe that anyone would make such a statement in a serious tone. Also, Sessions was instrumental in the prosecution and eventual murder conviction of a leading member of the KKK. Regardless, it is impossible to support his nomination for Attorney General due to his poor civil rights record alone.

How will he affect the drug policy? Well, he's an outspoken advocate of the drug war. You've probably come across some of his memorable quotes over the last few days. If you're not familiar, he has criticized President Obama, on multiple occasions, for stating that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol. One instance in 2014, Sessions noted that "Lady Gaga says that she is addicted to it." In April he declared that "good people don't smoke marijuana." Sessions even conflated marijuana with more dangerous drugs like heroin in this clip from 2015. He also speaks proudly of his efforts in the drug war and hearkens for the days of the Just-Say-No  80s.

With that said, Sessions has, at times, acted in a very reasonable manner regarding the drug war. Check out this funny clip. 

He was one of the Senate leaders to push for reducing the penalties for crack cocaine in comparison to powder cocaine. These laws have unjustly punished the economically poor and minorities since the 1980s. Sessions was also a supporter of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), which was a harm reduction bill aimed at the opioid crisis. 

CONCLUSION 

There was a false narrative in the media that the Obama administration didn't interfere with the legal marijuana industry. Several law-abiding dispensaries were raided by the DEA. Also, many of these businesses were punished with civil asset forfeitures by federal agencies and the IRS has been known to target these dispensaries with obscure money laundering statutes. Hence, Jeff Sessions, most likely, won't be much more adversarial to the legal marijuana industry than Eric Holder. After all, eight out of nine states passed their legal marijuana ballot measures (recreational or medical) this month. Suffice it to say, that's a mandate by the electorate. In addition, Trump stated that he would respect states' rights with the marijuana issue during the campaign. And if there is one thing that Donald Trump respects it is polling numbers and sixty percent of Americans now support legalized marijuana. 

On the other hand, both Trump and Sessions often point to the flow of drugs from Mexico as one of the key issues in our country. Sessions will likely be the "law and order" official that Trump was looking for. In other words, Sessions will likely be much more punitive with illegal drug trafficking. He will probably reverse much of the progress from softening "three strikes laws" and mandatory minimum sentences. Look no further than his statement from March of this year:

"Indeed, (President Obama) instructs his Justice Department not to prosecute drug traffickers, or, if pursuing charges, to prosecute for lesser crimes. He also is pushing leniency and early release for thousands of convicted drug criminals despite Bureau of Justice Statistics showing 99.7 percent of imprisoned drug felons were convicted of drug trafficking offenses, not drug possession. This abandonment of the tough-on-crime policies that led to drastic reductions in drugs and crime beginning in the 1980s is directly contributing to the rise in drug use, overdose deaths and violent crimes in major cities."