Sessions made ‘cataclysmic mistake’ with marijuana policy change, says ex-Trump adviser Roger Stone

The Washington Times ^ | January 6, 2018 | Andrew Blake

[MarvinStinson]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a “cataclysmic mistake” by rescinding Obama-era federal marijuana policies, according to Roger Stone, President Trump’s former campaign adviser.

Mr. Stone, 65, formed a bipartisan, pro-marijuana lobbying group earlier this year, the United States Cannabis Coalition, “dedicated to influencing federal level decision makers, including the president, so they honor state’s rights and state mandated marijuana laws as well as reform our antiquated and failed federal drug laws,” according to its website.

Mr. Stone, the president’s campaign adviser through August 2015, criticized the attorney general’s recent decision to roll back marijuana protections during a luncheon Friday at the Tiger Bay Club of Central Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reported afterwards.

The Department of Justice has outlawed marijuana for decades, but the Obama administration put in place policies that allowed dozens of states to legalize the plant without prompting federal interference. Mr. Sessions nullified those policies on Thursday, however, casting uncertainty over the future of existing medical and recreational marijuana programs already in place across the country.

[bigdaddy45]

No you don’t “win”. The point is that just because the Congress passes a law doesn’t make it Constitutional.

And as to my supposedly “ridiculous, hypothetical situation”...just wait. Its coming.

[DouglasKC]

No you don’t “win”. The point is that just because the Congress passes a law doesn’t make it Constitutional.

Nice of you to deem a law unconstitutional. Glad you know the law better than congress, the courts and the executive branch. I for one am glad that President Trump is enforcing the laws of the United States and not subverting and corrupting the rule of law like Obama.

[Albion Wilde]

Stone needs to be Bannonized.

[bigdaddy45]

Not a big fan of the Constitution, are you. Are you sure you’re on the right web site? You seem to LOVE big government and lots of laws that go well beyond what the Constitution ever prescribed.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Maybe we should return the rule of law before we go on distracting side Crusades.

[DouglasKC]

Not a big fan of the Constitution, are you. Are you sure you’re on the right web site? You seem to LOVE big government and lots of laws that go well beyond what the Constitution ever prescribed.

I love what President Donald Trump is doing to this country. I love that he's taking it back to what it was intended...by the people and for the people. Listening to your argument Obama must have been a great hero to you since he's the one that dictated non-enforcement of multiple laws including pot AND illegal immigration. You're wrong on this. You ought to work to change laws instead of blaming Donald Trump for upholding the law.

[volunbeer]

It is not about marijuana as I said.... it is about the rule of law.

By the way, the interstate commerce powers clearly made Fedgov the referee and arbitrator between states. Therefore, when WA marijuana is illegally exported from WA to a state whose voters DO NOT want legal marijuana such as Tennessee the job of Fedgov is to act to protect Tennessee - especially when the federal code says marijuana is illegal.

Don’t like it - get congress to change the laws. Again, as I said before, the executive branch should not usurp the authority of the legislative branch. If a law is wrong it should be changed, but the job of the executive branch is to enforce ALL laws on the books. If not, and the executive branch can selectively enforce any law we are no longer a republic. We are a dictatorship.

[Ken H]

vb: It is not about marijuana as I said.... it is about the rule of law.

KH: It is therefore about the Constitution, the highest law in the land.

_____

vb: By the way, the interstate commerce powers clearly made Fedgov the referee and arbitrator between states. Therefore, when WA marijuana is illegally exported from WA to a state whose voters DO NOT want legal marijuana such as Tennessee the job of Fedgov is to act to protect Tennessee -

KH: Correct. Fedgov has always assisted state inspectors in keeping prohibited articles out of states which prohibit them. That doesn’t mean fedgov gets to ban tobacco in KY because NY has outlawed it and doesn’t want it coming in to the state, for example.

_____

vb: especially when the federal code says marijuana is illegal.

KH: You just endorsed the Wickard Commerce Clause. That’s where fedgov gets its authority to control health care, education, the environment and virtually every aspect of our lives. Have you forgotten the 10th Amendment?

_____

vb: Don’t like it - get congress to change the laws. Again, as I said before, the executive branch should not usurp the authority of the legislative branch. If a law is wrong it should be changed, but the job of the executive branch is to enforce ALL laws on the books. If not, and the executive branch can selectively enforce any law we are no longer a republic. We are a dictatorship.

KH: There are 10 gazillion federal laws on the book. Many, if not most, are selectively enforced. For example, seniors are violating federal law by buying prescription drugs from Canada. Yet no senior has been prosecuted, to my knowledge. So you can drop the fiction that this is some principled action on Sessions’ part.

[trebb]

Thanks - I believe that medical marijuana has come under such close scrutiny because the folks who dispense it have found ways to make it a true OTC product w/o the controls put on many other prescription drugs.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Yes, if you child or grandchild became involved in drugs, would you rather I assume they he/she were a criminal or that he/she had a medical issue?

I, for one, would like to assume, in the absence of any real crime, that your child was still a good person and just needed help.

I understand that many FReepers believe that that makes me an evil person who probably shoots up heroin.

[TheStickman]

“I believe that medical marijuana has come under such close scrutiny because the folks who dispense it have found ways to make it a true OTC product w/o the controls put on many other prescription drugs.”

Excellent point & post!

[itsahoot]

but that’s a job for the legislative branch not the executive branch.

The legislative branch has already dealt with it, they are against it. Sessions is merely announcing that the current law will no longer be ignored.

[itsahoot]

It’s not incumbent on the enforcement arm to pick and choose which laws will be enforced or ignored.

[itsahoot]

Obama, or any of his people, just, all-of-a-sudden make it LAWFUL?

Can you say DACA?

[itsahoot]

Please show me where in the constitution the Federal Government is given the authority to ban a plant.

You claim to be a Constitutionalist but you are really just a selective Constitutionalist. You know here they derive their authority just like declaring breathing to be a pollutant.

Pot heads offer no improvement to our society and far from being a victimless activity, drug abuse is a very costly indulgence for the user and society.

[itsahoot]

The Federal Government does not have the authority to make unconstitutional laws.

So you say, but they certainly have the power don't they?

[TheStickman]

Always cracks me up when prohibitionists still try pushing aged stereotypes as fact with pictures.

When I got to a legally operating dispensary here in the state of Florida I see mostly people over 50—many of them with canes, crutches & wheelchairs waiting to buy their medicine.

[itsahoot]

I don’t care about what potheads do in the privacy of their own home. Stone is right.

We have heard this before....

I don't care what the pervert does in his bedroom........

[itsahoot]

medical marijuana was passed in CA in 1996

You realize that under current law what California did was illegal right? Declaring the state to be a Sanctuary State is also illegal but somehow you think it shouldn't be. Does either of those actions effect people in other States? Well of course it does but I think their was a case between Colorado and Kansas that rejected that notion.

The people that matter could care less about the potheads, for them it is about money and power. That is why we protect the poppy fields in Afghanistan.

[The Iceman Cometh]

Dope smoking is most certainly not a “victim less crime”

Unless you grow it yourself and only use it while at home with no children around. I should be allowed to do that and the government can go pound sand.