Could Jeff Sessions Marijuana Policies Bring the Sea Change that Legalization Needs? Under the Obama administration, the marijuana industry has grown to a billion dollar industry in states like Colorado due to the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment. The amendment kept federal authorities out of state-legal businesses.
The measure is up for renewal in Congress, and some cannabis industry insiders are afraid the new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, will overturn it.
According to state revenue statistics, the Centennial States’s budding marijuana industry broke the billion-dollar mark for the first time in 2016. The growing industry is still in it’s infancy, so another era of clamping down on marijuana from federal authorities would be devastating.
Kristi Kelly is the Executive Director of the Marijuana Industry Group in Colorado. According to ABC news Denver, she absolutely believes that the dismantling of cannabis in Colorado would cause a recession.
One of Starbuds dispensary’s owners, Brian Ruden, also says he is concerned about the economic impact a shutdown of the state’s industry would have as well.
Ruden tells ABC Denver, ‘The new AG could possibly send a letter to all the state governors and say, ‘Get rid of the marijuana in your states or we’ll take action.’
But it’s more than just dispensary owners and budtenders who would be out of a job – think about the salespeople, IT department, electricians, and hundreds of ancillary roles that support the sale of cannabis.
Many cannabis proponents now worry that Sessions marijuana policies could follow the example of George W. Bush-era Attorney General John Ashcroft, and target legal dispensaries, growers, and ancillary businesses in rec-legal states.
On the other hand, longtime advocates like Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DC’s cannabis reform organization, DCMJ, is optimistic that Sessions confirmation is just what the movement needs to cross the finish line.
“This is a perfect storm for activists to win,” Eidinger says to FOX61 Connecticut, “This is probably the most important time in all the years I’ve worked on marijuana reform. We are literally at the end of the race.”
