Anti-Marijuana Group Asks Sessions for Crackdown on Marijuana

Governor Jay Inslee commented on a recent RMHIDTA report following communications from SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), requesting that AG Sessions crackdown on marijuana commercialization. SAM wants to see the government crackdown on the biggest players in the industry. Colorado, Oregon and Washington States were all criticized in the report.

SAM also claims that these states “failed to meet” what the Cole Memo set out to do, according to Westword. The Cole Memo was implemented to tell federal regulators to “take a hands-off approach in states that legalized retail marijuana”. AG Sessions responded to a letter written by Governor Hickenlooper and several others reiterating the power of the Department of Justice to enforce federal laws regarding marijuana.

SAM published its report on the 4-year anniversary of the release of the Cole Memo. It reports that indicates that states aren’t holding up the guidelines of the Cole Memo. They’ve requested that the Trump administration and AG Sessions crackdown on state-regulated marijuana industries.

SAM President Kevin Sabet said, “As Attorney General Sessions considers what actions to take on marijuana enforcement, we urge him to be smart on crime, not just tough on crime, and to continue to focus any federal resources wisely. It’s time for states to stop playing politics and start ‘fessing up to the real challenges they face.’”

According to SAM, Colorado has failed most of the guidelines. What they did pass SAM’s “inspection” on was preventing use/possession on federal property.

Governor Inslee noted that the information used to compile this report is old and incomplete. Much of the data used to compare statistics are from long before marijuana was legal in any state, some as much as a decade’s difference. One report used data from 2002 – 2003 to compare an increase in teen use in Colorado.

Representative Jonathan Singer said, “Every report needs to be looked at with its own limitations. There are so many limitations to that study that it’s important to look at it in its context. Take a look at our own validated Healthy Kids survey that’s nationally recognized, and see what that shows.”

Representative Singer’s comments are in line with Governor Inslee’s perception  – that the data is incomplete, inaccurate and doesn’t show the most recent data.