Reflections on California and Federal Government's Position on Marijuana

Reflections on California and Federal Government’s Position on Marijuana By Richard Lowe, Esq

CARIBPRESS SEPTEMBER 2018 • WWW.CARIBPRESS.COM

On January 1, 2018 the California law legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes went into effect. This meant that as long as you were an adult you could legally buy and enjoy marijuana to your heart’s content. There were still some restrictions on where you could enjoy its effects but it came without the old fear of the knock on your door followed by the police barging in it to arrest you. This was a wonderful moment for all those who had advocated freeing up the weed for decades. Finally, the moment of success had arrived and the folks at the National Organization for Legalization of Marijuana (NORLM) could toast their success with champagne or, of course, a toke off a big head spliff.

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California did not easily take the step of legalization for recreation. It was always clear that California needed a signal from the federal government that it would not seek to enforce federal laws making marijuana illegal if California took steps to legalize. California got such a signal when the Obama Administration sent out a notice to all U.S. Attorneys that as long as the growing and distribution of weed was done in strict compliance with state law, the federal government

would not interfere. With no fear of federal condemnation, the marijuana industry flourished. Not just in California, but in a number of other states such as Colorado, Washington, Oregon and the District of Columbia, among others, all began allowing the sale and use of marijuana for adult recreation. Big money, seeing the investment opportunity of a lifetime, began investing heavily in the marijuana business. All began seeing a bright future. However, the euphoria was short lived.

On January 20, 2017, the Obama Administration ended and the Trump Administration took over. The Attorney General of the United States under Obama was Eric Holder and he was replaced by the Trump Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregaud Sessions, a little known Senator from Alabama. Mr. Sessions was well known to the marijuana legalization movement however as a hard liner, totally against any relaxing of the federal government’s draconian marijuana laws. The gist of these laws was that marijuana had absolutely no redeemable quality and was a very dangerous drug. Indeed, Attorney General Sessions, during a television interview had stated, in clear, unambiguous language that “Good people do not

use marijuana”. However, he made no move to change the Obama Administration policy of, essentially, hands-off

the industry. So California saw no reason to hold off its legalization and CONTINUES ON PAGE 14