How Jeff Sessions & Tom Price Could Derail the Cannabis Industry
Lukas Barfield
January 24th, 2017
Policy, Top News
California was the first state to pass medical cannabis in 1996. Two short years later Alaska, Colorado and Washington passed their own form of medical cannabis in 1998. Since that time 28 states and DC have legalized some form of full plant medical cannabis with the large majority now allowing limited CBD use with in their borders. Colorado and Washington passed recreational cannabis in 2012 and just 4 years later, a blink of the eye in politics, the count of states who allow recreational cannabis is up to 9. After decades of inaction, cannabis is officially on a roll. The Kohl Memo, released in 2013 in response to the CO and WA legalization efforts, has given recreational cannabis states a little space when it comes to cannabis regulation. Despite these clarifications and there being support for rescheduling cannabis from a Schedule I substance to a Schedule II substance, it is still illegal under Federal law. During this time of cannabis law legalization and relaxation pent up demand and innovation has produced a thriving legal cannabis industry that stretches from California to Maine, but the election of Donald J. Trump and his subsequent cabinet appointments of Senator Jeff sessions(R AL) to Attorney General and Representative Tom Price (R GA) to the Department of Health and Human Services threatens to undermined the economic and social justice gains cannabis has seen in recent years.
Trump himself, like many other issues on his plate, is vague when it comes to recreational cannabis, but in several interviews he has espoused support for medical cannabis. He told Bill O’Reilly in an interview in February 2016 after Bill pressed him on cracking down on recreational cannabis in Colorado. “I would really want to think about that one, Bill. Because in some ways I think it’s good and in other ways it’s bad. I do want to see what the medical effects are. I have to see what the medical effects are and, by the way — medical marijuana, medical? I’m in favor of it a hundred percent.” Citing people he knows who use medical cannabis, Trump has told other news outlets similar statements leading up to the election. Unfortunately, his two appointees Sessions and Price haven’t been as friendly to cannabis in the past.
The Attorney General is the top criminal prosecutor in the country. Sessions, if appointed, as AG will have broad discretion to enforce cannabis laws. Although he has not said explicitly what he will do in regards to cannabis he has made two ominous statements in the past that raised eyebrows in cannabis circles concerning the plant. In the 1980’s he said he used to like the KKK until he found out they smoked “pot”. Let that sink in for a moment. A more recent statement came in April 2016 when he said “Good people don’t smoke marijuana”. He added he thought the Obama policy was untenable. The latest signal Jeff Session’s cannabis policy may be different from the current administration’s came on January 10, 2017 during his confirmation hearing. He repeated his concerns around the Obama policy, and said he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t enforce Federal law.
The Department of Health and Human Services is home to the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies that regulate cannabis and set research priorities in the US. Tom Price, who Like Sessions will have wide discretion to medal in cannabis’s new found success, has drawn critics from cannabis activist and industry insiders alike. His poor stance on cannabis law has earned him a score of -10 from NORML. They site the Georgia representative’s “No” vote on amendments designed to roll back Federal interference in state medical cannabis laws and amendments that would allow VA doctors to recommend cannabis to Veterans. Surprisingly, He has been reluctant to vote “No” on regulating high CBD cannabis products, but has not clarified his position through any public statement.
The Marijuana Business Fact Book forecasts the US cannabis industry will contribute 44 billion dollars per year to the economy by 2020. It was estimated to be worth 6.7 billion in 2016. With jurisdictions relaxing cannabis laws, states relying on cannabis to fill budget shortfalls, large investors wanting to get in on the fastest growing sector in the economy and mom and pop businesses sinking their life savings into their cannabis businesses the stakes are high. Cannabis is at a uncertain crossroads. The decisions the Trump administration makes over the next 4 years, for good or bad, could shape cannabis policy for years to come.
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This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.
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