Jeff Sessions has vowed to crack down on marijuana

[GMDino]

Trump and Sessions, in typical low-education think, say they will ingore everything and do what they want because, uh...they know more than everyone else?

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-05/trump-may-ignore-congressional-protections-for-medical-marijuana

Quote:Trump Spurns Congress as He Signals Medical Marijuana Fight


President Donald Trump signaled he may ignore a congressional ban on interfering with state medical marijuana laws, arguing in a lengthy statement that he isn’t legally bound by a series of limits lawmakers imposed on him.

Trump issued the “signing statement” Friday after he signed a measure funding the government for the remainder of the federal fiscal year, reprising a controversial tactic former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama used while in office.


Jeff Sessions addresses law enforcement members on March 31.

Photographer: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

Trump also suggested he may ignore gender and racial preferences in some government programs as well as congressional requirements for advance notice before taking a range of foreign policy and military actions.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vowed to crack down on marijuana and has dismissed arguments for its medical use as “desperate.”

“I reject the idea that we’re going to be better placed if we have more marijuana,” Sessions said in a speech to law-enforcement officials in March. “It’s not a healthy substance, particularly for young people.”

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico now allow for medical marijuana use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Trump argued in the statement that his constitutional prerogatives supersede the restrictions Congress placed on him as a condition for funding government operations.

Power Struggle

Steve Bell, a senior adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, said Trump’s signing statement signaled a desire to usurp power from the legislative branch.

“It is the constitutional prerogative of the Congress to spend money and to put limitations on spending,” Bell, a former staff director of the Senate Budget Committee and an aide to former Republican Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, said by phone. “This is an extremely broad assertion of executive branch power over the purse.”

In the signing statement, Trump singled out a provision in the spending bill that says funds cannot be used to block states from implementing medical marijuana laws.

“I will treat this provision consistently with my constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” he said.

Making a Statement

Obama also occasionally released signing statements objecting to congressional restrictions on his authority. The White House described Trump’s signing statement as routine, but did not indicate whether the president planned to take action to defy Congressional restrictions.

Bell said Trump’s stance on the medical marijuana provision in the bill was at odds with the 10th Amendment, which protects states from federal overreach.

Tim Shaw, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said that the president is bound by the language in the spending bill that now bears his signature.

“Part of the argument here in this signing statement is that he has the constitutional requirement to execute the law,”
Shaw said in an interview. “But this is one of those laws, and Congress has the ultimate authority over funds getting spent.’’

Must be hard for folks like Trump and Sessions.  They are so used to bullying their way and then they find out they legally can't.  

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

This is disappointing to the patients who could benefit from medical marijuana. The DEA needs to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I substance to a Schedule II so meaningful research can be done instead is Jeff Session repeating ignorant propaganda from the 1930s.

Last Week Tonight on HBO recently did a piece on marijuana. Theu showed a veteran in Kentucky testifying that marijuana treats his PTSD more effectively and with less side effects than what the VA doctors prescribe (some of which are more addictive than weed, xanax for example.). But, VA doctors being federal employees can't legally write prescriptions for medical marijuana he could fill in another state. But, if he did it would be a crime to bring it back home to Kentucky. It's a mess. Anyone interested should give it a watch.

[GMDino]

(05-06-2017, 11:23 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: This is disappointing to the patients who could benefit from medical marijuana. The DEA needs to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I substance to a Schedule II so meaningful research can be done instead is Jeff Session repeating ignorant propaganda from the 1930s.

Last Week Tonight on HBO recently did a piece on marijuana. Theu showed a veteran in Kentucky testifying that marijuana treats his PTSD more effectively and with less side effects than what the VA doctors prescribe (some of which are more addictive than weed, xanax for example.). But, VA doctors being federal employees can't legally write prescriptions for medical marijuana he could fill in another state. But, if he did it would be a crime to bring it back home to Kentucky. It's a mess. Anyone interested should give it a watch.

To be fair Sessions thinks the 1930's was when America was great...and he wants to help make America Great again.

Secondly, I agree wholeheartedly.

[*bfine32*]

I've expressed my views on the legalization of marijuana on here before. I watched my mother-in-Law return from chemo as she battled cancer. She was so sick I had to carry her out of the car and into the bed. For this the Doctors prescribed her a marijuana pill (Marinol?). The pill was $70 dollars a dose. I could take about a 60 minute drive and get her a whole oz of feel better for about $40.

It is absolutely ridiculous that the drug is not available for medicinal purposes and I feel it should be legal for recreational use.

[GMDino]

(05-06-2017, 12:40 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I've expressed my views on the legalization of marijuana on here before. I watched my mother-in-Law return from chemo as she battled cancer. She was so sick I had to carry her out of the car and into the bed. For this the Doctors prescribed her a marijuana pill (Marinol?). The pill was $70 dollars a dose. I could take about a 60 minute drive and get her a whole oz of feel better for about $40.

It is absolutely ridiculous that the drug is not available for medicinal purposes and I feel it should be legal for recreational use.

In another thread I shared how my college roommate (now a doctor) was just dead set against legalization at all.  It took years but he finally has come around.  At least for the medical part.

His main concern was all the addictive personalities that would get hooked on it.  My argument is they will get addicted anyway.  Better to have something that is (relatively) harmless helping others too.

Sorry about your mother in law.  It's a damn shame that we have a natural drug that can do more for less but the federal government is living in the 1930's about it for some reason.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(05-06-2017, 12:40 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I've expressed my views on the legalization of marijuana on here before. I watched my mother-in-Law return from chemo as she battled cancer. She was so sick I had to carry her out of the car and into the bed. For this the Doctors prescribed her a marijuana pill (Marinol?). The pill was $70 dollars a dose. I could take about a 60 minute drive and get her a whole oz of feel better for about $40.

It is absolutely ridiculous that the drug is not available for medicinal purposes and I feel it should be legal for recreational use.

I'm going to assume she was on some sort of narcotic for pain. The anti-marijuana people like Sessions cite health reasons like addiction why marijuana should be illegal, but the narcotics we prescribe to treat pain in cancer patients can have the same negative effects. The DEA schedule of marijuana prevents meaningful marijuana research to educate people like Sessions. The worst part is the patients are denied a potential palliative treatment to ease their suffering. Very frustrating.

[NATI BENGALS]

Easy way to fill the for profit prisons.

Take away peoples freedom and make some big bucks. Trump and Sessions are the peoples champions.

Lock them up! lock them up!

[SunsetBengal]

Dude, it's purely for medicinal purposes..

[Rotobeast]

I do not partake, but I would literally fight against this.