Washington Declares War On Washington DC Over Marijuana Policy

SEATTLE, WA - If Attorney General Jeff Sessions thinks he's going to knock the cannabis out of the mouths (and lungs and stomachs) of Washington state residents, he better think again. Local, state, and federal officials on Thursday responded angrily to Sessions' repeal of Obama-era marijuana policy, which left the issue up to states.

In a memo issued Thursday, Sessions said he wanted a return to "the rule of law" with marijuana prohibition. Citing the national opioid crisis in his statement, Sessions failed to acknowledge that Washington uses marijuana tax revenue to fund opioid addiction treatment.

In the memorandum, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directs all U.S. Attorneys to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to follow well-established principles when pursuing prosecutions related to marijuana activities. This return to the rule of law is also a return of trust and local control to federal prosecutors who know where and how to deploy Justice Department resources most effectively to reduce violent crime, stem the tide of the drug crisis, and dismantle criminal gangs.

In 2013, then-deputy attorney general James Cole issued a memo directing federal prosecutors to leave marijuana regulation to states, unless those regulations hurt minors or increased organized crime. Sessions' memo Thursday rescinds the Cole Memo, instructing federal prosecutors to use their discretion to enforce federal drug laws.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Annette L. Hayes, appointed in 2014 under Obama, has prosecuted high-profile marijuana cases. But early in 2017, a Hayes spokesperson told Crosscut that Hayes, "continues to enforce federal drug laws consistent with applicable law and policy, including the Cole memo.”

Eight states including Washington have legalized marijuana since 2013. Washington has a thriving marijuana industry with hundreds of stores, farms, and distributors spread across the state. Voters approved legal marijuana in 2012.

Under federal law, marijuana is a schedule one substance, the same category as opioids and cocaine. Sessions has long hated marijuana, legal or not.

"We need grown-ups in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that it is in fact a very real danger," Sessions said at a hearing in April 2016.

Later in that same hearing, he said "good people don't smoke marijuana." More controversially, during a 1986 hearing in Congress over his appointment to a federal judge post, he joked that the "Ku Klux Klan was OK until I found out they smoked pot."

The response from local politicians was swift and furious. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said Seattle police, the largest department in the state, would never aid federal officials in policing marijuana. Attorney General Bob Ferguson didn't rule out a lawsuit against Sessions. And Gov. Jay Inslee said the state will "vigorously defend" the voter-approved state recreational marijuana law.

The state's tax on marijuana sales generated about $314 million last year, money that went toward schools and addiction treatment. Just over the first four days of 2018, tax revenues have already hit $120 million, according to the state Liquor and Cannabis Board.

The nuclear option: Washington could burn down all its marijuana laws

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Renton, called Sessions' policy reversal a return to the "wild west," when criminal gangs controlled the marijuana trade.

“The actions taken by Attorney General Sessions to rescind existing protections for citizens complying with lawfully enacted state laws regarding marijuana use across the country represents a flagrant disregard for the will of the majority of Americans. This about-face leaves a vacuum of any substantive federal marijuana policy, and threatens to create a ‘wild west’ of haphazard prosecutions. This shift in policy is completely unacceptable, and is an affront to the 10th Amendment.

“We must demand that Washington state residents who abide by state laws are protected from blanket federal enforcement. It is essential that Congress now provide certainty on this issue. We must move swiftly to codify the ban on dollars being spent by federal law enforcement to prosecute individuals legally participating in marijuana use or business in accordance with respective state laws. We have a responsibility to strengthen guidance to U.S. Attorneys on prosecution of marijuana cases and enact clear guidelines to financial institutions on providing banking services to legal marijuana businesses," Smith said.

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