FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1/4/2018: This morning, sources within the Associated Press reported Attorney General Jeff Sessions is dismantling the Obama-era directives holding the Department of Justice, which the Drug Enforcement Agency sits under, at bay in states that have legalized cannabis. Politico published a copy of the memorandum repealing the Obama-era directives, which is available here: http://politi.co/2E71DnU

“The memos Attorney General Sessions repealed were written by Deputy Attorneys General Ogden, Cole, and Wilkinson. These memos gave a layer of enforcement protection to states for both medical and recreational cannabis programs, and allowed tribal governments to cultivate cannabis on reservations. There is currently a federal prohibition on expending funds to prosecute cultivators, processors, distributors, consumers and patients in compliance with state-level medical cannabis laws via Congressional appropriations, but this prohibition does not extend to adult-use or tribal governments. Currently, we do not expect this to impact Minnesota’s medical cannabis patients, but it could certainly have effects if Congress doesn’t maintain the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer appropriation spending prohibition,” said Brandan Borgos, Sensible Minnesota’s Vice-President and Twin Cities attorney.

“As advocates, we must call on our elected officials, Senators Klobuchar and Smith, as well as Minnesota’s entire Congressional delegation, to step-up and finally put an end to federal cannabis prohibition, or, at the very least, to withdraw enforcement funding through the appropriations process,” said Maren Schroeder, Sensible Minnesota’s President. “This is not time to play politics, this is time to protect patients, jobs, workers, state-economies, and those harmed by the dated, racist war on drugs.”

Sensible Minnesota is deeply concerned with this new, but expected, turn in the federal government’s policy. While we hope the current Trump administration will put a stop to this, our Senators and members of Congress must act.

About Sensible Minnesota

Sensible Minnesota is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit founded in 2015 by a group of experienced activists. The organization seeks to educate the public on the uses, benefits, and relative safety of cannabis; support persons harmed by prohibition; and to advocate for sensible policy change. For more information visit: https://sensible.mn.

Press Contacts

Brandan Borgos, [email protected] 612-865-7811 (Twin Cities-Metro)
Maren Schroeder, [email protected] 507-226-3578 (Rochester Area)

“Jeff Sessions – Caricature” by DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0