When it was reported Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was going after legalized marijuana by rescinding a policy that has protected pot businesses from federal intervention, I had two initial thoughts.
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How stupid is this?
Who in the hell even agrees with it?
Where, exactly, is the constituency clamoring for a tamp down on states that have legalized marijuana successfully, that not only serve customers who use it recreationally, but more importantly, help the sick and dying with medicinal versions of the drug.
There really is no such constituency, or at least not a majority.
A Gallup poll in October showed that 64 percent—more Americans than ever in the history of their polling—supported legalized marijuana. This is up from 12 percent in 1969. Maybe Sessions hasn’t read a poll since ’69.
The same poll reported that 51 percent of Republicans now also support legalizing the drug.
Even though the Republican majority that supports legal weed is slim, virtually all data shows most groups across the board have embraced legalization increasingly over the last few decades.
Support for legalized marijuana in the U.S. has reached a record high of 64%, per Gallup poll pic.twitter.com/yuiK5KbvAs
— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) October 25, 2017
Even different conservative religious groups have trended toward legalization, particularly younger people of faith.
Oh, and while we’re at it, here’s an exhaustive list of everyone that’s died from a marijuana overdose (zero) compared to alcohol (one person every 10 seconds, according to the World Health Organization) which is legal nationally.
So who actually wants to keep marijuana illegal?
As Americans’ attitudes have been consistent in an upward tick toward legalization, one group has been consistent in wanting to maintain pot prohibition: Big Pharma. Major pharmaceutical companies have lobbied for years against any chance that pot might one day compete with opioids and other legal drugs that have done far more damage to America’s health and psyche than marijuana ever will.
You’d have to be as out of touch as Jeff Sessions to think otherwise.
I’m not saying Sessions’ latest move is necessarily to please Big Pharma. The AG really does come off as an old guy completely detached from modern culture, science, and reality in general (though he does know who Lady Gaga is).
But we do know Sessions has received donations from Big Tobacco, which has also been to known to oppose legal pot. We know that there are friends of Big Pharma in the Trump administration.
Yet most illuminating, we know the nature of the state: That powerful government and corporate forces often collude to prevent citizens from exercising perfectly reasonable freedoms of choice.
Regardless, Jeff Sessions is apparently gonna Jeff Sessions, even though this latest move doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, including to the majority of people in the country he’s supposed to be serving.
Including, at one time, President Trump:
Video from Colorado in 2016👇
I asked @realDonaldTrump about the possibility that his AG pick might try to shut down #marijuana legalization.
“I wouldn’t do that, no,” Trump said. “I think it should be up to the states, absolutely.” https://t.co/PnTo7OtM23
— Brandon Rittiman (@BrandonRittiman) January 4, 2018