Is the end near for Legal Marijuana in America?

      There's something rather concerning taking place in D.C. right now, and for whatever reason nobody is talking about it. The end may be near for the legal cannabis industry, and this is pertaining to both medicinal and recreational purposes. If you're not worried, you should be.

      In the past couple decades, the way we think of Marijuana has drastically changed. It's no longer seen as a highly addictive, dangerous drug that ruins lives. As a result many countries have began legalizing it for both medical and recreational usage. This has been a major step in the right direction, especially in the United States which has an extremely archaic stance on drug use in general. As of now it's been legalized for medical purposes in 29 states, and for recreational users in 8 states as well as the district of Columbia. However due to it's schedule 1 status, it's still strictly illegal at the federal level. Which can pose a serious problem considering the current administration occupying D.C. As well as what everyone's favorite self righteous Attorney General Jeff Sessions' intentions are for 2018.

      It's no secret that Sessions harbors a strong animosity towards cannabis and those who use it. In fact, he once infamously stated that "good people" don't use marijuana. Yet it seems as if after the outrage directed at that particular statement died down, everyone stopped caring about his stance on the drug. Sure, everyone made fun of him for trying to bring back D.A.R.E. but that was more of a meme than anything, and there's something looming over the heads of the American people which none of us are paying attention to. The potential end of legal weed is near.

      Allow me to take you back to the year of 2011. Medical Marijuana had already existed in The United States for some time by then, however something really alarming began to occur. There was a mass coordinated crackdown on the medicinal industry in California specifically. The DEA was raiding countless dispensaries, destroying the livelihood of those who ran them, and in some cases pursuing legal action for the violation of federal law. They were legally permitted to do this under The Supremacy Clause (Article VI clause 2 of the constitution) which makes said constitution as well as federal law the supreme rule of the land. Under this, every piece of state and local legislation is irrefutably subordinate to any federal ruling it may conflict with. Guess what that means for Medical Marijuana? So despite everyone claiming that they were overstepping their bounds, it was actually completely within their power to proceed in that direction.

      The only reason this did not continue was due to President Obama ordering them to "direct their resources elsewhere" in the now infamous Cole memorandum. Something which Jeff Sessions has already publicly disavowed as invalid, and can rescind at will. In order to further cement the protection of the medicinal cannabis industry, a bill titled "Rohrabacher-Farr" was signed into law in 2014. This ensured that The Department of Justice be unable to direct any federal funding to the pursuit of infringing on any state specific marijuana related laws. This has largely kept the DEA out of medicinal and recreational dispensaries across the country, however just how long the industry will be protected by this is now in question. It's future was already threatened back in September by house Republicans, and with the turmoil going on in D.C. as of now. It's the target of serious scrutinization. Although some would argue that even with it in place, the federal government still holds the authority to crack down on the industry regardless. Which is something Sessions has endorsed countless times in the past.

      He's claimed on multiple occasions how he plans to crackdown on medicinal/recreational marijuana at the earliest opportunity. Claiming it unwise for Congress to redistrict the discretion of The Department of Justice, further preventing them from prosecuting cannabis laws when in the midst of a drug epidemic. He's recently referred to a marijuana habit as an "only slightly less destructive addiction than a heroin one." And what alarms me the most is that even before the house blocked the scheduled voting on Rohrabacher-Farr in September, legal weed was already in a potentially perilous position. So after that happened I was sure that there'd be mass outrage and protest, but it never came... All pot advocates should absolutely be keeping their eyes on D.C. right now.

Trump has come out in support of state rights countless times in the past, which is ever so slightly comforting. However his turbulent temperament and whimsical actions of the past have me worried. The man's so anti substance that he doesn't even drink, and I just hope his personal opinion on the matter doesn't affect his political stances too much....