By Monterey Bud

 

On Wednesday, U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions demonstrated the depth of his ignorance when he shared his desire to erase 30 years of progress against the blunderous War on Drugs.

Citing Nancy Reagan’s failed “Just say no” campaign as a way to keep American citizens off drugs, Jeff Sessions informed Richmond, Virginia law enforcement officials,” I am determined that this country will not go backwards.” Putting the officials on notice AG Sessions explained, “President Trump gave us a clear directive. It’s the policy of this administration to reduce crime in America, not preside over an increase in crime, but reduce crime.”

After first acknowledging “the crime rate in our country remains at historic lows,” Sessions pivoted to his dystopian interpretation of the most recent statistics. “We’re beginning to see an increase again,” and named marijuana as a contributing factor, according to the Washington Post.

“We have too much of a tolerance for drug use,” Sessions said. “We need to say, as Nancy Reagan said, ‘Just say no.’ There’s no excuse for this, it’s not recreational. Lives are at stake, and we’re not going to worry about being fashionable.”

Not in the mood for idle conversation, Sessions was in Richmond to boast about Project Exile and rally the troops. First established in 1997, the federal program’s primary goal has been to deliver rigid justice to anyone convicted of a firearm offense. “Advertised in both electronic and print media outlets, the campaign was featured on city buses and business cards displaying a specific message: an illegal gun will get you five years in federal prison.”

Ignoring inconvenient facts, Sessions then disparaged medical marijuana. Disregarding the scientific evidence that underscores the plant’s ability to mitigate opioid-related issues, Sessions offered his less than informed opinion on the topic:

“I’ve heard people say we could solve our heroin problem with marijuana,” he said. “How stupid is that? Give me a break!”

Considered a low-rent trade with little medicinal value by the hopelessly uninformed, Sessions told reporters after his initial rant that “medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much.”

Apparently preoccupied with questions about Russia, Sessions has shown little time or interest in reading the research that demonstrates MMJ’s medicinal efficacy.

“Fashionable” or not,  there’s little doubt the U.S. has a serious drug problem. Unfortunately for the Atty. Gen., recreational or medical marijuana are hardly the issues. Instead, pharmaceutical companies that push OxyContin and other opioid-related narcotics on unsuspecting Americans are creating the current epidemic. Similar to the Nixon administration’s demonizing of marijuana in the early 70s, under AG Sessions and the Trump Administration, for-profit prisons could soon see a huge influx of new federal dollars and, unfortunately, even more minorities.