U.S. changes in pot policy spark confusion, crackdown fears
LOS ANGELES — The buzz kill long dreaded in the marijuana industry came just days after California opened what is expected to be the world’s largest legal pot market.
The Trump administration announced Thursday that it was ending an Obama-era policy to tread lightly on enforcing U.S. marijuana laws. The declaration renewed anxiety, confusion and uncertainty that has long shadowed the bright green leafy drug still forbidden under federal law but now legal in a majority of states as medicine and in a handful of those for recreational purposes.
“Everybody is super worried. My phone has been going off the hook,” said Terry Blevins, who runs a security firm and is part-owner of a marijuana distribution company in Southern California. “They are all: ‘What does this mean? … Is the federal government going to come into California’ ” to raid businesses?
Officials wouldn’t say if federal prosecutors would target pot shops and legal growers, nor would they speculate on whether pot prosecutions would increase.
The action by Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not unexpected given his longtime opposition to pot, but comes at a heady time for the industry as retail pot sales rolled out New Year’s Day in California.
In 2013, president Barack Obama’s attorney general advised prosecutors not to waste money targeting pot growers and sellers that were abiding by state laws, but to go after flagrant violations such as trafficking across state lines or selling to minors. Under this policy, several states legalized recreational pot, growers and sellers had begun to drop their guard over fears of a federal crackdown and the business blossomed into a sophisticated, multimillion-dollar industry feeding state government programs with tax dollars.
Sessions and some law enforcement officials blame legalization for a number of problems, including trafficking of black-market weed. Authorities are also concerned about stoned drivers and fear that widespread acceptance of the drug could increase its youth appeal.
Advocates for the drug, which is classified in federal law in the same category as heroin, have argued that it has medicinal qualities and causes less harm than alcohol. They have said the government needs to focus on rampant opioid abuse and allow a regulated marijuana market that will reduce crime by eliminating the need for a black market.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the state, which along with Colorado in 2012 were the first to allow retail pot sales, would continue marijuana operations.
“We should, in my book, not push the panic button on either your individual lives or your businesses,” Inslee said.
At Harbourside in Oakland, one of California’s largest shops, founder and CEO Steve DeAngelo said it was business as usual and he wanted to assure customers not to fear shopping there.
“We’ve been targeted by the federal government before and we stand up and we fight for our rights.”