Muddying pot law

Surely with an opioid epidemic facing this nation that shows no sign of letting up, the attorney general of the United States might have more important things to do than bring down his legal hammer on states where voters have approved the legal sale of medical or recreational marijuana — like this one.

Now don’t get us wrong, we thought the ballot issue was the wrong way to go and frankly we are not looking forward to the opening of pot shops all around the state come summer. But the voters have spoken on the issue — here and in seven other states and the District of Columbia. (In addition, a total of 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana.) And for months now responsible state regulators have been trying to come up with regulations that will protect public safety and still recognize that a solid majority of voters are OK with recreational weed sales.

So along comes U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday, rescinding an Obama-era policy that made some sense of federal law — which still views marijuana as an illegal drug — and yet allowed states to implement their own pot-friendly laws.

“In deciding which marijuana activities to prosecute under these laws with the Department’s finite resources, prosecutors should follow the well-established principles that govern all federal prosecutions,” Sessions wrote in a one-page memo to U.S. attorneys around the country. Those principles include the seriousness of the crime and its impact on the community.

That could mean nothing at all, of course. But it does sufficiently muddy the waters just days after California’s legalization law went into effect. And it might just encourage some eager federal prosecutor in search of a headline or two to abuse his authority.

The old Obama-era rule made clear that federal law enforcement would not stand in the way of states that legalized marijuana as long as officials kept it from being trafficked into states where it was not legal and kept it out of the hands of children and criminal gangs — all entirely sensible guidelines.

Newly appointed U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling, said in a statement he will “continue to pursue federal marijuana crimes, especially bulk trafficking” and “those who use the federal banking system illegally.”

The latter particularly adds a level of ambiguity that is unnerving to the marijuana industry eager to set up shop here.

What is critical is that state, local and federal law enforcement work How the confusion created by Sessions contributes to that remains a mystery.