Marijuana action coming, the White House suggests

Trump administration may challenge states with a crackdown on recreational pot trade.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday put states that have legalized recreational-use marijuana on notice that federal law enforcement agents could be targeting them soon.

It was the clearest warning yet that the Trump administration may move to disrupt the marijuana trade in the eight states, including California, that have legalized the recreational use of pot.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the administration had no plans to continue the Obama administration’s permissive approach and that it saw recreational marijuana as a flagrant violation of federal law.

Spicer’s statement that the Justice Department could initiate enforcement actions in states that have legalized recreational pot alarmed the multibilliondollar industry and set up the administration for another confrontation with liberal states.

Spicer likened marijuana’s widespread use to the opioid addiction epidemic — a charge many medical experts would dispute. But the comments intensified concerns that the recreational marijuana trade that has been brought into the open in recent years — generating hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue — could soon be disrupted.

“When you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming around so many states … the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people,” Spicer said.

Asked whether states that have legalized recreational use could be targeted by federal actions, Spicer said, “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement.” He said that while federal law prohibits raids of medical marijuana operations, “that’s very different than the recreational use, which is something the Department of Justice, I think, will be further looking into.”

It has been years since the Drug Enforcement Administration busted pot businesses operating legally under state laws. The Obama administration issued a policy putting a stop to such raids, even as it continued to classify the drug as more dangerous than cocaine. Congress further reassured marijuana users in 2014 by banning the DEA from using federal funds to go after medical marijuana operations operating legally under state laws.

To many, the legal recreational pot trade in America has grown so large, routine and socially acceptable that it has become too big to jail.

But the industry has been on edge since Trump’s election. While his position on the drug has been murky, his appointment of former Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general rattled dispensary owners and growers. Sessions is a longtime crusader in the war on drugs, as is Vice President Mike Pence.

How far the administration would go with states that have legalized pot is unclear. The options range from largely symbolic gestures such as cracking down on the illegal transportation of marijuana between states or initiating a few seizures from dispensaries, to filing injunctions seeking to nullify state legalization laws.

Any such enforcement brings political risk, and could undermine Trump’s positioning as a champion of states’ rights. Spicer’s announcement comes only days after the formation in the House of the first Cannabis Caucus. The founding members are two Democrats and two Republicans, a reminder of the bipartisan appeal of the issue.

“The federal government should stay out of this. Period,” Rep. Don Young (RAlaska), one of the caucus founders, said as it was launched last week. “I am happy to say that we will butt heads with the attorney general when we have to. We will do our job.” Alaska, a deeply Republican state, is among those that have recently legalized recreational use.

Spicer’s comments on pot came on the same day a new Quinnipiac poll showed 71% of Americans surveyed are opposed to the kind of enforcement action he suggested is coming. The same poll found 59% support full legalization of marijuana.

Some, however, welcomed the warnings.

“The current situation is unsustainable,” said Kevin Sabet, the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group opposed to legalization. “This isn’t an issue about states’ rights. It’s an issue of public health and safety for communities.”