No weed wars

Atotal of 28 states allow medical cannabis, and eight have legalized wider use. Polls show most Americans accept freer access to marijuana, and the Obama White House dropped a pointed crackdown.

But President Trump’s team — at least in the person of Attorney General Jeff Sessions — is heading in the opposite direction. The nation’s top cop is warming up the rhetoric and sending signals that crime fears, not state-level laws, should continue to bar marijuana.

It’s not a total surprise given that Sessions is a longtime foe of cannabis, believing it’s harmful, dangerous and linked to crime. But a return to the weed wars would be a disaster. Prohibition hasn’t worked and would be a hopeless cause with marijuana more widely used by the day.

The next steps are hazy. Sessions is forming a task force on violent crime, wrapping in marijuana enforcement. His antidrug views don’t distinguish between the serious threat of opioids and heroin and the comparatively benign effects of marijuana. This outlook led the governors of Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Alaska, where voters have legalized weed, to caution Sessions against a crackdown.

There are better answers. Let states, including California, enact rules that reflect reality, a cannabis economy and public acceptance. If Washington, D.C., wants to help, it could permit wider research into marijuana, largely barred because of the weed’s federally controlled status. Drug gangs, not dispensary operators following the law, should be the legal quarry.

The final choice may fall to President Trump, who has expressed sympathy for medical marijuana. But that’s short of legalization, which lies ahead for California next year. Sessions, with his outdated and unworkable theories, shouldn’t disrupt the clear course that lies ahead.