Federal law puts people before pot
California is now a narco state, ruled by drug money. California may never recover from the human, environmental and economic cost of marijuana legalization. The only thing that can save this state is federal intervention and return to a rule of law. We have a U.S. attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who puts people and the planet before marijuana. Under the guise of medicine, California has allowed more than 50,000 illegal marijuana cultivation sites on public and private land. Poisons, pesticides and fertilizers used to grow cannabis are killing wildlife, poisoning fish and contaminating the earth and watersheds.
Abdication of state or federal enforcement has placed the entire burden of public safety and environmental protection on local governments and law enforcement, without adequate resources. Two counties, Siskiyou and Yuba, have declared local states of emergency. More will follow.
Environmental reclamation is costly; yet the director of the California Bureau of Cannabis Control declared that under state environmental law additional marijuana cultivation in the entire state “… would not have any negative effects on the environment.” That is absurd.
Proposition 64, sold to voters based on manipulation by our state government and $25 million in campaign spending, resulted in 57 percent of voters approving the measure to legalize marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use — all to grow and sell a substance that causes addiction and impairs driving, and is a gateway to hard drugs.
The state legislative analysis touted $1 billion in new tax revenue. It stated: “… Although research on the health effect of marijuana is limited, there is some evidence that smoking marijuana has harmful effects.” That is preposterous.
A year later, the state Department of Public Health came out with its Let’s Talk Cannabis program to point out the harms. The analysis also erroneously assumed the Trump administration wouldn’t enforce drug laws, as had been the case with the Obama administration.
Undaunted by the human, environmental and economic cost, and undeterred by the violation of federal law, the state is issuing licenses to grow and sell marijuana. The governor and secretary of state are personally leading the charge to create a state bank to launder proceeds.
Federal law is clear: The only thing lacking has been enforcement. With Sessions at the helm, one can assume a day of reckoning is near. There are ample reasons why the entire marijuana program in California should be stopped and our elected leaders held accountable. We implore our U.S. attorneys to take that action.