Crackdown on pot coming, Spicer says
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will step up enforcement of federal law against recreational marijuana, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday, offering the Trump administration’s strongest indication to date of a looming crackdown on the drug.
“I do believe you’ll see greater enforcement of it,” Spicer said in response to a question during a news conference. But he offered no details about what such enforcement would entail. President Donald Trump does not oppose medical marijuana, he added, but “that’s very different than recreational use, which is something the Department of Justice will be further looking into.”
A renewed focus on recreational marijuana in states that have legalized pot would present a departure from the Trump administration’s statements in favor of states’ rights. A day earlier, the administration announced that the issue of transgender-student bathroom access was best left to states and local communities to decide.
Enforcement would also shift away from marijuana policy under the Obama administration, which said in a 2013 memo that it would not intervene in states’ marijuana laws as long as they kept the drug from crossing state lines and away from children and drug cartels.
But the memo carried no force of law and could be rewritten by new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has consistently said he opposes legal marijuana.
Eight states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for recreational use. The Justice Department has several options available should it decide to enforce the law, including filing lawsuits on the grounds that state laws regulating pot are unconstitutional because they are pre-empted by federal law. Enforcement also could be as simple as directing U.S. attorneys to send letters to recreational marijuana businesses letting them know that they are breaking the law.
“The current situation is unsustainable,” Kevin Sabet, head of the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in a statement. “States that have legalized marijuana continue to see a black market for the drug, increased rates of youth drug use, continued high rates of alcohol sales, and interstate trafficking, with drug dealers taking advantage of non-enforcement.”
Spicer’s comments came the same day as a Quinnipiac poll said 59 percent of Americans think marijuana should be legal and 71 percent would oppose a federal crackdown.
Pot advocates said they hoped Spicer’s prediction would not come to pass.
“It is hard to imagine why anyone would want marijuana to be produced and sold by cartels and criminals rather than tightly regulated, taxpaying businesses,” said Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project.