You’re Hating On The Wrong Sessions!
There is no doubt that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a pain in the ass for the legal cannabis industry, but I’ll let you in on something: you’re actually hating on the WRONG Sessions!
Meet Congressman Pete Sessions from Waco, Texas. He is not related to Jeff Sessions, but he is just as fierce with his anti-cannabis stance as AG. He’s less famous, but just as powerful.
Why is Sessions the real enemy here?
First, let’s take a little trip back in history..
Sessions spent 16 years of his professional career working for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company as the District Manager for Marketing. He also worked as a businessman overseeing the Northeast Dallas Chamber of Commerce. In 1996, Sessions was sent to Washington, DC to represent the 5th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives and in 2002 he started representing the 32nd Congressional District. In 2016, he was called back to serve his 11th term.
Sessions is known for his market-based reforms, largely due to his background in business. He is also well known for his strong conservative background.
Fast forward…
Every year since 2014, the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Act has passed or at least was subject to revisions. The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Act prevents the Department of Justice from using its funds to prosecute or arrest people who obey state MMJ laws.
It’s passed every year until September 2017, which was when Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee, blocked it. Aside from blocking the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, Sessions also blocked many other amendments that could have been used to improve state-legal cannabis laws. The Rules Committee also blocked proposals that would have improved state-legal hemp projects, those that would have made it easier to conduct scientific research on cannabis, it blocked the protection of 8 states where recreational cannabis has been legalized, and it blocked programs that would allow the District of Columbia to implement adult use sales. Needless to say, Sessions’ move sent tremors to medical cannabis patients throughout the country.
It’s not clear why Sessions allowed past versions of the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer agreement to pass, but last year AG Jeff Sessions wrote to Congressional heads asking to help end protections for medical cannabis. He wrote: “The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.” One could suspect that Pete Sessions blocked the amendment last year as a means of pleasing the Attorney General.
Sessions Blocks Vote Allowing Vets Access To MMJ
Aside from being a key person in preventing a great deal of cannabis measures from even being discussed on the floor, one of his most notorious moves was blocking a vote that would have allowed military vets to obtain medical cannabis recommendations to get the medicine that they need. Sessions seems to be the only member of Congress who refuses to expand medical cannabis access to vets. Last year, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 24-7 in a move that would include the Veteran Equal Access amendment, part of the 2018 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. Sessions blocked a vote on the measure which basically crushed the bill to the ground.
Congress Misses Out On Voting For Cannabis Amendment
A few weeks ago, a congressional committee debated on an amendment that would protect state cannabis laws from being touched by the feds. The bill, called the McClintock-Polis amendment, was sponsored by Colorado Congressman Jared Polis who decided to withdraw the amendment instead of forcing the issue on a vote that would have probably lost since the panel was made up of bipartisan members, due to the its history of deciding along party lines.
During the debate, Sessions said: “I, as probably everybody in this room knows, have a strong opinion on drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol,” Sessions said. “Marijuana is an addictive product, and the merchants of addiction make it that way. They make it for addiction. They make it to where our people, our young people, become addicted to marijuana and keep going.” Polis argued that his measure “says nothing about whether you or I think marijuana should be legal or illegal. It simply respects the reality of the named states that have moved to regulate marijuana.”
Given the power that lies in Pete Sessions’ hands, you can now see how evil he is. One could only think that he lacks absolute compassion when it comes to anything cannabis-related…
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