Should We Fear Jeff Sessions?
Ah yes, the grumpy old troll with the power to fuck us all is back in my discourse. Over this year I have written several pieces on Sessions, trying to understand his rhetoric and his methodology. At first, I approached him with the same disdain as I do all Drug Czars. I studied his linguistics and tried to figure out ‘where his mind was’.
We quickly realized he was still stuck somewhere in the late 1970’s and mid 1980’s at the height of the drug war. The “Just Say No”, “Marijuana is a gateway”, “Crime is rampant because of gangs” are all beliefs he holds closely to his heart.
Eventually, throughout the year it seemed that while he believed in these ancient paradigms he was pretty much going to take a hands off approach to cannabis while he was “planning” on what to do with it.
As of now, this holds true. There hasn’t been a federal crackdown on legal cannabis and things are pretty much ‘business as usual’ within the industry. However, despite the current state of the industry, Sessions has frequently “rumored” about a “potential crackdown” and this keeps industry professionals uneasily approaching a potential weedpocalypse.
Furthermore, Sessions’ brain trust are all zealous anti-cannabis proponents such as Kevin Sabet [whom I have also written about], Dr. Bertha Madras [who provides the ‘medical perspective’ from their anti-cannabis views] and Dr. Robert DuPont who worked under Nixon and was the first director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse [which is saying a lot].
These guys have political power and are actively trying to work on stifling the progress and culmination of the cannabis industry as a whole. I’m not going to jump into their individual ideologies. Either way, they aren’t the type of people who should be advising anyone on drug use or abuse or how the hell we’re going to use law enforcement on dealing with these issues.
So we’re stuck in this “will they fuck us or won’t they fuck us” dilemma. And this is where we have to take an even closer look at Sessions, the man with his finger on the button.
Sessions – Should he be feared?
If something looks ominous to me, I usually don’t think it’s that “dangerous”. Within nature, if something projects an image of ‘danger’ it normally is a defense mechanism aimed at making a predator second-guess messing with the prey.
I think socially this is also true. People build up an image of confidence and power to create an illusion that says to anyone else, “Don’t mess with me or else!”
On the other hand, if something seems innocent and harmless, in many cases those are the most dangerous things out there. A baby snake is deadlier than an adult snake.
The question is, “What is Sessions?”
Is he merely projecting an ominous vibe to keep everyone at bay, or is he pretending to be an idiot while he’s devising a masterplan in the shadows?
This is something I still haven’t figured out yet. On one hand he simply seems like an old-semi-senile man that has outdated views of the world that is changing faster than he can process. With all the stress of his position, he might even die before he ever implements anything.
Yet on the other hand, looking at the people he surrounds himself with, his public persona of “friendly southern hospitality”, and slightly retarded public demeanor…it gives me a sense that he’s more astute than we give him credit for.
Could he simply be waiting in the shadows while he amasses his army of prohibitionist trolls to wreak havoc on the peaceful world of Cannabis? The question we must now ask ourselves is; “Is it too late for his masterplan to work?”
Can the Cannabis Tide be Turned?
We’re at a stage in our social development where the idea of cannabis as a medicine and a commodity is no longer alien. We have embraced it and every day the popularity of the concept increases.
What would happen if suddenly the government without reason starts a massive crackdown on an industry that is favored by 86% [medical] and 66% [recreational]? Would there not be thousands of people flooding the streets in protest? Would the local governments who have been raking in millions in tax dollars annually sit idly by while their cash cow is taken to the slaughter? Would the thousands of parents who have used cannabis to cure/treat their kids have some old-timey Yosemite Sam-looking-motherfucker do nothing while the government takes away their children’s medicine?
I think we’ve reached a point within the movement where too many separate entities have integrated with the cannabis industry and even if Jeff Sessions is an evil genius; I believe that his time for a crackdown would be met with too much resistance that would be economically viable for the government to sustain.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our eye on the man. After all, he still has his finger on the button.
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