Attorney General Asks Congress to Roll Back Federal Medical Marijuana Protections

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked congressional leaders to roll back federal protections for medical marijuana.

In a letter, Sessions asked the leaders to undo protections that prohibit the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent certain states from implementing their own laws that “authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.” The protections have been in place since 2014, The Washington Post reports.

Sessions wrote, “I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the [Justice] Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. 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.”