Trump's Marijuana Comments Put Him at Odds With Sessions

President suggests he'll back legalization
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 8, 2018 4:30 PM CDT
Trump's Marijuana Comments Put Him at Odds With Sessions
A file photo of marijuana plants. President Trump suggested he might support legalization.   (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner, File)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to move the nation further away from the legalization of marijuana. His boss? Not so much, apparently. President Trump on Friday suggested he will back legislation currently in the works to end, or at least ease, the federal ban on marijuana, reports NPR. "I probably will end up supporting" the bipartisan measure being pushed by GOP Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said Trump. "I support Sen. Gardner," the president told reporters when asked about the bill. "I know exactly what he's doing; we're looking at it." If the bill becomes law, it would "reshape the pot industry," in the words of the Los Angeles Times, and put an end to a crackdown initiated by Sessions earlier this year.

Specifically, the legislation would change the federal Controlled Substances Act to give states free rein to decide how marijuana should be regulated within their own borders, explains the AP. About two dozen states have legalized marijuana in some form, but the issue remains complicated because of a federal classification of the drug that puts it on par with LSD and heroin. Trump's comments are just the latest example of the president's soured relations with Sessions. The New York Times notes that Trump's decision to commute the sentence of non-violent drug offender Alice Johnson earlier this week runs counter to Sessions' directive in such cases. What's more, Trump told his aides to look for similar cases in which prisoners were treated "unfairly." (Trump continues to publicly criticize his AG. (More marijuana legalization stories.)

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