A GOP lawmaker in Kansas said that African-Americans “responded the worst” to marijuana because of their “genetics” and “character makeup.”
State Rep. Steve Alford (R) said at a “Legislative Coffee” session on Saturday that Jim Crow-era policies banning drugs such as pot were to protect other citizens from the drug use of black Americans.
“Basically any way you say it, marijuana is an entry drug into the higher drugs,” Alford said, as first reported by The Garden City Telegram. “What you really need to do is go back in the ’30s, when they outlawed all types of drugs in Kansas and across the United States.”
“What was the reason why they did that? One of the reasons why, I hate to say it, was that the African-Americans, they were basically users and they basically responded the worst to those drugs just because of their character makeup, their genetics and that,” he continued. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding the Obama-era policy that had paved the way for legalized marijuana to flourish in states across the country, two people with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. Sessions will instead let federal prosecutors decide how aggressively to enforce federal marijuana laws in states where pot has become legal, the people said.
Those familiar with the plan spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it before an announcement, which is expected Thursday. Sessions, a longtime opponent of marijuana, has hinted at initiating a federal crack down on state-legal marijuana businesses for the better part of a year.
The move by President Donald Trump’s attorney general likely will add to confusion about whether it’s alright to grow, buy, or use marijuana in states where pot is legal, since long-standing federal law prohibits it. While marijuana continues to be illegal at the federal level, a number of states have voted to legalize and regulate the recreational market in recent years.
The news of Sessions’ plan comes just days after pot shops opened in California, launching what is expected to become the world’s largest market for legal recreational marijuana. A majority of Americans support federal marijuana legalization, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Sessions is rescinding the Cole Memorandum, a 2013 directive from the Obama administration that stipulates that the Justice Department place “low priority” on enforcing marijuana laws against businesses and organizations that comply with state law. The memo stipulates that the federal government would not stand in the way of states that legalize marijuana so long as officials acted to keep it from migrating to places where it remained outlawed, and out of the hands of criminal gangs and children. – READ MORE
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