| Dear Katy, Fresh off of renewing the racist "war on drugs" and boosting private prisons, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is now going after sick people. In a private letter to congressional leaders, Sessions demanded permission to prosecute medical marijuana providers and patients. For years, a bipartisan agreement in Congress has denied funding to the Department of Justice for such prosecutions. Now, Sessions is using scare tactics to try and undo that agreement.1 In states where medical marijuana is permitted, fewer people get hooked on dangerous opioids.2 Sessions' dangerous crusade will put sick folks at risk and supercharge the opioid epidemic. We can't let that happen. Tell Congress: Protect medical marijuana from Jeff Sessions. Click here to sign the petition. Jeff Sessions once allegedly joked that he had no problem with the Ku Klux Klan "until I found out they smoked pot."3 That's all you need to know about his warped priorities. Since taking office, Sessions has insisted that America is in the grip of a crime wave even though violent crime is at historic lows, demanded that prosecutors pursue the strongest possible penalties for non-violent offenses, hamstrung oversight of abusive police departments and recommitted to using dangerous and inefficient private prison companies.4 Now, he is going after sick people and risking inflaming the opioid epidemic. In 2014, Congress passed legislation that s banned the Department of Justice from stopping states that have laws permitting medical marijuana distribution, use or possession. The legislation has bipartisan support, and one poll found that 94 percent of Americans support medical marijuana and around 75 percent do not want to interfere with states that set their own laws.5 Already, Congress is moving to respond to Sessions, with a bipartisan group of senators introducing new legislation – the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act, or CARERS Act – to formalize the idea that states can set their own medical marijuana laws.6 Sessions is trying to turn back the clock and reboot the war on drugs, putting lives at risk in the process. He already has bipartisan opposition, but we need to make sure lawmakers find the courage to fight his scaremongering. Tell Congress: Protect medical marijuana from Jeff Sessions. Click here to sign the petition. When people do not have access to medical marijuana, they are more likely to turn to dangerous, addictive and potentially lethal opiate painkillers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse confirms more and more research showing that states with medical marijuana laws have fewer overdoses and deaths.7 Sessions' racist, xenophobic, pro-incarceration tenure at the Department of Justice is one of the most damaging parts of the Trump administration. Already over 368,000 CREDO members have called for his removal. We can win this fight to protect patients and further show that Sessions has no place in the Department of Justice, so we need to speak out with force immediately. Tell Congress: Protect medical marijuana from Jeff Sessions. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/protect_medical_marijuana?t=8&akid=23969.12967895.SQltny Thank you for speaking out. Murshed Zaheed, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Alan Pyke, "Sessions asks Congress to let him prosecute medical pot shops, patients," ThinkProgress, June 13, 2017.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Hanna Kozlowska, "Jeff Sessions has done more damage in his first 100 days than his boss," Quartz, May 19, 2017.
- Christopher Ingraham, "Jeff Sessions personally asked Congress to let him prosecute medical-marijuana providers," The Washington Post, June 13, 2017.
- Matt Laslo, "Medical Marijuana: How Six Senators Are Leading Fight for Federally Legal Weed," Rolling Stone, June 22, 2017.
- Ingraham, "Jeff Sessions personally asked Congress to let him prosecute medical-marijuana providers."
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