Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
California lawmakers are talking about doing for their state's new marijuana industry what they are also trying to do for illegal immigrants: create a sanctuary state where local police are ordered not to cooperate with federal authorities.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the man who has the power to unleash enforcement of the federal anti-marijuana law that could shut down the multibillion marijuana industry in California and every other state where smoking weed for the fun of it is legal.
"I do believe you will see greater enforcement of it," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer during a White House press briefing in answer to a question about the Trump administration's stance on legal marijuana.
Sessions said a month later that he didn't see any need to deviate from the Obama administration's Cole Memorandum on how the federal government should deal with states that legalized pot. However, lawmakers in California and Colorado decided not to take any chances.
Half a dozen Democrats in Sacramento are backing preemptive action to block the Trump administration from wrecking fledgling marijuana industries with the same tactic being used to protect illegal immigrants: setting up their states as "sanctuary states" for pot production and consumption.
Setting up California as a state where marijuana growers and consumers are protected from federal law is not a new idea.
Proponents of a similar pack of legislation, to establish Colorado as a sanctuary state for marijuana, failed to win approval for the bill as the legislative session came to an end in May.
The Associated Press reported the Colorado Senate rejected legislation, which had been approved by the House, that would have prevented public employees in the state from "arresting a Colorado citizen for committing an act that is a Colorado constitutional right."
Opponents in the Senate called the legislation "confusing." That was enough to kill it.
However, what didn't fly in Colorado might work in California. Assembly Bill 1578/SB 54 would stop local and state law enforcement from helping Sessions, or anyone else out of Washington, enforce federal marijuana laws.
The California Senate endorsed SB 54. AB 1578 has been approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
"I think this is definitely one of these laws which is being passed to make a statement," Aaron Herzberg, an attorney and cannabis real estate developer, told the Orange Counter Register. "Whether or not it changes the reality is up for debate."
While Herzberg saw the legislation as only "token" opposition to Sessions' anti-marijuana attitude, Kandice Hawes, executive director of the Orange County chapter of NORML, said the legislation was more than merely a statement worth making.
"Cannabis business owners need a state law protecting their interests after going through a lengthy regulation process," Hawes said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: California Weighs Sanctuary State Legislation to Protect Pot
Author: Rod Kackley
Contact: Contact Us | PJ Media
Photo Credit: Richard Vogel
Website: PJ Media
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the man who has the power to unleash enforcement of the federal anti-marijuana law that could shut down the multibillion marijuana industry in California and every other state where smoking weed for the fun of it is legal.
"I do believe you will see greater enforcement of it," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer during a White House press briefing in answer to a question about the Trump administration's stance on legal marijuana.
Sessions said a month later that he didn't see any need to deviate from the Obama administration's Cole Memorandum on how the federal government should deal with states that legalized pot. However, lawmakers in California and Colorado decided not to take any chances.
Half a dozen Democrats in Sacramento are backing preemptive action to block the Trump administration from wrecking fledgling marijuana industries with the same tactic being used to protect illegal immigrants: setting up their states as "sanctuary states" for pot production and consumption.
Setting up California as a state where marijuana growers and consumers are protected from federal law is not a new idea.
Proponents of a similar pack of legislation, to establish Colorado as a sanctuary state for marijuana, failed to win approval for the bill as the legislative session came to an end in May.
The Associated Press reported the Colorado Senate rejected legislation, which had been approved by the House, that would have prevented public employees in the state from "arresting a Colorado citizen for committing an act that is a Colorado constitutional right."
Opponents in the Senate called the legislation "confusing." That was enough to kill it.
However, what didn't fly in Colorado might work in California. Assembly Bill 1578/SB 54 would stop local and state law enforcement from helping Sessions, or anyone else out of Washington, enforce federal marijuana laws.
The California Senate endorsed SB 54. AB 1578 has been approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
"I think this is definitely one of these laws which is being passed to make a statement," Aaron Herzberg, an attorney and cannabis real estate developer, told the Orange Counter Register. "Whether or not it changes the reality is up for debate."
While Herzberg saw the legislation as only "token" opposition to Sessions' anti-marijuana attitude, Kandice Hawes, executive director of the Orange County chapter of NORML, said the legislation was more than merely a statement worth making.
"Cannabis business owners need a state law protecting their interests after going through a lengthy regulation process," Hawes said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: California Weighs Sanctuary State Legislation to Protect Pot
Author: Rod Kackley
Contact: Contact Us | PJ Media
Photo Credit: Richard Vogel
Website: PJ Media
