An Oregon Congressman with his finger on the pulse of the marijuana legalization movement does not believe the cannabis industry should be too concerned about a federal crackdown at the hands U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
During a recent panel discussion at the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo in the District of Columbia, Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, one of the four members of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, told those in attendance that the threat of Trump’s leading law enforcement hammer putting an end to legal weed has been largely blown out of proportion.
“People who hang on the words of this administration are going to suffer terminal whiplash,” he said, according to Marijuana Business Daily. “People are trying to read all sorts of things into this stuff, and you can’t do it.”
Other members of the panel, including John Vardaman, a former Justice Department money-laundering specialist, agreed with Blumenauer. He said the fact that the Trump Administration has not taken any steps to impose a crackdown within the first 100 days in office is “very telling.”
However, both agree that their skepticism towards increased federal marijuana enforcement is not backed by any kind of guarantee. There is still the very real possibility that Sessions could launch a new enforcement initiative later this summer. The Attorney General recently appointed a task force to reevaluate national policies with respect to marijuana. Many believe this could lead to a serious revision of the Obama administration’s Cole Memo, which has allowed states to experiment with legalization for the past few years.
Representative Blumenauer has been one of the most hopeful lawmakers fighting for marijuana reform on Capitol Hill. Even with the obvious antiquity behind the Trump administration’s stance on legalization, the congressman still believes the federal government will legalize the leaf at the national level within the next four years. This he speculates will happen either by an act of Congress or through the guidance of the next administration.
“Don’t give up on the federal government,” Blumenauer told the Huffington Post. “After four decades, I have never been more optimistic.”
