The United States cannabis legalization movement shows no signs of slowing. Vermont and New Jersey are set to legalize cannabis for adults this year despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ best efforts. At the beginning of the month, Sessions made headlines by putting cannabis legalizatJion in danger by rescinding federal cannabis protections. These protections are colloquially known as the Cole Memo. The Cole memo was set up to keep state recreational cannabis industries culpable for black market activities involving legal cannabis products.
Sessions didn’t outwardly tell federal prosecutors to go after cannabis, but he did remove any restrictions if they choose to do so themselves. Chills traveled down the collective cannabis industries spine, wondering if a bustling billion dollar experiment was about to come to an end. Especially after California opened America’s largest recreational cannabis industry.
Not even close.
It didn’t take long for Washington and Colorado lawmakers like Cory Gardner, Jay Inslee, and Bob Ferguson to defend their states cannabis laws and encouraged the industry to resist and continue business as usual. Not only has the industry continued with business as usual, other states are still hopping on the cannabis legalization wagon.
Vermont is the first state to legalize cannabis through legislation, rather than leaving it up to voters. The bill was passed by the Vermont legislature last week and Gov. Phil Scott is expecting to sign into law. This would allow adults 21 and over to grow and possess small amounts of cannabis. There’s no talk of a regulated recreational industry at this time, but Vermont senators hope this is a step in that direction.
New Jersey is set to be the second state to legalize weed through the legislature after the inauguration of Gov. Phil Murray. Dubbed the “anti-Chris Christie,” Murray campaigned on promises to make cannabis legal and it doesn’t look like he’s wasting anytime keeping them. This bill could be signed as early as late-January and will allow adults to possess and grow small amounts of cannabis. The bill includes scaffolding for the potential recreational sale of cannabis starting in 2018.
Sessions might be an unlikely ALLY in the quest for full cannabis legalization. It’s apparent state governments would rather listen to the 60 percent of citizens who live in cannabis safe states; rather than help an old man impose his destructively dated moral code.
