8 states say:
Yes we
Cannabis
Story by Laurenz Kaplan
T
he overwhelming endorsement of cannabis by Americans through
the ballot box last month surely sends a signal to Donald Trump as he
prepares to become US President.
Trump is aware - though it was irrelevant due to the Electoral College system - that
he got around two million fewer votes across the country than Hillary Clinton.
His earliest appointment, Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, is seen as a sign that
Trump could come out as anti-cannabis and continue - or even increase - the
previous administrations’ formal opposition to cannabis even for medical use.
Sessions has a long record as an anti-pot crusader and in April, on the floor of the
Senate, he said: “Good people don’t smoke pot.”
It would be hard to imagine, though, that Sessions - who has gone on record as
being opposed to cannabis - would have any real power.
The country elected Trump, without knowing or caring who would be part of
his administration. Whoever is hired by the incoming president, they don’t
need to be long-term appointments. Trump is hardly known for his reluctance
to fire people.
In a scenario where the topic of cannabis is discussed by Trump and his
Attorney General, it is hard to envisage Mr Sessions from being able to get the
better of the argument.
It is surely Trump’s opinion alone that counts, and he is a man unlikely to
deliberately take on the majority of voters who - on the same day he was elected
- voted to legalise cannabis in eight states.
Already this year, Ohio and Pennsylvania voted to legalise medical cannabis by legislature