Keller @ Large: Looming Federal War On Legal Marijuana
BOSTON (CBS) - One thing we know for sure about marijuana - it makes people crazy, and I don't mean the people smoking it.
As you know, in 2016 voters here in Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana possession, sales and home-growing by a convincing 7-percent margin. We are one of 29 states that have legalized the drug in some form.
But Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a pot skeptic, to say the least, claiming that "good people don't smoke marijuana" and calling it "only slightly less awful" than heroin. And last week Sessions revoked Obama-era policies that essentially let state laws take precedence over federal laws banning pot.
Which brings us to Andrew Lelling, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, who said Monday he can't guarantee the emerging legal-pot industry that he won't go after them.
So let's recap - a federal administration that claimed to be supportive of states' rights is now opening the door to nullifying state laws approved by voter majorities, thus potentially destroying revenue streams that many states - including ours were counting on in the near future.
This doesn't sound like making America great again.
It sounds more like hypocritical hyper-regulation of capital through federal interference in local economic and political decisions.
But it also gives us something to think and talk about going forward - when we stake our budgetary balance and economic future to a significant degree on industries like gambling and marijuana, are we being smart about our future, or just fooling ourselves?
Share your view with me via email at keller@wbztv.com, or you can reach me on Twitter, @kelleratlarge.
