Gov. Gary Herbert surprised some on Wednesday when he announced Utahns would vote to legalize medical marijuana. Eventually.
Herbert wasn’t specific on whether voters would approve the 2018 ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana or whether they would legalize it at some later time.
Considering polls late last year showed that 75 percent of Utahns want to legalize medical marijuana, despite its federal classification as an illegal substance, Herbert didn’t really go out on a limb.
But when considered with recent comments by United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Herbert’s remark illustrates what could soon amount to a state versus federal showdown.
On Thursday, Sessions announced that the Trump administration was halting a 2013 Obama-era policy that protected states where marijuana was legal from enforcement of federal laws. Instead, the Trump administration will let federal prosecutors decide whether to prosecute in their respective states. Such an inconsistent policy could wreak havoc on states with aggressive prosecutors looking to score easy political points.
Twenty-nine states have legalized medical marijuana. Eight states, including Utah neighbors Colorado and Nevada, have legalized marijuana for any purpose.
In the face of Sessions’ threat to start prosecuting marijuana distributors, Utah legislators may claim a prescient victory that dragging their feet in the name of research actually saved Utahns from uncertain federal enforcement.
But Sessions’ threat is likely more bark than bite.
While the new policy may technically allow federal prosecutors to go after the local mom and pop medical marijuana shop, few savvy prosecutors would actually choose to do so in the face of a large and public backlash. As the Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said, “I would encourage people not to freak out.”
For a state that touts the qualities of federalism, 50 separate federal policies, each dependent on 50 different United States attorneys, should cause outrage and alarm among our federal delegation.
The right choice between federal supremacy and states rights, of course, is whichever path gets us to the right result. In this case, let the states experiment on using marijuana for medical and other purposes, and the nation can learn the best course forward.
In effect, the new policy is likely just another administration talking point. Sessions can boast that he cracked down on legalized marijuana while not really cracking down on legalized marijuana. Besides legalized marijuana, Sessions has also targeted women’s rights, voting rights and other progressive ideas he doesn’t personally agree with. At least Sessions can argue that he’s not guided by public opinion.
Because he’s not.