Jeff Sessions, Mary Jane and the Gardner of Colorado
Marijuana laws are shaping up to be a major factor that could affect whether the Republican party maintains control of Congress in elections in 2018
Washington — The US justice department’s decision to free federal prosecutors to enforce marijuana laws in states that have legalised the drug, adds to the political burdens of congressional Republicans trying to hold their House and Senate majorities in an already challenging election year. An early indication of the issue’s potency was the fierce reaction of Republican senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, a state where voters legalised cultivation and possession in 2012. Gardner, who also is chairperson of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, criticised the decision by attorney-general Jeff Sessions as "a trampling of Colorado’s rights, its voters." "Why is Donald Trump thinking differently than what he promised the people of Colorado in 2016?" Gardner said in a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, evoking Trump’s campaign promise to leave the issue of marijuana legalisation to states. "Thousands of jobs at risk, millions of dollars in revenue, and certainly the question of constitutional ...
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