By Andrew Cohen:
For example, we know that he is an old-fashioned drug warrior who is almost certain to be more hostile to sentencing reform than his immediate predecessors. Even though he was a proponent of a law to ease sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine offenders, he was among a handful of senators this year who helped stop bipartisan sentencing reform legislation from coming to a vote on Capitol Hill. He has repeatedly insisted, despite statistics to the contrary, that rising crime rates are tied to lower sentencing for drug offenders.
He also consistently has criticized the Obama administration for what he considered its weak positions on drug law enforcement. Sessions has made it clear that he opposes legalizing marijuana, which the federal government still classifies as a schedule 1 drug. One question for the confirmation battle ahead: How aggressively will he assert federal authority over those states that have embraced marijuana reform?
“Good people don’t smoke marijuana,” Sessions has said, although it’s unclear how his view would square with Trump, who has expressed favor for medical marijuana but not necessarily recreational pot.
The Full Story (November 18, 2016)
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