BIRMINGHAM — Former U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions has a long record of being skeptical of marijuana legalization at any level, both as a federal law enforcement official in the Department of Justice and as a lawmaker in the U.S. Senate.
During an on-location interview given to Huntsville radio’s WVNN that aired on Tuesday, Sessions, a GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, addressed efforts underway in the Alabama legislature to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Sessions discussed the merits of medical marijuana but said there were questions about its effectiveness that have yet to be addressed to his satisfaction.
“Marijuana can be configured as a drug,” he said. “But as one doctor said, smoke joints – how much is that? This medical marijuana, we just get to smoke a bunch of joints? You don’t know the percentage of the toxic medicine you’re supposedly getting. What does it do?”
“While it could be helpful under certain circumstances, and I’m sure that may be so – the question I would ask is, is there another drug better than marijuana or not, number one,” Sessions continued. “Number two, it has some dangerous side effects that are not being discussed sufficiently.”
The former U.S. Attorney General also warned what message the passage of marijuana legislation would send, which might encourage more marijuana use, particularly among younger Americans.
“In all of these discussions, we should not communicate to any Americans, particularly young Americans, that there’s no danger here. There absolutely is, and sometimes that’s getting lost. The question, should you make it illegal? Well, people can debate that. But I don’t think you can make a case that America is better if the number of people using marijuana doubles. I don’t think that’s going to make us better as a nation. So we have just got to be careful about it.”
According to Sessions, lawmakers should heed the warning of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who cautions the legislature about passing a law that would be in conflict with current federal law.
“I think Steve Marshall is an honest guy,” he added. “He has studied the issue. People should consider his thoughts on it as they make their decision on what Alabama should do.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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