Entrepreneur: Jeff Sessions is an old man who should go away
Jan 12, 2018, 6:05 AM | Updated: 10:46 am
Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Tell us what you really think about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ stance on recreational marijuana, Roger Tilton.
“I think Jeff Sessions is an old man who should go away. He is so far behind the times that he looks silly,” Tilton told KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross. “For him to revoke the Cole Memorandum and unleash his US attorneys across the country to go after mom and pop shops is just ridiculous and crazy.”
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Tilton was the Democratic senate candidate for New Hampshire’s District 11 during the 2016 election.
“And it’s also un-doable,” he added. “He doesn’t have the resources, the manpower. And, thankfully, we have leaders in states like Washington who will say, ‘No, we are not going to let our law enforcement help you when our citizens are obeying and complying with our laws.’ It’s just ridiculous. He’s out of touch.”
The Cole memo was a policy put in place under the Obama administration. It stated that the federal government would not interfere with states that legalized recreational marijuana, despite the drug remaining illegal at the federal level. With Sessions removing it, it opens up federal attorneys to bring charges.
Sessions’ stance runs afoul of entrepreneurs like Tilton. He connects people who can invest in the cannabis industry with people running marijuana businesses.
“I think most sophisticated investors realize Sessions is on the wrong side of history,” Tilton said. “And these investors also realize that this is a huge risk to begin with. I think what it does now, more than anything, is it creates an even better opportunity for those willing to take that risk … if you think about it rationally, they are not going to go out there and bust everybody that’s growing, producing, selling cannabis. It’s impossible. And there would be, I don’t want to say riots, but there would be an outcry like you saw with the first Muslim ban. Spontaneously, people went to airports to protest.”
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In this case, it won’t just be lawmakers and officials from states with legalized marijuana raising a fuss, but there will be “tens of thousands of people” angry over any threats to the marijuana business, Tilton argues.
“‘Leave us alone,'” he said. “Whatever happened to states’ rights, guys?'”
