By Matt Garland, Guest Columnist
On Jan. 5, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded a 2013 operating guideline for state-sanctioned marijuana businesses to avoid federal prosecution. The Cole memorandum, drafted by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole during the Barack Obama administration, was rescinded a few days after California became the latest state to license, tax and regulate commercial marijuana on Jan. 1.
The timing of these two developments in marijuana policy are not independent of one another. As California goes, so goes the nation. Sessions’ action is a last ditch effort to revive the war on drugs amidst a growing awareness of its utter failure.
The priorities outlined in both state and municipal marijuana regulations are an echo of the now defunct Cole memo. Issues of community safety, youth safeguards and dissolution of the illicit market have been highlighted as benchmarks of success in any regulatory framework.
California, and importantly, Los Angeles city and county governments, have also given priority to social equity in marijuana regulations. Priority to the idea that the end of marijuana prohibition does not commence a transfer of the existing cottage industry to wealthy investors.
The municipal regulatory frameworks that have been created, or are still in the process, have thus far failed to address these concerns. Any effort to create an adequate regulatory framework is doomed to failure under federal prohibitionist policy.
Until there is success in reforming federal drug policy, local politicians and bureaucrats are engaged in a wait-and-see strategy: forced to negotiate with prohibitionist-minded communities, crafting restrictive regulations that will only exacerbate the problems of community safety and youth exposure that are of concern.
The solution to this dilemma is to eliminate the illicit market. The pathway to that end is to meet market demand with regulated, licensed businesses that are allowed to operate in our neighborhoods and provide consumer access.
The silver lining in Sessions’ recent action is the unprecedented bipartisan outcry. Support to end the war on drugs is at an all time high, with marijuana polling between 60 percent for adult use and 95 percent for medical use. It is time for our federal lawmakers to end the war on drugs. Prohibition has been a policy disaster. After 80 years, there is not a single drug free high school in the nation.
Our local government leaders have created a framework for regulating marijuana that results in restricted access for consumers, thus leaving the illicit market an opportunity to serve demand and continue to operate without the community stewardship ethic we deserve.