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Saturday, May 13th, 2017

Jeff Sessions is bringing back the drug war — and making it worse

Author:     Matthew Rozsa
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     Friday, May 12, 2017 11:50 AM PDT
 Link: Jeff Sessions is bringing back the drug war — and making it worse
Stephan:   Jeff Sessions, a man notable for his racism, intellectual limitations, and incompetence, was made the Attorney General of the United States and a Republican Senate that had previously thought him inappropriate and inadequate as a Federal judge quickly confirmed him, to their shame. Given his past statements it should come as a surprise to no one that he now is pouring his attention and energy into reawakening the War on Drugs, a social policy begun under the criminal presidency of Richard Nixon. Millions of lives have been destroyed, and untold sums of money have been squandered on this policy, universally considered by those who have no financial interest in it as an abject failure. The only people who liked the War on Drugs, surprise, surprise, were those whose rice bowl depended on this stupidity being perpetuated. Now we are about to start it up again. Given the mood of the country and the legalization trend it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Back when Jeff Sessions was attorney general for Alabama instead of the entire United States, he pushed for a bill that would have established mandatory death sentences for individuals convicted of a second drug trafficking offense — even if the drug was as innocuous as marijuana.

While Sessions’ new directive as United States Attorney General doesn’t go that far, it is definitely a step in a draconian direction when it comes to American drug policy.

The memo, issued by Sessions on Wednesday, instructs prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense,” according to a report by The Washington Post. Sessions’ memo also immediately reverses a policy implemented by Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. in August 2013, one that ordered prosecutors to refrain from pursuing drug charges if doing so would trigger lengthy mandatory minimum sentences — and if the defendants did not belong to a gang, cartel, or other large-scale drug trafficking organization.

The goal of Holder’s policy was to begin to roll back the war on drugs, which […]

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2 Comments

  1. Charles on Saturday, May 13, 2017 at 10:58 am

    This was not a big surprise to me, and as scary as it seems, I have some hope. The push back is coming from all directions. Even Paul Ryan seems to be siding against it. I think these types of policies will be a lightning rod for politicians running in the mid-term elections, and if the people vote how I think they will, Trump is going to have to start making changes in the second half of his presidency, if he wants to be reelected. This could be the death gurgles from the war on drugs, but I might just be optomistic.

  2. Mark R on Sunday, May 14, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    The DEA is not likely to ever let go of its cannabis cash machine. Jeff Sessions is nuttier than squirrel poop.