Two States Have Legalized Cannabis In The Same Month Jeff Sessions Ended Federal Protections For Legal States

On the very same day that Jeff Sessions walked back Obama-era protections for legal states against federal prosecution, The Vermont House of Representatives voted to legalize the possession and home cultivation of marijuana, though there's a limit of one ounce for possession and two plants for home cultivation.

One has to wonder why the limits are so low. What's the harm in someone growing more than two plants or having more than ounce in their possession at any time? How does that work after you harvest, anyway? When you no longer have plants, but you have cured cannabis. You'd have more than an ounce from two plants. I haven't actually read the bill, though... it may mention the rules in that situation. Still, this form of "legalization" still beats prohibition. Baby steps!

Right on the heels of Vermont, New Hampshire also passed a bill Tuesday that would legalize cannabis, with similar restrictions. Parts of the bill are pretty disappointing, such as a limit of three quarters of an ounce that users are allow to possess at one time. Considering the reasons many people use medical cannabis, this seems entirely impractical. I could rent a U haul and go to a liquor store and max out my credit card loading the truck up with hard alcohol, and that would be perfectly legal, but let's limit folks to not even one ounce of a dried plant, because don't want them getting too crazy or anything.

How is it even possible that we've come so far in the fight against the prohibition of cannabis, yet our federal government lags behind by decades? If Jeff Sessions had his way, he'd go back to the way things were in the 80s, or maybe even worse. Trump congratulated Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on his handling of that country's drug problem, which just happens to include murdering drug dealers and users. Duterte himself has killed people, or at least claims to have done so.

It's easy for people like me to blame Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration because they're republicans, but all sorts of raids were conducted under Obama's watch, too. The Cole Memo wasn't even published until 2013, during Obama's second term.

I remain hopeful that we'll see true progress soon, though, despite our government's best (or worst) efforts.