Politics

Trump’s War on Pot Could Split Republicans in 2018

Jeff Sessions’ stance against marijuana threatens to open a rift inside the party, pitting social conservatives against younger, more libertarian, and business-minded members.

Illustration: 731; Photographer: Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Karen Weise and Sahil Kapur

January 11, 2018 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the January 15, 2018 issue of businessweek.

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to leave the issue of marijuana legalization to the states. Then he chose Jeff Sessions as his attorney general, and it was only a matter of time before that changed. Sessions has long pined for a crackdown on pot. “Good people don’t smoke marijuana,” he said in 2016. As a senator from Alabama he watched over the past few years as eight states voted to legalize the drug for recreational use, despite federal laws that still treat pot as a controlled substance on a par with heroin.

On Jan. 4, Sessions reversed an Obama-era policy of leaving decisions about pot laws to the states. The change gives the 93 U.S. attorneys discretion to bring cases against recreational pot businesses and users. A U.S. Department of Justice press release promised “a return of trust and local control to federal prosecutors” and “to reduce violent crime, stem the tide of the drug crisis, and dismantle criminal gangs.”