At every turn, Republican Party leaders claim to believe in the right of people to make their own decisions and of states' rights to govern themselves.
And yet last week Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama administration policy that restricted federal enforcement of marijuana laws. Sessions' hopes federal prosecutors once again will bring criminal cases involving cannabis, overriding the will of people in California, Colorado and 27 other states where marijuana is legal in one form or another.
This might be understandable if the GOP espoused the supremacy of the federal government over the states. But it doesn't. The Republican National Committee's 2016 platform, on which Trump ran, extols the 10th Amendment. That's the one that grants to states all constitutional power not reserved by Uncle Sam.
"Every violation of state sovereignty by federal officials is not merely a transgression of one unit of government against another; it is an assault on the liberties of individual Americans," the platform solemnly declares.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an Orange County Republican, has used marijuana to ease arthritis pain, and supported Proposition 64, the 2016 initiative that legalized the commercial sale of marijuana. On Thursday, he denounced Sessions on 10th Amendment grounds: "How ironic that the attorney general has long championed states' rights when it suits other parts of his agenda."
We hope Sessions relents. But if he doesn't, the U.S. Senate should elicit commitments from Trump's nominees for U.S. attorneys that they will be highly selective in any prosecutions involving marijuana. That would include Sacramento attorney McGregor Scott, who awaits confirmation to become U.S. attorney for the Sacramento-based Eastern District of California.
Although we didn't endorse Proposition 64, it passed with 57 percent of the vote. There's no constitutional prohibition against marijuana use, and federal statutes, which place weed in the same category as heroin, are as unrealistic as Sessions' attempt to turn back the clock.
Instead of busting people for weed, the administration could combat deadly opioids. It's not too late to focus on issues that matter.