Massachusetts is Trying to Become a Marijuana Sanctuary State
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Massachusetts is already an immigration sanctuary state, however that seems to have given lawmakers in the Bay State an idea. The “Refusal of Compliance Act” is a bill that would force federal agents to get a warrant before state authorities would allow them to arrest state legal cannabis business owners or employees virtually making it a marijuana sanctuary state.
Since Massachusetts elected to legalize recreational cannabis, which should become available for sale starting in July, it only makes sense that they would protect that decision. The concerns by legislators stem from Jeff Sessions’s decision to rescind the Cole Memo that advised U.S. attorneys to not prosecute state legal cannabis businesses.
On Friday, Massachusetts State Representatives Dave Rogers and Mike Connolly filed an unusual piece of legislation. Their bill, called the “Refusal of Compliance Act,” would prevent local and state authorities from handing over people who follow state cannabis laws to federal agents unless those agents have a warrant. (Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana in 2016.) The legislation has the same skeleton as many “sanctuary” immigration policies, which eliminate much of the voluntary cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents.
“Massachusetts voters have gone to the polls and expressed their support for what I’d call a sensible drug policy and an end to marijuana prohibition,” said Connolly. “I can appreciate the parallel between this and more typical sanctuary-state-type stuff. I think the comparison is pretty clear, to the extent that we are a state government responding to the will of our own voters and people in our community.”
When Massachusetts legalized marijuana, it included language that prohibited local law enforcement from assisting federal agents in prosecuting legal users of the drug. The new bill doubling down on that idea was prompted by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision earlier this month to revoke the Cole Memo, an Obama-era policy that told the federal government to leave marijuana alone in states where it had been legalized.
Massachusetts has never been a state to conform to unreasonable laws and is now joining a growing list of states defying the federal government over its refusal to end national marijuana prohibition. How do you think state and local police feel about needing to openly defy federal authorities?
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