U.S. city mayors stand up for cannabis against Trump crackdown

Activists say the regulated use of the drug is good for city economies and an important weapon in the fight against an epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States
Reuters (UK)
Friday, January 12, 2018

City mayors in the two U.S. states with the oldest legal cannabis industries are leading the pushback against the Trump administration’s announcement of stricter enforcement, saying its regulated use is a boost to city coffers. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era set of guidelines known as the Cole and Ogden memos, which indicated the federal government would not interfere with state cannabis regulations as long as the drug was not marketed to minors, trafficked by cartels, sold across state lines, or cultivated on federal land. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan were the lead authors of a Jan. 10 letter to Sessions from 10 U.S. mayors, including New York City’s Bill de Blasio.