Donald Trump’s selection of anti-drug hardliner Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III for his attorney general nominee has entrepreneurs in the legal marijuana industry worried. While there is cautious optimism stemming from Mr. Trump’s statements both in favor of medical marijuana and states’ rights in this area, Senator Sessions has voiced anti-legalization sentiments for years and could instruct the department of justice to prosecute those in the marijuana industry.
The difference in opinion between the current and incoming administration is stark. While President Obama has said he believes marijuana should be regulated like alcohol, Senator Sessions said at a Senate drug hearing in April, “I think one of [Obama’s] great failures, it’s obvious to me, is his lax treatment in comments on marijuana.”
President-elect Trump wants to create jobs however, and the marijuana business, “represents a burgeoning multi-billion industry in the US,” according to Marc Ross a professor at the Hofstra School of Law who teaches “The Business and Law of Marijuana,” and leads the marijuana business practice at his corporate law firm. Entrepreneurs hope the creation of jobs and a tax base will be factors an economy-focused president might get behind – or at least leave alone. [Read more at Forbes]