INTRO:
There's been confusion across the US after the government revoked a policy which eased enforcement of marijuana laws.
The drug was legalised for recreational purposes in California on January 1st - and other states were expected to follow suit.
But now the Department of Justice will give prosecutors greater ability to pursue federal charges - creating confusion across America.
Frances Read reports from Los Angeles.
IN: "Here in LA...
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3,00"
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0901Cannabis-fr-gen.mp3
PKG:
VO: Here in LA people are known for their relaxed approach to life - and since January 1st of this year, California's relaxed approach to Marijuana. Although recreational use here is highly regulated. That's part of the reason it's one of eight states in the US in which it's legal, with many more decriminalising the drug or making it available for medicinal purposes. In 2013 President Obama's attorney general advised prosecutors not to target pot growers who were abiding by state laws and that meant legitimate, above board, cannabis businesses flourished into a multimillion dollar industry. Now President Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has revoked that. Plunging the industry into chaos and confusion. Terry Blevins runs a cannabis security firm in Los Angeles:
TERRY: "People had visions of the FBI coming into California and storming into legal pot shops and cultivation sites and shutting them down and seizing all their products and their cash and filing federal charges on the owners. They had those fears."
VO: It's also created panic for investors with phone calls to their lawyers and questions as to whether other states will now be so willing to make the drug legal. But those in the industry say there's nothing to fear. Don Smith runs a cannabis supply business in Northern California.
DON: "The state of California has expended thousands of jobs already and a substantial amount of resources licensing people. From our businesses point of view it's very much proceed."
VO: And proceed they will. Even though the attorney general Jeff Sessions is backed by some. He's been an outspoken opponent of marijuana - claiming it was the gateway drug to opioid use. And in some impoverished areas, sheriffs have been asking for help to enforce marijuana laws. It's also backed by the president. Sarah Sanders is the White House Press Secretary.
SARAH: "The move that the Department of Justice has made simply gives prosecutors the tools to take on large-scale distributors and enforce federal law. The President's position hasn't changed, but he does strongly believe that we have to enforce federal law."
VO: But security firms say on the ground enforcement is unlikely. Here's Terry Blevins again.
TERRY: "The reason we want marijuana to be leal is we want to crush the black market uit's created crime, look what it's done to mexico and what Jeff Sessions is doing is counter productive to that. If he really cares about communities and crime in general his efforts really undermines that."
VO: The criticism remains that there's now uncertainty as to how drugs laws will be enforced in the US. But here in California it's business as usual. This is just the start of legal cannabis - not the end. I'm Frances Read in Los Angeles.
There's been confusion across the US after the government revoked a policy which eased enforcement of marijuana laws.
The drug was legalised for recreational purposes in California on January 1st - and other states were expected to follow suit.
But now the Department of Justice will give prosecutors greater ability to pursue federal charges - creating confusion across America.
Frances Read reports from Los Angeles.
IN: "Here in LA...
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3,00"
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0901Cannabis-fr-gen.mp3
PKG:
VO: Here in LA people are known for their relaxed approach to life - and since January 1st of this year, California's relaxed approach to Marijuana. Although recreational use here is highly regulated. That's part of the reason it's one of eight states in the US in which it's legal, with many more decriminalising the drug or making it available for medicinal purposes. In 2013 President Obama's attorney general advised prosecutors not to target pot growers who were abiding by state laws and that meant legitimate, above board, cannabis businesses flourished into a multimillion dollar industry. Now President Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has revoked that. Plunging the industry into chaos and confusion. Terry Blevins runs a cannabis security firm in Los Angeles:
TERRY: "People had visions of the FBI coming into California and storming into legal pot shops and cultivation sites and shutting them down and seizing all their products and their cash and filing federal charges on the owners. They had those fears."
VO: It's also created panic for investors with phone calls to their lawyers and questions as to whether other states will now be so willing to make the drug legal. But those in the industry say there's nothing to fear. Don Smith runs a cannabis supply business in Northern California.
DON: "The state of California has expended thousands of jobs already and a substantial amount of resources licensing people. From our businesses point of view it's very much proceed."
VO: And proceed they will. Even though the attorney general Jeff Sessions is backed by some. He's been an outspoken opponent of marijuana - claiming it was the gateway drug to opioid use. And in some impoverished areas, sheriffs have been asking for help to enforce marijuana laws. It's also backed by the president. Sarah Sanders is the White House Press Secretary.
SARAH: "The move that the Department of Justice has made simply gives prosecutors the tools to take on large-scale distributors and enforce federal law. The President's position hasn't changed, but he does strongly believe that we have to enforce federal law."
VO: But security firms say on the ground enforcement is unlikely. Here's Terry Blevins again.
TERRY: "The reason we want marijuana to be leal is we want to crush the black market uit's created crime, look what it's done to mexico and what Jeff Sessions is doing is counter productive to that. If he really cares about communities and crime in general his efforts really undermines that."
VO: The criticism remains that there's now uncertainty as to how drugs laws will be enforced in the US. But here in California it's business as usual. This is just the start of legal cannabis - not the end. I'm Frances Read in Los Angeles.