--- title: Marijuana: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Hints at Crackdown description: Attorney General Jeff Sessions hinted that the Department of Justice might become more aggressive on laws against recreational marijuana. canonical: https://time.com/4685414/jeff-sessions-recreational-marijuana-legal-crackdown/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-28T15:34:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:34:21.483Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Attorney General Just Hinted at a Crackdown on Legal Pot og:description: Even in the eight states that have legalized it. og:url: https://time.com/4685414/jeff-sessions-recreational-marijuana-legal-crackdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1759cd5c96ca4473/6988bc56a988ca49fa6bb2e0/jeff-sessions-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Jeff Sessions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Attorney General Just Hinted at a Crackdown on Legal Pot twitter:description: Even in the eight states that have legalized it. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1759cd5c96ca4473/6988bc56a988ca49fa6bb2e0/jeff-sessions-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Attorney General Jeff Sessions Just Hinted at a Crackdown on Legal Marijuana > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 28, 2017 3:34 PM UTC  Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the National Association of Attorneys General annual winter meeting, on Feb. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the National Association of Attorneys General annual winter meeting, on Feb. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C.Alex Brandon—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 28, 2017 3:34 PM UTC Attorney General [Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4664815/jeff-sessions-confirmed-attorney-general/?iid=sr-link4) hinted that the Department of Justice might begin more aggressive enforcement of federal laws against recreational marijuana, even in states that have legalized it. Speaking at the National Association of Attorneys General’s annual winter meeting on Tuesday, Sessions said that the agency might enforce laws in [eight states and Washington, D.C.](http://time.com/4559278/marijuana-election-results-2016/?iid=sr-link2), that have legalized recreational marijuana. “States, they can pass the laws they choose,” he said. “I would just say, it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.” Sessions, who has [long opposed marijuana legalization](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/jeff-sessions-coming-war-on-legal-marijuana-214501), reiterated that view in response to a question on drug policy. “I’m not sure we’re going to be a better, healthier nation if we’re going to have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store,” he said. Sessions’ comments echoed White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who [predicted harsher prosecution](http://time.com/4681109/white-house-recreational-marijuana-laws/) of marijuana under the Trump Administration at a press briefing Thursday. “I do believe you’ll see greater enforcement of it,” he said. Spicer clarified that Trump supports medical marijuana but “that’s very different than recreational use, which is something the Department of Justice will be further looking into.” This would all mark a significant priority shift from the Obama Administration, which said in a [2013 memo](https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-delivers-remarks-national-association-attorneys-general) that the federal government would generally not intervene in states that had legalized marijuana except in cases where the drug was being sold to minors, being sent across state lines or other specific infractions. It’s also a break from Trump’s own remarks on the campaign trail. In [a TV interview](http://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2017/feb/28/gavin-newsom/true-campaign-trump-said-states-should-decide-lega/) in Colorado in July of 2016, Trump said that he would not use federal law enforcement to go after recreational marijuana in states where it is legal, saying that legalization is an issue for states to decide. “I think it’s up to the states,” he said. Such enforcement could prove unpopular. In [a Quinnipiac poll of 1,323 voters nationwide](https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2432) conducted earlier this month, 71 percent of respondents said the federal government should not enforce federal laws against marijuana in states that have legalized it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4685414/jeff-sessions-recreational-marijuana-legal-crackdown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4685414/jeff-sessions-recreational-marijuana-legal-crackdown/"},"headline":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Just Hinted at a Crackdown on Legal Marijuana","datePublished":"2017-02-28T15:34:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:34:21.483Z","description":"\"I'm not sure we're going to be a better, healthier nation if we're going to have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store\"","url":"https://time.com/4685414/jeff-sessions-recreational-marijuana-legal-crackdown/","keywords":["justice","Marijuana","White House","Department of Justice","Donald Trump","Jeff Sessions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1759cd5c96ca4473/6988bc56a988ca49fa6bb2e0/jeff-sessions-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1759cd5c96ca4473/6988bc56a988ca49fa6bb2e0/jeff-sessions-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jeff Sessions","caption":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the National Association of Attorneys General annual winter meeting, on Feb. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C.","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4685414/jeff-sessions-recreational-marijuana-legal-crackdown/","name":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions Just Hinted at a Crackdown on Legal Marijuana"}}]}] ```