The Marijuana Legalization Company More Relevant Than Ever; The Important Role of Informed Investors Conservative Republicans Strongly Object
LAS VEGAS, NV, Jan. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clifford J. Perry and Richard Cowan, Co-Founders of Freedom Leaf, Inc., "The Marijuana Legalization Company®" (OTCQB: FRLF), a group of diversified, international, vertically-integrated Cannabis/Hemp businesses and media companies, issued a statement today noting that Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ supposedly “new” marijuana policy is no threat to FRLF, which is compliant with all relevant laws, in the U. S. and Europe.
Freedom Leaf CEO, Clifford J. Perry, explained, “We believe that The Marijuana Legalization Company® has an important role to play in educating marijuana investors and the extreme volatility of Cannabis related shares over the last few days illustrates that point. While we are very grateful for the buying in FRLF shares following legalization in California, the fact is that it will have little or no impact on FRLF as we do not handle, grow, sell, or dispense marijuana, but neither will Sessions’s threats, which sparked a sell-off in our shares.”
Richard Cowan, a former Executive Director of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), a long time marijuana author and activist, noted that there is really nothing new in Sessions’ statement because, when he first became Attorney General, he said, “We should enforce the laws as we are able.” That is really all that yesterday’s DoJ memo “announcing a return to the rule of law and the rescission of previous guidance documents” said.
Cowan explained, “The Federal Government simply does not have the resources to suppress America’s booming cannabis industries. If they couldn’t stop it 20 years ago, when it was in its infancy, they certainly can’t stop it now.
“Sessions’s statement may have been intended to satisfy his Prohibitionist friends, but unfortunately, it was so vague that it is also a threat to medical marijuana laws, which are supported by over 80% in national polls and which candidate Trump promised to uphold.”
Cowan noted, “Marijuana Legalization was the only clear winner in the 2016 elections, and we beat the Drug Warriors in every state, except one out of the eight on the ballot. In Arizona, recreational legalization lost with 46.68%, where President Trump won with 49.5%.
“Sessions is reportedly already ‘on thin ice’ with the President, so the timing of this announcement is puzzling. After these overwhelming victories for the marijuana movement. No one has a mandate to oppose the will of the people that was so clearly expressed in these elections.”
Cowan also noted that many of the states where the people voted for marijuana reform (in 2016 or before) also have Republican Senators: Alaska (2), Arkansas (2), Colorado (1), Florida (1), where Marco Rubio won reelection with 51.9% and medical marijuana got 71.32%, Maine (1), Montana (1), Nevada (1), North Dakota (1). Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller is up for reelection this year and is considered especially vulnerable.
Moreover, Gallup reports that over 60% of Americans now support marijuana legalization, whereas President Elect Trump got less than 48% of the popular vote. Nonetheless, there has been a rash of alarmist articles about how the Trump administration might somehow block the clear will of the people, but they rarely consider the blowback from such a policy reversal, especially from Republicans.
Twenty-eight states and Washington, D.C., allow marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. “Will they represent their voters or the DEA?" Cowan asked. The answer came immediately.
Yesterday, Colorado senator Cory Gardner, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, that funds GOP Senatorial candidates and is consequently very influential in the 2018 midterm elections, is especially angry. He told reporters last winter that he would vote to confirm Sessions as Attorney General only after securing Sessions' word that the Justice Department would not interfere with state-level decisions about marijuana policy.
Gardner Tweeted: "I will be putting today a hold on every single nomination from the Dept. of Justice until Attorney General Jeff Sessions lives up to the commitment that he made to me on legalized marijuana in Colorado.”
Other conservative Republicans with ties to President Trump also denounced Sessions’ action. Orange County Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher, an old friend of both Trump and Sessions, issued a press release saying, “The attorney general of the United States has just delivered an extravagant holiday gift to the drug cartels. By attacking the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly favor marijuana legalization, Jeff Sessions has shown a preference for allowing all commerce in marijuana to take place in the black market, which will inevitably bring the spike in violence he mistakenly attributes to marijuana itself. He is doing the bidding of an out-of-date law enforcement establishment that wants to wage a perpetual weed war and seize private citizens’ property in order to finance its backward ambitions.
“This is a profound misreading of the Constitution, which allows states, not the heavy-handed federal government, to determine such issues. How ironic that the attorney general has long championed states’ rights when it suits other parts of his agenda! More than that, by attacking the clear will of the American people, the attorney general contradicts President Trump’s campaign pledges to leave medical and recreational marijuana questions for the states to decide. By taking this benighted minority position, he actually places Republicans’ electoral fortunes in jeopardy.”
Other Republicans also reacted negatively. See Washington Post article:
The full text of the Memo and a link to the DoJ Press Release:
Justice Department Issues Memo on Marijuana Enforcement
Thursday, January 4, 2018
“The Department of Justice today issued a memo on federal marijuana enforcement policy announcing a return to the rule of law and the rescission of previous guidance documents. Since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in 1970, Congress has generally prohibited the cultivation, distribution, and possession of marijuana.
“In the memorandum, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directs all U.S. Attorneys to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to follow well-established principles when pursuing prosecutions related to marijuana activities. This return to the rule of law is also a return of trust and local control to federal prosecutors who know where and how to deploy Justice Department resources most effectively to reduce violent crime, stem the tide of the drug crisis, and dismantle criminal gangs.”
"It is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States, and the previous issuance of guidance undermines the rule of law and the ability of our local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners to carry out this mission," said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "Therefore, today's memo on federal marijuana enforcement simply directs all U.S. Attorneys to use previously established prosecutorial principles that provide them all the necessary tools to disrupt criminal organizations, tackle the growing drug crisis, and thwart violent crime across our country."
Full text of Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1022196/download
About Freedom Leaf
Freedom Leaf, Inc., The Marijuana Legalization Company®, is a fully reporting and audited, publicly traded company trading under the symbol (OTCQB: FRLF). Freedom Leaf, Inc. is a leading go-to resource in the cannabis, medical marijuana, and industrial hemp industry. It is involved in mergers and acquisitions and business consulting in the marijuana industry, including incubation/acceleration and spin offs of new marijuana/hemp related companies.
Freedom Leaf, Inc.’s flagship publication is Freedom Leaf Magazine, “The Good News in Marijuana Reform.” The company produces a portfolio of news, print and digital multi-media verticals, websites, blogs and web advertising, for the ever-changing emerging cannabis, medical marijuana and industrial hemp industry.
Freedom Leaf, Inc. does not handle, grow, sell, or dispense marijuana.
All of our European activities are in full compliance with relevant EU laws.
Corporate Website and Investor Relations www.FreedomLeafInc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
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