Washington State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, appears ready to defend his state’s marijuana program against Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump. Last week, Ferguson spoke to the Columbian’s editorial board about upcoming challenges for the Evergreen State. Naturally, the topic of marijuana came up.
Ferguson stated that his office was prepared for a legal fight over marijuana legalization in Washington, although he said, “we hope it doesn’t come to that.” Due to recent actions by US Attorney General Sessions, however, it seems likely that it “could come to that.”
If it does, Ferguson told the Columbian that he would not hesitate to act:
Hypothetically speaking, right, there could be a business that’s licensed in Washington state selling marijuana that’s following state law. Let’s assume they’re following state law to a T—that’s important—and the feds go in and try to shut that business down, they seize the marijuana or the proceeds. If in my view, we’ve got a legitimate business, playing by our rules here in Washington state and the federal government comes in to try to shut that down, we’d be interested in that.
Ferguson also said that he would be willing to get involved if the federal government takes any “adverse action” against a marijuana businesses compliant with state law.
Earlier in January, Sessions rescinded Obama-era guidance regarding federal enforcement priorities for states that legalized cannabis and replaced it with the single-page Sessions Memo. Now, US Attorneys across the country, like Washington’s Annette Hayes, are authorized to use their own discretion when deciding whether to prosecute federal marijuana crimes in their respective states.
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Prior to Ferguson’s interview, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board sent out an email on behalf of his office asking for Washington residents to share “if they experienced a change in your business practices or customer relationships that you believe is connected to the Sessions Memo.”
Clearly, this issue has been on Ferguson’s mind for a while. In his interview, Ferguson also emphasized the fact that Washington repeatedly reached out to Sessions to discuss Washington’s cannabis law and policy. In each case, Sessions declined.
Ferguson also pulled no punches in deriding Sessions for sending him and Governor Jay Inslee a factually inaccurate letter on Washington’s marijuana program, which failed even to acknowledge that the state had merged its medical and recreational programs:
I think the first thing he accused us of was not having a system that had combined our medical and recreational marijuana systems together, relying on that old report—but, of course, since that report came out, we had! To me that’s embarrassing that the US attorney general, on an issue of that importance, is writing a letter to a governor and attorney general of another state and he’s just got his facts wrong. That’s a problem, I think. I think this is a problem in trying to move forward on these issues.
Ferguson wisely said that he was not willing to discuss legal strategies, but acknowledged that a legal fight could center on “whether federal law preempts state law when it comes to marijuana.” Under the US Constitution, federal law preempts state law when the two directly conflict, but there are strong arguments by states like Washington that their adult-use cannabis programs are not in “positive conflict” with federal law. We explained how that works here.
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Washington has consistently proven that it is not afraid to challenge the Trump administration. Sessions brought great uncertainty to the marijuana industry, but Washingtonians should feel confident that their Attorney General will fight to protect the will of Washington voters. Hopefully, Ferguson never has to take up his promise, but it’s reassuring to know he is willing to do so.
