State lawmakers in Oregon passed a bill on Monday that would increase protections for the personal information of marijuana consumers. Oregon is the latest state to propose legislation intended to defend against stricter enforcement of the federal marijuana ban by the Trump Administration, something Attorney General Jeff Sessions has indicated is a possibility. The bill attracted bipartisan support, passing by a vote of 53-5.

If Democratic Gov. Kate Brown signs the proposal, which she is expected to do, marijuana shops would no longer be able to collect consumers’ personal information–names, birthdates, home addresses, and so on. Unlike Alaska, Colorado, and Washington State–the other three states where recreational marijuana is actively being sold–cannabis shops in Oregon can collect this information in a database without the customer’s consent. Businesses use the information largely for marketing purposes.

According to the bill, shops would have 30 days to destroy the information they have on record; they would be barred from collecting information in the future. States that have legalized marijuana in some form have taken steps in recent weeks to protect against any forthcoming crackdown by the Trump Administration. Last week, California–which legalized recreational marijuana last November–introduced a bill that would prohibit local law enforcement authorities from collaborating with federal drug agents.

Last week, the governors of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington sent a letter to Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, asking for clarity on the administration’s enforcement stance. Sessions responded that marijuana will be included in a broad Justice Department crime-reduction initiative. While his past is littered with anti-marijuana comments, Sessions has not explicitly stated how he will enforce the federal ban. He recently said marijuana is “only slightly less awful” than heroin.

In addition to protecting consumers against an invasive business practice, the proposal is meant to curtail requests by federal authorities, who, if unleashed by Sessions, could penalize distributors as well as consumers, even in states where the drug is perfectly legal. “Given the immediate privacy issues … this is a good bill protecting the privacy of Oregonians choosing to purchase marijuana,” said state Rep. Carl Wilson, a Republican sponsor of the bill.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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In a press conference on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer suggested the Justice Department will increase its enforcement of federal marijuana laws. Marijuana is banned at the federal level, but is legal, recreationally or medically, in 28 states and D.C. However Spicer did say the president sees a “big difference” between recreational and medical marijuana.

“I do believe you will see greater enforcement of it,” Spicer said, referring to the federal marijuana ban. “When you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people,” he added. “There is still a federal law that we need to abide by when it comes to recreational marijuana and drugs of that nature.”

Spicer’s remarks seem to contradict comments Trump made during the campaign. At a rally in October 2015, Trump said marijuana policy is a “state-by-state” issue. Trump hardly has fixed positions on certain issues, however, and his views on marijuana enforcement might have evolved since late 2015. Spicer’s comments also implied that marijuana use can lead to more dangerous drug use, like opioids. There is limited, if any, evidence to support the so-called “gateway drug” theory.

Marijuana advocates have been wary about the new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, because of anti-marijuana comments he made when he was a senator from Alabama. But during his hearing last month, Sessions said he “won’t commit to never enforcing federal law” but added that doing so is “a problem of resources for the federal government.” That there are more pressing issues than marijuana enforcement on the Justice Department’s agenda–narcotics trafficking and criminal justice, for example–might be the best buffer against a clamp down on marijuana use in states where the practice is legal.

The Congressional Cannabis Caucus, created last week and co-chaired by a bi-partisan group of congressman, released a statement in response to Spicer’s comments. “We hope today’s comments do not reflect the views of the President and his administration,” said the group, which consists of Reps. Earl Blumenauer (R-OR), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Jared Polis (D-CO), and Don Young (R-AK). “We stand ready to educate this administration on the need for more sensible marijuana policies and share the many experiences states have had with the legalization of cannabis.”

In 2013, the Deputy Attorney James Cole, responding to the recent recreational marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado, issued a memo that directed the federal government to consider state laws when enforcing the federal marijuana ban. The Cole Memo reiterated that marijuana trafficking and related criminal activity–such as selling to minors–should be aggressively enforced. Indeed, the Obama Administration conducted raids on growing facilities in states that legalized the drug. But the Cole Memo instructed deference to state law when it comes to possessing or selling small amounts of marijuana.

For all of the uncertainty Spicer’s comments cast on marijuana enforcement, he made clear that the president respects and understands the medical utilization of marijuana. “The president understands the pain and suffering that many people go through who are facing, especially terminal diseases,” Spicer said, “and the comfort that some of these drugs, including medical marijuana, can bring to them.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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