The U.S. has now been under the Trump administration for over a month. The success of the new administration is subjective and of course everyone has an opinion, whether they believe he has done well or done terribly. 

While I have never been a fan of Donald Trump, I can admit that I support a couple of things he has done so far. Agree with him or not, he has done fairly well sticking to his 30 day plan. 

With that being said, it would appear his administration is planning on doing some backtracking from the states’ rights platform he won the presidency on. 

According to Politico, on three separate occasions during his campaign, Trump stated legalizing recreational marijuana should be left up to the states. 

 “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 encourage people. There is still a federal law that we need to abide by when it comes to recreational marijuana and drugs of that nature,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer said last week.  

As you can see, this seems to run contrary to the message Trump had for potential voters during his campaign. This is not new for politicians. 

Usually they make lofty promises while on the campaign trail and then those promises seem to fade away once the election is over and won. It has been rammed into our heads that Trump won because “he is not a politician,” but his actions as of late prove otherwise. 

Another thing that should concern state governments that allowed recreational marijuana is the fact that Trump’s Attorney General is Jeff Sessions. 

Sessions, a favorite of conservatives, has made his position on marijuana very clear. “We need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that it’s, in fact, a very real danger,” he said in an April Senate hearing, according to The Washington Post.   

“This drug is dangerous, you cannot play with it, it is not funny, it’s not something to laugh about…good people do not smoke marijuana,” Sessions said. 

If the Trump administration plans on cracking down on states with legalized recreational use, Trump has certainly chosen the right man for the job. Sessions also said President Obama failed the U.S. by not intervening when states like Colorado were passing laws legalizing recreational marijuana use. 

My question for Republicans is this: Why do you only care about states’ rights when it fits your agenda? The Right will argue things such as education and healthcare should be handled at the state and local level, but will undermine the legitimacy of laws enacted by states when it comes to marijuana. 

I agree, education and healthcare are issues that would be more efficiently handled at the state and local level, considering how inefficient the federal government has proven to be. 

However, if you are going to hold a position in favor of states’ rights, you should be consistent and hold that position across the board. 

The 10th Amendment says that powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution should be left to the states. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have never seen anything about marijuana in the Constitution. As with anything else, inconsistency leads to a faulty governmental foundation.

If this new administration is going to attempt to delegitimize an issue that is constitutionally left to the states, this leaves the door open for any administration to strike down any state laws of which they do not approve. 

Case in point: states like Mississippi have Constitutional Carry laws. If the next president happened to be a Democrat, that could certainly be a target they would aim for. 

Precedence matters. Setting a bad precedence here could lead to a world of issues for states and their ability to enact laws the citizens of the state want. 

I would urge President Trump not to undermine the rights of states any further than they already have been, in terms of his stance on marijuana.