The United States still isn’t sure what Attorney General Jeff Sessions plans to do about the country’s extremely successful marijuana industry. However, if Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has his way, some kind of Justice Department-led federal restraint will soon come, and it will begin in nearby Oregon and Washington. Otter was a Trump supporter whose name was momentarily floated to join Donald Trump’s Cabinet, possibly as Secretary of Agriculture. Otter is now breaking with conservative value to request some big-government federal intervention, in the form of Trump sending in the drug war force.
On January 30, Otter wrote to the president to praise Trump’s infamous executive action on immigration and to request a cannabis restraint in Nevada, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Otter put blame on the current state of affairs on Obama and demanded that nearby states’ experiments with legalization is creating chaos in Idaho. Otter stated, “Among the most pressing concerns facing Idaho, both from the criminal and public health standpoints, is the utter lack of consistency displayed by the Obama administration in enforcement of federal marijuana laws. In that respect, Idaho is a virtual island of compliance, and we are paying the price.” The price could be that “people are bringing marijuana into the state.” Those people would include Idahoans tired of the black market who go to local dispensaries to purchase it legally and bring it back.
According to Butch Otter, this puts a strain on Idaho’s healthcare, jails, and school systems. Under Obama, prohibition states bordering legal states have attempted to enlist the federal government to negotiate without success. A lawsuit filed by Oklahoma and Nebraska against Colorado, alleging that state’s now-$1.3 billion dollars worth of legal marijuana was somehow creating crime across the region, was thrown out by the Supreme Court last year. So far, other Trump supporting state governors who hate cannabis have had to deal with it. Maine’s Paul LePage, whose failed opposition campaign to that state’s successful legalization effort relied on fake facts and blatant racism, has so far been forced to try to obstruct marijuana by himself.
