The U.S. attorney general disputes a link between pot and lower opioid use after warning of surrounding violence

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has for a second time this week publicly bashed marijuana legalization, abandoning his confirmation-process reticence to discuss the topic and reclaiming his colorful opposition.

On Tuesday, Sessions told a Washington ballroom packed with state attorneys general – many of them in charge of defending laws that conflict with federal prohibition – that pot legalization should be resisted, though he did not describe any specific plans to challenge state-regulated markets.

Attorneys general of three states with laws allowing for recreational sales told U.S. News after the remarks that Sessions needs to clarify his intentions toward the voter-approved laws that have spawned a multibillion-dollar state-legal industry.

“Marijuana is a cure for opiate abuse? Give me a break,” Sessions had told the room, discounting what he said was a recent Washington Post article associating lax pot laws with less opioid abuse, a link demonstrated by research. [Read More @ US News]