Do you support a government crackdown on states that have legalized cannabis? | The Tylt

Sessions claims marijuana is nearly as dangerous as heroin, and says “there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think.”

"Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life."

But at Civilized.Life, Derek Riedle argues Sessions' hardline position on marijuana "is rooted in what we know to be outdated and inaccurate stereotypes of cannabis consumers," and is at odds with both science and his party's typical stance on the rights of states to self-determination:

"I find it interesting that the Republican Party stands on their soapbox preaching less government on a federal level and the need to give more power to the individual states."

Other legalization advocates have pointed out the contradiction between Republicans' small government stance and Sessions reigniting the war on a drug that 44 states have voted should be legal in some form.

Sessions is strongly at odds with the American public, most of whom believe cannabis is not dangerous and should be decriminalized. This recent Yahoo! News survey found that by a margin of 72 percent to 20 percent, Americans say regular alcohol use is actually a worse health risk than regular marijuana use.

Some Americans would support a cannabis crackdown, however.

The Secretary of Homeland Security also argues cannabis is dangerous, saying it "frequently leads to the use of harder drugs."

"Its use and possession is against federal law and until the law is changed by the United States Congress, we in DHS, along with the rest of the federal government, are sworn to uphold all the laws that are on the books," he added.

But after decades of spending billions to incarcerate tens of millions, many Americans are weary of the war on drugs, and have no interest in starting another one.

And contrary to Sessions' claims, the data does not show legalizing marijuana leads to violent crime—on the contrary, there are some indications that decriminalization actually causes crime rates to drop.

Even Trump advisor and former Nixon staffer Roger Stone says Sessions needs to quit being "such a square" about marijuana. Yep, that Roger Stone.