Sessions doubtful about marijuana regulation in letter to Alaska’s governor

By Polly Washburn, The Cannabist Staff

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ letter to Alaska’s governor took a similar tone to his letters to other legal recreational marijuana states, questioning whether the The Last Frontier state’s regulations were adequately protecting its youth and other citizens.

On July 24, Jeff Sessions wrote the governors of four Western states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — responding to a joint letter they had sent him more than three months earlier, April 3.

The Cannabist has obtained a copy of the last of these letters to Alaska, and the co-signed response from Gov. Bill Walker and state Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth.

In each of the previously-released letters, Sessions referred to regional and state data depicting serious public health and safety issues arising from marijuana legalization, and Alaska was no exception. Citing a 2015 Annual Drug Report by Alaska State Troopers, Sessions said the report “raises serious questions about whether marijuana ‘regulatory…