In this file photo taken on April 25, 2018 US Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits for a hearing of the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies as Matthew G. Whitaker (L), Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions looks on Capitol Hill April 25, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Marijuana movement energized with Sessions out as attorney general

He described marijuana as a “very real danger” and has said its effects are “only slightly less awful” than those of heroin. Once, during a drug hearing when he was a senator, he said he wanted to send a clear message: “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.”

So when Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned recently, proponents of legalized marijuana — activists, politicians, investors — were pleased.

Sessions’ departure has translated into surging stocks for cannabis companies and a reset of sorts for the legalization movement, which since 2012 has succeeded in nearly a dozen states.

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