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Thursday, February 15, 2018
On Tuesday, the city council of Berkeley, California voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to declare the city a sanctuary for adult recreational cannabis use and sale. The resolution by the Berkeley council “declared [the City of Berkeley] to be a sanctuary for recreational cannabis customers, providers, and landlords.”
The resolution bars city employees including police from assisting federal law enforcement officials, namely the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in enforcing federal drug laws. While cannabis has been legal for adult use under California state law since January 1 this year by a 2016 referendum, it remains a prohibited substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Under the U.S. Constitution, federal law is given supremacy to contradictory state and local law.
The vote was unanimous with seven yes votes, although two members abstained in the vote, Council Members Sophie Hahn and Susan Wengraf. The resolution was drafted by Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Council Members Ben Bartlett and Cheryl Davila.
In a tweet following the vote, the Berkeley mayor wrote, “In light of threats by Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions regarding a misguided crackdown on our democratic decision to legalize recreational cannabis, we have become what may be the first city in the country to declare ourselves a sanctuary city for cannabis.” The attorney general is the top federal law enforcement official.
Last month, Sessions repealed a policy from the previous presidential administration providing legal shelter to states that legalized recreation cannabis. A January 5 memo from Sessions called for Justice Department prosecutors to enforce the federal ban on cannabis use and sale.
During the same meeting the city council also voted to reduce the sales tax on cannabis from 10 percent to 5 percent in a bid to draw more business.