Nailing down a Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III opium-crisis-responsibility factoid previously subject to uncertainty. [UPDATED]

This earlier Crabgrass post was inconclusive:

The bill went to the Senate Judiciary Committee [this link - caution, whether this is the committee membership presently, or relating back to the 114th Congress is not clear; nor was it researched in posting this item]. Given the caveat, pinning down what role then-Senator JBS III played was not done, so cut him some slack.

Big Pharma fault erasure? We did it Our Way.

Well, no slack, given that JBS III was the third senior Judiciary Committee member, Republican side, when the bill was in committee; behind key perp Orrin Hatch, and Chair Grassley. That report, searched "Patient Access," gave two hits:

Public Law 114-145 (S. 483), April 19, 2016--Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016

and

S. 483--Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016 (February 11, 2016), became Public Law 114-145

thus proving JBS III had fingers on the thing from day one in committee. Not a cosponsor, but an in-committee perp.


GOP side - The side originating/shepherding the "Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016" hoax. The side instigating all those opioid industry crony forgiveness indulgences/settlements which led to the disgust of DEA people, as was reported by 60 Minutes/WaPo.

Ongoing. Sessions on committee; Sessions boss of DOJ.

Selling indulgences is what got Luther to break with The Roman Church, with hell on earth for decades after per the "Reformation" bloodbath shake-out.


___________UPDATE____________
CONCERNING WEED AND NOT DEADLY STUFF: As of mid-day, Sat. Jan. 13, Sessions is not getting good press coverage; even the New York Daily News op-ed'ing against JBS III.

HuffPo posts a catalog of dislikers and dislikes. ChiTrib:

Rohrabacher thinks Sessions’ move will encourage Congress to foil him. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she will introduce a bill to let states make their own choices on cannabis. She may find little opposition. Politico reported that it “could not find a single member of Congress who had issued a statement in support of Sessions’ actions.”

His mistake was to disturb a status quo that allowed members of Congress to accommodate public support for legalization without having to vote for it. Deference to state liberalization could be couched in terms of keeping the federal government from interfering with matters beyond its responsibilities — an approach that largely satisfied both Democrats and Republicans.

Sessions is forcing many members to choose between supporting prohibition of cannabis and siding with their own states and constituents. Given that two-thirds of Americans want to allow recreational weed, it’s not a shrewd strategy.

His position is more likely to boost support for legalization than to diminish it. That’s partly because he works for a president who is notably unpopular and partly because he himself has an approval rating of 24 percent. Legalization supporters could not ask for a more useful adversary.

From there, readers can further search as deemed fitting.

It seems a mood of let sleeping dogs lie has been Sessioned into choose sides, on record; and politicians should do that. Hiding on issues is cowardly; but we know about politics. Hence there is a rainbow within the rain Sessions has danced into front and center attention.

Possibly Sessions' intent is to force the issue now, so as to resolve it and disarm it as a 2018 midterm election issue months from now.

____________FURTHER UPDATE______________
Weed warrior kissing the hindquarters of Big Opium, and all those Afghan poppies we hear of, together does not make things look good for Mike Pence, so, will there be change? CHANGE we can believe in?

From Salon (republishing an Alternet item with too good an image to not include).

Even if weed actually was a "gateway drug" to opiates; it is the opiate money machine that is killing thousands of Americans year in and year out. Remember, all-American Hall of Fame quarterbacks can get hooked. To their disadvantage, scrounging pills and in denial until entering rehab. You can put such a face upon opiate abuse, but where there's money to be made Big Pharma plunges and damned be the consequences. How about a change? Damned be the facilitators. A/k/a JBS III.

The Cannabist on Colorado and Congress; here, here, here, and here. So the logic of ending the prohibition and moving on is a logic that is taking hold. Perhaps Mike Pence likes that as an outcome; i.e., liking the thought of distancing any solution now, from election day, 2018. Force the issue now in hope of salvaging next November a "best given circumstances" outcome for the Mercers and for Pence's GOP fellow travelers.

Whatever today's JBS III precipitating of current events leads to, now, only clouds questions about an election months away. It is entirely a guessing game.