Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. 

The 2016 election was a milestone for supporters of drug reforms, with marijuana-related ballot measures passing in eight different states. Overall, 29 states and the District of Columbia have now legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, and eight of those states, along with Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational use. But as more of those laws are being rolled out at the state level, they are being met by hostility from the White House.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions created a crime reduction task force. Chief among its missions: Reviewing connections between federal marijuana sentencing laws and violent crime. The task force’s findings are expected to be published at the end of the month. In the meantime, Sessions sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking for legal permission to skirt around state marijuana laws and directly impose the existing federal ban.

Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management and author of the book "Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know," joins The Takeaway to explain the conflict between federal and state policy.

Nevada is one of the states that voted to legalize recreational marijuana use in November. July 1st was the official start date for sales of the drug, but the state was unprepared for the level of demand that ensued. Tick Segerblom, a Nevada state senator who backed legalizing marijuana, weighs in on the roll-out in The Silver State. 

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich.