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.