The Trump administration’s push to rapidly amass sensitive personal information about hundreds of millions of people living in the U.S. is extending to a rich new vein of information: troves of databases run by states. In some instances, the data could be leveraged to enhance the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts — a break with longstanding norms and practices that also raises legal questions.
“Every week we’re seeing new examples of this administration demanding or sharing sensitive government data for unprecedented uses,” said Nicole Schneidman, who heads the technology and data governance team at Protect Democracy, a non-profit legal center that describes its mission as “defeating the authoritarian threat.”
Schneidman said Americans should understand “the data that they have entrusted to state governments right now is truly a target.”
80% of U.S. states have made marijuana decriminalized or legal for medical or recreational use. As far as I know, many of these states require some form of registry or documentation when legally purchasing marijuana.
Marijuana isn’t federally legal. If the federal government got its hands on state buyer registries, they basically have a cheat code to subjugate vast swaths of the population under threat of legal action.
I hope that states will take the necessary actions to protect their citizens.