WASHINGTON Leading Democrats blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions Thursday announcement that he would open the door to a federal crackdown on states that have decriminalized forms of marijuana use.

Sessions action reverses a Department of Justice policy from the Barack Obama administration that effectively shielded those states from federal prosecution.

Sessions needs to focus on issues like transnational criminal organizations and what the nation needs to do on investigating and prosecuting human trafficking, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a rumored 2020 presidential candidate, told HuffPost on Thursday.

Sessions needs to leave grandmas medicinal marijuana alone! she continued with a chuckle.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), a centrist, declared that the move would seem to be the absolute opposite direction of where the countrys headed and one more example of this administration being completely out of step with where both Americans are headed and, for that matter, Democratic and Republican state legislatures.

This is a big mistake, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told HuffPost. In those states where the people in the states have made a determination to decriminalize or legalize marijuana ... the federal government would better spend its resources going after real problems weve got.

But criticizing Sessions move is one thing. Turning his marijuana crackdown into an election-year political cudgel in stump speeches, campaign literature and ads is something else entirely.

And when asked whether Democrats planned to use the marijuana crackdown against Republicans in the November elections, some of the same Democrats keen to clobber Sessions were noncommittal.

Its way too early to predict that, Warner said.

Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senate campaign arm, said, Every Democratic member of the Senate will have to decide whats best in their states.