U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Thursday called Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ reported decision to allow aggressive federal prosecution of medical marijuana users “a direct attack on patients.”

Gillibrand said news reports that Sessions will rescind current policy and allow federal prosecutors to decide how aggressively to enforce marijuana laws is inspiring her to call on colleagues to fight the decision.

She said Sessions' reported decision “is a direct attack on patients.

“Parents should be able to give their sick kids the medicine they need without having to fear that they will be prosecuted. Veterans should be able to come home from combat and use the medicine they need without having to fear they will be prosecuted,” the New York Democrat said.

“This is about public health, and it's about reforming our broken criminal justice system that throws too many minorities in prison for completely nonviolent offenses,” she said.

“I urge my colleagues to join me in fighting this shortsighted decision and supporting my broadly bipartisan bill, the CARERS Act, to keep the federal government out of the way when doctors and patients decide that medical marijuana is the best treatment for them," the senator said in a press statement Thursday.