By Katie Burke
This morning, Jeff Sessions has rescinded the Obama-era policy that was adopted for non- interference with marijuana state laws. The main memo from the Justice Department addressing the issue was called the Cole Memo. The memo from 2013 is named after the then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole, who set forth new policies for federal prosecutors operating in states where marijuana has is legalized for medical reasons, or other adult uses. As long as cannabis didn’t fall into the hands of children and gangs and was not allowed to move to states where it was illegal, the federal government would not prosecute for the sale of marijuana. Jeff Sessions has not yet issued a new policy in its place.
From the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
This policy change is on the heels of America’s largest opioid epidemic to date. According to the most recent government data, deaths related to heroin have skyrocketed to 533 percent since 2002. In 2016, there were over 64,000 deaths due to overdose.
Zero cannabis overdoses have been reported to date.
Colorado has already begun to fight back. Senator Cory Gardner has been busy on Twitter this morning. In a series of Tweets Gardner sent out before Attorney Jeff Sessions had been sworn in, he had told him he would not change the Obama-era policy that kept the feds from pursuing marijuana-related offenses in states where it is legalized. Donald Trump was quoted as saying, “he’d never let his pick for Attorney General ban recreational marijuana, it should be up to the states.”
Stay tuned as this story unfolds.
