Indopedia All Things Marijuana
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he was rescinding the Cole memo, which effectively ends the Obama-era federal policy of non-interference in states which have legalized adult-use cannabis. This prompted a firestorm of press conferences by state officials, particularly those in California, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon, as well as scathing criticism from government leaders like Senator Cory Booker and Rep. Keith Ellison. Cannabis activists, advocates, and business owners went into a frenzy on social media, blasting Sessions and President Trump.
However, the Cole Memo was not a law. Technically, it wasn’t even enforceable. It was simply a set of federal guidelines regarding states that legalized weed. Once rescinded, it frees prosecutors to more aggressively enforce federal law on state-legal cannabis operations.
So far, not one U.S. Attorney in any of the states that matter (in other words, those with some form of pot legalization) have announced they would change how they enforce marijuana laws. That includes U.S. attorneys in California, Colorado, Washington State, and Oregon.
Members of Sessions’ own party expressed their disappointments…
