Federal agents meet with Colorado officials on cannabis policy

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Four federal agents visited Colorado this week to meet with public officials about the state’s marijuana policy and oversight.

The delegation included representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Domestic Policy Council and the State Department, the Denver Post reported.

The group sat with “nearly two dozen state officials for a 2½-hour meeting” Tuesday regarding the state’s MJ system.

“Our purpose was to convey to them the strength of our regulatory system and our enforcement system and our policies and practices,” Mark Bolton, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s marijuana adviser, told the Post.

Discussion topics ranged from a broad overview of the regulatory system, to the state’s efforts to combat black market marijuana activity, to campaigns aimed at curbing youth cannabis use and public education.

Bolton said none of the federal agents raised the specter of federal enforcement against Colorado’s marijuana industry and that the trip was “an educational opportunity.”

In April, Hickenlooper invited Attorney General Jeff Sessions to visit Colorado to get a better idea of how the state has overseen the cannabis industry.

Federal agents also met Wednesday with public officials in Colorado Springs, including Mayor John Suthers, according to TV station KKTV.

The meetings come in advance of Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety policy recommendations, which are to be delivered to Sessions on July 27.

The report is slated to include policy suggestions on “charging, sentencing, and marijuana,” according to a memo Sessions sent to U.S. attorneys in February.