U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the formation of a new task force subcommittee that will focus, at least in part, on marijuana enforcement policies.
The subcommittee – part of the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety – will tackle “a review of existing policies in the areas of charging, sentencing, and marijuana to ensure consistency with the (Department of Justice’s) overall strategy on reducing violent crime and with Administration goals and policies,” according to a memo sent to U.S. attorneys Wednesday.
Additionally, the memo hints at the possible further use of asset forfeiture against “criminal organizations.” While that may not explicitly include state-legal recreational marijuana companies that are in violation of federal law, such tactics have been used in the past by anti-cannabis U.S. attorneys.
Sessions has referred to parts of the 2013 Cole Memo as “valid” but has also said he isn’t ready to ignore state marijuana laws that run contrary to federal law.
In addition, he has said the DOJ likely doesn’t have the resources to target every state-licensed rec business in the nation. Medical marijuana companies are currently protected by the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, but the federal statute is set to expire April 28 if it’s not renewed by Congress.
By contrast, President Trump said more than once during the campaign last year that he believes marijuana policy should be left to the states.
All of this suggests ongoing uncertainty for the marijuana industry until the Trump administration decides on how it will approach cannabis.
Business can expect new markets, fresh opportunities - and more pitfalls.
trump is a dude who doesn’t believe in jobs that promote health. Thus, coal and fossil fuels which pollute humanity and the planet. He also does not believe in the science of certain issues, e.g.– vacinations, global warming, etc. It is not too far of a leap to believe that he and his administration will crack down on cannabis, destroy canna jobs in favor of things that promote “healty enphasima, wellness cancer, etc”. We are walking backwards in America. Sad.
He’s lied about everything else, why would he stand by this.
An extra issue for Trump is that since state-legal marijuana must operate entirely in cash, as they don’t have access to the banking system, they employ a very large number security guards, Many of those security personnel are veterans.
I would like to prosecute government officials that are guilty of malfeasance of office that have lied, colluded and conspired to block legitimate cannabis research. These officials have caused the ruined and wrong million of American citizens.
Hes not filling the swamp hes flooding it.. the cannabis has been voted in by the people not electoral college