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posted by martyb on Thursday January 04 2018, @09:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the up-in-smoke dept.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will reportedly rescind the Cole Memo (DoJ), effectively ending the moratorium on enforcing cannabis prohibition in states where it has been legalized:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will roll back an Obama-era policy that gave states leeway to allow marijuana for recreational purposes.

Two sources with knowledge of the decision confirmed to The Hill that Sessions will rescind the so-called Cole memo, which ordered U.S. attorneys in states where marijuana has been legalized to deprioritize prosecution of marijuana-related cases.

The Associated Press first reported the decision.

Sessions, a vocal critic of marijuana legalization, has hinted for months that he would move to crack down on the growing cannabis market.

Republican Senator Cory Gardner says he will hold up the confirmation process for DoJ nominees:

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) threatened on Thursday to start holding up the confirmation process for White House Justice Department nominees unless Attorney General Jeff Sessions reverses a decision to roll back a policy allowing legalized recreational use of marijuana in some states.

Gardner said in a series of tweets that Sessions had told him before he was confirmed by the Senate that he would not change an Obama-era policy that discouraged federal prosecutors from pursuing marijuana-related offenses in states where the substance had been legalized. Colorado is one of those states.

[...] The Justice Department's reversal of the Cole memo on Thursday came three days after California's new law allowing recreational marijuana use went into effect.

Other politicians have reacted strongly to the news.

Previously: New Attorney General Claims Legal Weed Drives Violent Crime; Statistics be Damned
4/20: The Third Time's Not the Charm
Jeff Sessions Reboots the Drug War
According to Gallup, American Support for Cannabis Legalization is at an All-Time High
Opioid Commission Drops the Ball, Demonizes Cannabis
Recreational Cannabis Goes on Sale in California

Related: Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions Backs Crypto Backdoors


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday January 04 2018, @11:39PM (3 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday January 04 2018, @11:39PM (#618072) Homepage Journal

    Funny, this is one of the few things I think he actually did right. The executive branch has no business deciding which laws it will and won't enforce. Selective enforcement of the law is tyranny, plain and simple.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Friday January 05 2018, @05:48AM (2 children)

    by dry (223) on Friday January 05 2018, @05:48AM (#618224) Journal

    It's also tyranny to enforce an immoral, unconstitutional law that neither the courts nor the legislature will take the correct step to strike it from the books.
    There is also the question of where resources should be spent. Here, many moons ago, the cops literally said they aren't going to enforce non-profit copyright infringement as they had better things to do with their time. Now they have the same attitude to drugs, at least where I live.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 05 2018, @12:25PM (1 child)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday January 05 2018, @12:25PM (#618292) Homepage Journal

      Yes, it is. Fortunately there are multiple, entirely legal methods of removing said law.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by dry on Friday January 05 2018, @05:58PM

        by dry (223) on Friday January 05 2018, @05:58PM (#618418) Journal

        Unluckily there is a flaw in democracies, namely that 51% can vote to remove rights from the 49%. This is why some countries have a bill of rights in their Constitutions. Unluckily, you can't list all the rights and some were never dreamed of being needed. I'd say that the idea that the government would ban hemp was never imagined and if it was, it may have been added to the bill of rights.