Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) spoke yesterday on the U.S. Senate floor, regarding the reported action being taken by the Justice Department on marijuana legalization enforcement.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo Thursday reversing an Obama-era policy that enabled states to legalize marijuana without federal intervention. That memo sparked swift reaction from officials in states where recreational marijuana has now been legal for, in some cases, up to 5 years.
Sen. Gardner released the following statement in reaction to Session’s memo:
“Reports that the Justice Department will rescind their current policy on legal marijuana enforcement are extremely alarming. Before I voted to confirm Attorney General Sessions, he assured me that marijuana would not be a priority for this Administration. Today’s action directly contradicts what I was told, and I am prepared to take all steps necessary, including holding DOJ nominees, until the Attorney General lives up to the commitment he made to me prior to his confirmation. In 2016, President Trump said marijuana legalization should be left up to the states and I agree.”
Watch the following video of Sen. Gardner’s speech.
Also, yesterday, U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer of the District of Colorado issued the following statement regarding marijuana prosecutions:
“Today the Attorney General rescinded the Cole Memo on marijuana prosecutions, and directed that federal marijuana prosecution decisions be governed by the same principles that have long governed all of our prosecution decisions. The United States Attorney’s Office in Colorado has already been guided by these principles in marijuana prosecutions — focusing in particular on identifying and prosecuting those who create the greatest safety threats to our communities around the state. We will, consistent with the Attorney General’s latest guidance, continue to take this approach in all of our work with our law enforcement partners throughout Colorado.”
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.