It's Official, Colorado: Jeff Sessions Is Coming For Your Weed

26 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Attorney General Cynthia Coffman says don’t be alarmed…yet:

Colorado AG Cynthia Coffman: based on convo with interim US attorney, doesn’t expect crackdown on legal marijuana market in Colorado. Continuation of targeting black and gray markets. @denverpost #COpolitics pic.twitter.com/tdGAsUMvap

— Jon Murray (@JonMurray) January 4, 2018

Hopefully these words don’t come back to bite her (see below).

—–

Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

AP reporting via KDVR FOX 31 along with every other media outlet in the land, just days after the nation’s largest retail marijuana market commenced operations in California–Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears to be making good on longstanding threats to crack down on the legal sale of marijuana, with apparently no distinction even between medical and retail sales:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding the Obama-era policy that had paved the way for legalized marijuana to flourish in states across the country, including in Colorado, according to two sources.

Sessions will instead let federal prosecutors where pot is legal decide how aggressively to enforce federal marijuana law, the sources said…

While Sessions has been carrying out a Justice Department agenda that follows Trump’s top priorities on such issues as immigration and opioids, the changes to pot policy reflect his own concerns.

Trump’s personal views on marijuana remain largely unknown.

Colorado’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner is affecting much outrage over Sessions’ move today via Twitter:

This reported action directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation. With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in CO and other states.

— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) January 4, 2018

The rub here of course is that Sen. Gardner, alone among Colorado’s delegation in Washington, cast his vote to confirm Sessions as Attorney General–meaning that Gardner is left holding the proverbial bag in this case more than anyone else in our vanguard legalization state. For all the noise Gardner is making in defense of Colorado’s marijuana industry now, he can’t escape at least partial responsibility for Sessions’ actions.

Obviously we’ll be watching this developing story for updates, since Sessions’ next steps on marijuana will have a major effect on Colorado’s economy. Stay tuned.

26 thoughts on “It’s Official, Colorado: Jeff Sessions Is Coming For Your Weed”

Diogenesdemar says:

January 4, 2018 at 9:58 am

Imagine!!! . . .

. . . someone lying to Gardner!?! . . .

. . . and a Republican, too???!!???

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1. MichaelBowman says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 2:05 pm
  
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  1. MichaelBowman says:
    
    January 4, 2018 at 2:12 pm
    
    This is an utterly-delightful Twitter thread full of all kinds of facty-thingys.
    
    You're welcome, Nutlid.
    
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2. gaf says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 8:59 pm
  
  Imagine!!!…
  
  ….Gardner being surprised that fellow Republicans are lying to him??!!
  
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ParkHill says:

January 4, 2018 at 10:05 am

In the 1960s & 70s Nixon weaponized the DEA against African Americans and Anti-war activists.

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ajb says:

January 4, 2018 at 10:21 am

"In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state," Donald J. Trump October 29, 2015

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Moderatus says:

January 4, 2018 at 10:52 am

OH NO STONERS!

The law is the law. The law is the law. If you don't like the law, change the law…

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1. MichaelBowman says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 10:56 am
  
  We did moran. It's embedded in our constitution.
  
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  1. ajb says:
    
    January 4, 2018 at 1:10 pm
    
    I think Moddy just called Cory a stoner.
    
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    1. Diogenesdemar says:
      
      January 4, 2018 at 3:25 pm
      
      Cynthia, too! . . .
      
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    2. unnamed says:
      
      January 4, 2018 at 5:08 pm
      
      Stay the course Senator. They'll thank you.
      
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      1. RepealAndReplace says:
        
        January 4, 2018 at 7:12 pm
        
        Stay the course Senator. Some day Cheech and Chong will thank you.
        
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2. unnamed says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 11:00 am
  
  Uh. What were you on in 2012 DUMBASS?
  
  We changed the law then. Also, whatever happened to state's rights? I thought Republicans were all about that.
  
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  1. slavdude says:
    
    January 4, 2018 at 11:23 am
    
    I thought Republicans were all about that.
    
    Of course they are, when it comes to guns and ~~fetal gestation vessels~~ women.
    
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    1. Gilpin Guy says:
      
      January 4, 2018 at 11:34 am
      
      Same way they are all about being deficit hawks when a Democrat is in the White House. Same way they are all about expressing Pro-Life thoughts and prayers when children are being murdered by lunatics with guns.
      
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3. Voyageur says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 1:41 pm
  
  The 9th and 10th amendments to the U.S. Constitution are also the law, and way outrank Jeff Sessions' eructations, Moron.
  
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Pseudonymous says:

January 4, 2018 at 11:27 am

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.

— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) January 4, 2018

Um, you could just introduce legislation to make it legal, rather than try to force the AG to not enforce the law you aren't changing.

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1. ajb says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 12:33 pm
  
  Agreed. The non-enforcement of pot laws is a prerogative of the executive branch. If legislators don't like a law, they're supposed to change it. Duh.
  
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2. MichaelBowman says:
  
  January 5, 2018 at 7:51 am
  
  HR1227 was introduced in the House last February. I don't believe it (yet) has a Senate companion. Kudos to Polis and Perlmutter for being on the tip of this spear.
  
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JohnInDenver says:

January 4, 2018 at 3:16 pm

Well, with an interim District AG in place who reassures Ms. Coffman, we may be in good shape. Of course, there will be a rotating cast of interim or acting AGs until someone is nominated and confirmed. So if Cory is sincere, he can pretty much insure there will be no one put in place.

Or, he could simply do the right thing, and push a bipartisan amendment onto a "must pass" law, codifying "state's rights" on marijuana. Heck, that might even get cooperation from Bennet that Zappatero wouldn't condemn.

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Old Time Dem says:

January 4, 2018 at 4:13 pm

"State's rights" is not the doctrinal hill to die on, and neither the Ninth nor Tenth Amendments have any applicability (nor does the commerce clause, which moron Mike Coffman tweeted about).

There is federal law on marijuana. It is a constitutional law. It is constitutional for the federal government to prosecute marijuana crimes. Claims otherwise verge on being frivolous. Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005) upheld the federal prosecution of a Californian who grew pot for his own medical use after the state legalized medical marijuana. The decision was 6-3–the majority were Stevens, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Souter and Breyer, with Scalia concurring. The question on which the dissenters disagreed was whether an individual had the right to grow weed for his own use–there is no question that the three dissenters (Rehnquist, Thomas, and O'Conner) would approve of federal prosecutions of commercial growers and sellers.

Being stupid and claiming that the feds cannot prosecute is distracting from the only possible solution: the law needs to be changed. I hope that Sessions' enthusiasm boomerangs and Congress gets off its ass and does something useful.

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Moderatus says:

January 4, 2018 at 4:25 pm

Marijuana is illegal under federal law and federal law trumps state law.

That's it. Done. Next.

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1. Pseudonymous says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 4:38 pm
  
  Moderatus says:
  
  August 28, 2017 at 3:43 PM MST
  
  When all else fails the county sheriffs are the people's last hope for justice. I'm thrilled by the pardon of Joe Arpaio! This man is an American hero who only did what he had to do to protect the citizens in his charge. That's more than the federal government was willing to do. The people of Maricopa County are loyal and grateful to Sheriff Joe. I hope he runs for the U.S. Senate!
  
  A win for the REAL law over liberals who hide behind the law in order to hurt our country. Don't import your voters, persuade Americans to support you!!!
  
  Real federal law and order man, you are. Yep, that's what I always say.
  
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2. unnamed says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 4:50 pm
  
  So Arpaio is a hero for going against the Federal Government, but now Federal law trumps state law. Tell me nutlid. When should state and local control beat the Feds? Also, you and Beauregard are going against the invisible hand of the Free Market.
  
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JohnInDenver says:

January 4, 2018 at 8:02 pm

Oooooo ….. Cory Gardner hits the big time on HuffPost.

Second story in their heap, right behind Bannon becoming Mercerless.

Sen. Cory Gardner Rips Jeff Sessions’ Weed Reversal, Threatens To Hold Up DOJ Nominees

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1. mamajama55 says:
  
  January 4, 2018 at 8:18 pm
  
  Will Gardner change his mind? If it looks politically advantageous….absolutely. Will he try to take every side of the cannabis legalization fight? Yes, true to his nature, he'll change what he says, depending on his audience.
  
  But for now, I'm reminded of what an ancient sage said: "Not everything Gardner does is evil."
  
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