Feds Announce They Won’t Block Marijuana Legalization—The US Department of Justice has green lighted the legalization of marijuana. Today, James Cole, Deputy Attorney General sent the memo, Guidance Regarding Marijuana Enforcement, saying the feds would not interfere with any of the 20 states where voters have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. As long as those states maintain specific distribution rules. The memo directs the feds to focus their resources on eight areas of enforcement preventing:
- distribution of marijuana to minors
- the sale of weed to cartels and gangs
- sales to states where weed remains illegal under state
- state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover for trafficking other illegal drugs or other illegal activity
- Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana
- Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use
According to the Washington Post, a Justice Department official said Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. had called the governors in the two states that legalized weed back in November, Colorado and Washington, around noon Thursday to inform them of the administration’s stance. Holder will have his eye on those two states as they put together a framework to regulate and distribute weed—calling it a “trust but verify approach.” And if Holder and the Justice Department aren’t happy about how legalization is going down, they reserve the right to change their minds.
So there you have it—with this announcement marijuana prohibition will fall, state by state, like dominoes. The time has come.