Amid speculation about how the Trump administration will confront marijuana legalization in states such as Colorado, a Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor has sent an e-mail to a prosecutor in the state attorney general’s office seeking information, “for the new administration.”
The e-mail was sent early last month by a supervisor on the financial investigations team in the DEA’s Denver field office to Michael Melito, a senior assistant attorney general. The e-mail asks for Melito to provide case numbers for several prosecutions relating to marijuana, including one that involved multiple people charged with growing pot illegally in Colorado and then shipping it out of state.
How the Trump administration will deal with Colorado’s legal marijuana system has been a source of anxiety for many in the state’s cannabis industry. While Trump indicated on the campaign trail that he supports state’s rights on the matter, statements by his press secretary and by new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions have hinted at a stricter approach.
“Marijuana is against federal law, and that applies in states where they may have repealed their own anti-marijuana laws,” Sessions said last month. “So yes, we will enforce law in an appropriate way nationwide.”
Colorado Gov.r John Hickenloope, though, has said he’s not sure the federal government can overturn marijuana legalization in the state, and Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has invited the fedsto come to the state to learn more about its marijuana laws, which she has said she will defend if necessary.
credit: denverpost.com
