Coverage of DOJ’s Response to Legalization
The Cannabist has compiled a wonderful collection of primary documents detailing the back-and-forth between the governors of the first four recreational legalization states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) and the U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. The documents include:
- April 2017 letters from state leaders imploring Sessions to adhere to the Obama Administration’s non-enforcement policy. That policy is discussed in the book on pages 343-353.
- July 2017 letters from the Attorney General to the governors of each state, citing evidence, such as increases in traffic fatalities, the Attorney General claims “raises serious questions about the efficacy of marijuana ‘regulatory structures’” in each state.
- August 2017 letters from the governors of Alaska and Washington contesting the factual claims made by Sessions in his July letters.
It is important to note, however, that the DOJ has not (yet) changed its enforcement policy toward marijuana, and we are now more than 200 days into the Trump Presidency.