{"id":102082,"date":"2018-01-04T20:01:42","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T03:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-u-s-prosecutor-no-change-after-sessions-pot-shift\/"},"modified":"2018-01-04T20:01:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T03:01:42","slug":"colorado-u-s-prosecutor-no-change-after-sessions-pot-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-u-s-prosecutor-no-change-after-sessions-pot-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado U.S. prosecutor: No change after Sessions\u2019 pot shift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:4a4ef4ff-60ef-4259-90a0-772e959bec39 --><\/p>\n<p>DENVER \u2013 Colorado\u2019s top federal prosecutor said his office won\u2019t alter its approach to enforcing marijuana crimes after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew a policy Thursday that allowed pot markets to emerge in states that legalized the drug.<\/p>\n<p>The statement by U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer came amid bipartisan outrage over Sessions\u2019 decision to end the so-called Cole memorandum, which sharply limited what charges prosecutors could pursue in legal pot states. He will allow federal prosecutors to decide how aggressively to enforce longstanding federal law banning pot.<\/p>\n<p>Troyer said his office will continue to focus on \u201cidentifying and prosecuting those who create the greatest safety threats to our communities around the state.\u201d That approach is consistent with Sessions\u2019 guidance, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, the attorney general rescinded the Cole Memo on marijuana prosecutions, and directed that federal marijuana prosecution decisions be governed by the same principles that have long governed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,\u201d Troyer said.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. attorney for Colorado took office in August 2016 after former President Barack Obama\u2019s appointee stepped down. President Donald Trump hasn\u2019t nominated a replacement.<\/p>\n<p>Sessions\u2019 move infuriated Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, who said he\u2019s placing a hold on Justice Department nominees and will try to push legislation to protect marijuana sales in states where they are legal.<\/p>\n<p><\/p><div class=\"naviga-social-embed\">&lt;![CDATA[\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>CO 141 NB\/SB: Full closure at Slick Rock. Crash. The road is closed due to a semi crash. Alternate routes advised and expect delays. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Cl3hhy59UM\">https:\/\/t.co\/Cl3hhy59UM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CDOT (@ColoradoDOT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ColoradoDOT\/status\/1226991935438483456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">February 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><br>\n]]&gt;<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p>The Colorado senator said Sessions promised him that he would not repeal the Obama-era policy on lenient enforcement before being confirmed as the nation\u2019s top law enforcement official.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Jeff Sessions said is he didn\u2019t think it was on Trump\u2019s agenda to do this, he didn\u2019t think President Trump had the bandwidth to do this, and he had no plans to repeal the Cole memorandum,\u201d Gardner said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p>Gardner noted that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump told a Colorado television reporter that he believed marijuana should be left up to the states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy does Jeff Sessions think President Trump was wrong?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>Gardner said he only found out via Twitter that Sessions was changing the policy. He said he plans to reach out to other lawmakers from Alaska, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state to seek congressional protection for pot programs.<\/p>\n<p>Congress passed legislation in 2014 protecting medical marijuana policies.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado\u2019s senior senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, also slammed Sessions\u2019 move.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn rescinding the Cole memo, the attorney general failed to listen to Colorado, and will create unnecessary chaos and confusion,\u201d he said on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado condemned the decision as an infringement on states\u2019 rights and pledged to fight any action targeting the state\u2019s legal market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColorado had every right to legalize marijuana, and I will do everything I can to protect that right against the power of an overreaching federal government,\u201d the Republican said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s former \u201cmarijuana czar,\u201d Andrew Freedman, said Sessions\u2019 only point was to create confusion but that the Justice Department cannot force states to make pot illegal.<\/p>\n<p>Freedman, who formerly worked as Gov. John Hickenlooper\u2019s director of marijuana coordination, said the uncertainty will make law-abiding people less likely to get involved in the market and make it harder for banks and insurance companies to justify the risk of working with marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems like a foolish step. Certainty brings better players into the market, more legitimate capital. People who want to be law-abiding will be more likely to enter into the regulated system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Freedman said this is a time for states to increase enforcement to ensure businesses are following the law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should all make sure it\u2019s done as safely and efficiently as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s more of a reason to double down on efforts, not to retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gardner says he will hold up Justice nominees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5742,5735],"tags":[135,24],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-102082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","tag-marijuana","tag-u-s-sen-cory-gardner"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102082"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=102082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}