The U.S. attorney general on Tuesday reiterated that he believes it is \u201cnot an efficient use\u201d of federal resources to go after people for possessing marijuana. But he declined to directly answer a senator\u2019s question on whether the Justice Department would be reinstating Obama-era enforcement guidance on not interfering with state cannabis programs that was rescinded during the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Merrick Garland was pressed on the issue at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), who asked the nation\u2019s top prosecutor whether he intended to reissue guidance encouraging federal prosecutors to use discretion in cannabis cases in states that have legalized.<\/p>\n
\u201cI laid this out in my confirmation hearing, and my view hasn\u2019t really changed since then,\u201d Garland replied. \u201cThe Justice Department has almost never prosecuted use of marijuana, and it\u2019s not going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marijuana prosecutions are \u201cnot an efficient use of the resources given the opioid and methamphetamine epidemic that we have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To be sure, Garland said in oral and written testimony during his confirmation proceedings that the gist of the so-called Cole memo will continue to be followed and that prosecuting individuals over cannabis is a wasteful allocation of Justice Department resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, he did not directly answer the Schatz\u2019s question about whether there were plans in the works to recodify that policy of discretionary enforcement, and the senator did not follow up to press the matter\u2014saying that the attorney general\u2019s initial reply was \u201cgood enough for me\u201d before quickly pivoting to ask about other issues.<\/p>\n While the federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach to state-level cannabis legalization efforts under recent administrations, both Democratic and Republican, advocates have been pushing for the reinstatement of the Cole memo as they continue their push for comprehensive federal reform.<\/p>\n Garland\u2019s reaffirmation of the Justice Department\u2019s discretionary enforcement protocol for marijuana came on the same day that President Joe Biden made his first clemency action<\/a> since taking office more than a year ago. The president granted clemency to dozens of people with non-violent federal drug convictions on their records.<\/p>\n Biden, in his statement on the action, said that \u201cwhile today\u2019s announcement marks important progress, my Administration will continue to review clemency petitions and deliver reforms that advance equity and justice, provide second chances, and enhance the wellbeing and safety of all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers filed a bill this month that would direct the attorney general to create a commission charged with making recommendations on a regulatory system for marijuana<\/a> that models what\u2019s currently in place for alcohol.<\/p>\n Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Brian Mast (R-FL) are teaming up on what\u2019s titled the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act\u2014an incremental reform meant to inform comprehensive cannabis policy changes in the future.<\/p>\n While Garland has made clear that he doesn\u2019t feel it\u2019s appropriate to federally prosecute people who use marijuana, he hasn\u2019t acted on calls from certain lawmakers to\u00a0initiate the process to decriminalize marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n Efforts in Congress to end federal cannabis prohibition are ongoing. For example, the U.S. House of Representatives again voted in favor of a bill to legalize marijuana<\/a> and promote social equity in the industry at the beginning of the month.<\/p>\n On the Senate side, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have been working to finalize their own legalization legislation, though the leader recently said that it would not be introduced this month as he previously signaled, but he made a \u201cpromise\u201d to formally introduce it<\/a> ahead of the August recess.<\/p>\n Separately, several Republican members of Congress\u00a0introduced a bill last November to federally legalize and tax marijuana<\/a>\u00a0as an alternative to far-reaching Democratic-led reform proposals and scaled-down GOP cannabis descheduling legislation. The sponsor of that bill, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), said she expects a committee hearing on her proposal.<\/p>\n Congressional Lawmakers Speak Up For Marijuana Worker Protections Amid Renewed Labor Union Push<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post U.S. Attorney General Reiterates That Marijuana Enforcement Wastes Department Resources, But Declines To Comment On Formal Guidance<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The U.S. attorney general on Tuesday reiterated that he believes it is \u201cnot an efficient use\u201d of federal resources to go after people for possessing marijuana. But he declined to directly answer a senator\u2019s question on whether the Justice Department would be reinstating Obama-era enforcement guidance on not interfering withContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54521,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54520\/revisions\/54521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: U.S. Attorney General Reiterates That Marijuana Enforcement Wastes Department Resources, But Declines To Comment On Formal Guidance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"