As expectations mount about updated federal guidance on marijuana enforcement priorities that could accompany a rescheduling move, the former U.S. deputy attorney general behind an earlier memo on prosecutorial discretion says \u201calmost anything is possible\u201d in terms of expanding its scope to provide more protections for state cannabis markets\u2014including the possibility of sanctioning interstate commerce.<\/p>\n
A Democratic congressman agrees, telling Marijuana Moment on Tuesday that he expects the Justice Department with \u201creissue and expand\u201d the Obama-era guidance that generally formalized a policy of non-intervention with respect to state marijuana laws. The so-called Cole memo was rescinded under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
James Cole, the former DOJ official who authored that earlier guidance, spoke on Wednesday about federal cannabis policy issues\u2014including the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s (DEA) newly announced rescheduling determination<\/a>\u2014during an event organized by the National Cannabis Roundtable (NCR).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to speak for DOJ presently\u2014but I think, obviously, you\u2019ve got an enormous step forward with the decision to reschedule,\u201d Cole told Marijuana Moment. \u201cIt shows an institutional softening of the position both at DOJ and even more significantly at DEA. It seems to me at this point that the memo I wrote seems to still have some lingering effect.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always a good idea, every 10 years or so, to take a look at something and see if it needs to be tweaked and if it needs to be improved and what lessons are learned,\u201d he said. \u201cKnowing a lot of people at the Justice Department\u2014these are very smart and very able administrators, and people who run the department really know what they\u2019re doing. I think it\u2019s probably likely they will consider the issue and determine whether or not any further guidance is necessary once the rule has taken effect.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that it\u2019s important that \u201ceverybody know where the federal government stands on prosecutions and what the guardrails are going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n More broadly, Cole said that Congress should establish a regulatory framework for marijuana. But interim guidance could help mitigate confusion resulting from the existing federal-state cannabis policy disconnect.<\/p>\n The former deputy attorney general also said future guidance may take into account more contemporary concerns in the state marijuana industry such as restricting products that may appeal to youth. He also said federal prosecutions of the illicit market should be \u201cstepped up both state-wise and federally, because to me the key to all of this is the maintenance of a legitimate and well-regulated business. That\u2019s how you\u2019re going to ensure public safety in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, during a press briefing on Tuesday that followed DEA\u2019s rescheduling announcement, Congressional Cannabis Caucus founding co-chair Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) told Marijuana Moment that he\u2019s \u201cconfident\u201d the Justice Department will \u201creissue and expand\u201d the Cole memo, though he hasn\u2019t heard directly about the potential timing for such an action.<\/p>\n He and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) led a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in March that addressed the issue, calling it \u201cunacceptable\u201d that DOJ has yet to reissue the marijuana guidance<\/a> to discourage interference in state cannabis programs, leaving Americans in a \u201clegal limbo\u201d despite promises to update the policy.<\/p>\n During Tuesday\u2019s briefing, Lee also took a question from Marijuana Moment about her views on DEA\u2019s decision to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n While she previously said the incremental reform could set the country back on the path to federal legalization \u201canother 50 years,\u201d<\/a> the congresswoman seemed to walk that position back on Tuesday, saying it will only set the movement back \u201cif we don\u2019t continue to fight for full descheduling and decriminalization.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to double our efforts\u2014triple our efforts\u2014right now for full descheduling, and that\u2019s what I mean by that,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI don\u2019t mean letting this just rest and move into Schedule III. We have to keep fighting hard and the next eight months I think will be, hopefully, very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly clear how long it will take for the DOJ\u2019s marijuana rescheduling rule to be finalized. First it must receive initial approval from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), after which point it will be published in the Federal Register and open for public comment. There\u2019s also a distinct possibility that opponents may seek to challenge the rule in court or via an administrative hearing.<\/p>\n When the rescheduling decision is formally posted in the Federal Register, Cannabis Wire reported<\/a>\u00a0that it will be accompanied by a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that contests the idea that rescheduling would put the U.S. in violation of international treaty obligations, as some opponents have argued.<\/p>\n It will also defend the revised two-part scheduling review that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) relied on to make its Schedule III recommendation and clarify that DEA is obligated to defer to the health agency\u2019s scientific findings, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and a coalition of other Democratic senators are\u00a0officially reintroduced a bill to federally legalize marijuana<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Schumer Suggests Marijuana Banking Could Still Be Attached To Aviation Bill, As GOP House And Senate Leaders Reaffirm Opposition<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Former Top DOJ Official And Congressman Say Federal Marijuana Guidance May Expand State Protections Following Rescheduling Announcement<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As expectations mount about updated federal guidance on marijuana enforcement priorities that could accompany a rescheduling move, the former U.S. deputy attorney general behind an earlier memo on prosecutorial discretion says \u201calmost anything is possible\u201d in terms of expanding its scope to provide more protections for state cannabis markets\u2014including theContinue 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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74902"}],"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=74902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74903,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74902\/revisions\/74903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Former Top DOJ Official And Congressman Say Federal Marijuana Guidance May Expand State Protections Following Rescheduling Announcement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"