Attorney General Nominee Wouldn’t Go After Legal Marijuana

William Barr’s reasonable rhetoric on regulated cannabis is a sea change from Jeff Sessions

Trump’s nominee for attorney general said Tuesday that his Department of Justice would not “go after” marijuana businesses in states that have chosen to legalize and regulate the cannabis trade.

Under sharp questioning from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), William Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he personally believes marijuana should remain illegal. But he added: “I’m not going to go after companies that have relied on the Cole memoranda” — referring to a DOJ directive issued under the Obama administration instructing U.S. attorneys to give safe harbor to state-legal marijuana businesses. “My approach to this would be not to upset settled expectations,” Barr added.

Barr’s approach aligns with president Trump’s campaign promises from 2016, to leave state-legal marijuana alone. But his comments reflect a sea change from the rhetoric of Jeff Sessions, Trump’s first attorney general. The Alabamian had crusaded against pot, rescinding the Cole memo and blasting marijuana as a “life-wrecking dependency” that is “only slightly less awful” than heroin. [Read More @ Rolling Stone]