Marijuana businesses in compliance with Colorado law could face federal charges under new enforcement strategy

In an aggressive new tactic, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver says it’s shifting its marijuana enforcement from busting illegal grow operations to targeting dispensaries that use their licensed businesses and legal grows as fronts for the more lucrative illegal drug trade.

This new approach also could lead to federal charges being brought against marijuana businesses that are in full compliance with Colorado law and not selling pot on the black market, U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer acknowledged in an interview with The Denver Post this week.

“We could,” Troyer said when asked whether his office might prosecute marijuana businesses operating legally under Colorado law. “We make decisions based on safety. Sometimes compliance with state law is relevant to that, and sometimes it’s not. We do not make decisions based on labels like ‘compliance with state law.’ Labels are not relevant to us — people’s safety is.”

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