President Trump has personally assured Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R) that he will not infringe upon states' rights to legalize marijuana, The Washington Post reports.
Gardner had announced his intention to block all Justice Department nominees after Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo in January suggesting a crackdown on states where the drug is legal, such as Colorado. "Late Wednesday, I received a commitment from the president that the Department of Justice's rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorado's legal marijuana industry," said Gardner, citing an Obama-era memo "considered by many to be the founding document for legal cannabis," writes industry website Leafly. The Cole memo had asked prosecutors to avoid enforcing federal marijuana laws in states where the drug was legalized, although it did not make it law.
"Furthermore," said Gardner, "President Trump has assured me that he will support a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states' rights issue once and for all. Because of these commitments, I have informed the administration that I will be lifting my remaining holds on Department of Justice nominees." The White House confirmed that Trump "does respect Colorado's right to decide for themselves how to best approach this issue," The Washington Post writes.
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