Americans should not expect a federal crackdown on marijuana Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said after meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Washington Wednesday.
Hickenlooper, who governs a state where the sale and distribution of marijuana is legal, said in an interview with the MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that he and three other governors from states where pot is legal “wanted to understand his frame of reference on both cannabis and immigration.”
Hickenlooper said Sessions was “direct,” “straight-forward” and “honest.” And while the attorney general “couldn’t have been more emphatic” about legalization being a bad idea, he also acknowledged that Colorado’s marijuana laws happened because of the voters.
The conversation with Sessions, Hickenlooper said, led him to the conclusion that Sessions does not have plans to clamp down on states where marijuana is legalized.
“But he certainly listened,” Hickenlooper said. “We [in Colorado] haven’t seen a big spike in consumption. We haven’t seen a significant increase in teenage consumption or any of these things.”
“And he certainly was very direct and clearly said they’ve got a lot of priorities. And, at one point, he said, ‘Well you haven’t seen us cracking down, have you?’ I said, ‘No.’”
Hickenlooper said he interpreted that response from Sessions as being that the DOJ has its hands full dealing with problems related to heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine.
“Other things that are even more significant, but it doesn’t mean he feels in any way he’s cutting any slack to marijuana,” said the Colorado governor.