Prosecutors Still Following Cole Memorandum after “Sessions Memorandum”

It’s been two years since then Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded President Obama’s Cole Memorandum and other Obama era DOJ guidelines with his own memo to state attorneys general. But, according to a post on Benzinga, Trump’s DOJ has largely followed the Cole Memo guidelines, even after the Sessions memo was released.

The Cole Memorandum essentially said that the federal DOJ would not prosecute cases involving marijuana possession in states that had legalized cannabis, as long as those cases fell within certain guidelines. Those guidelines include issues around selling cannabis to minors, using cannabis sale proceeds for illegal activity, and several other scenarios.

Benzinga reviewed DOJ cases involving cannabis over the past two years and found that in all cases, the guidelines outlined in the original Cole memo were essentially followed.