The first DOJ policy on marijuana enforcement was issued in 2009, and it essentially said that patients who use medical marijuana, and those who provide it, should not be an enforcement priority of the Department.
The 2013 Cole Memo was the first DOJ guidance issued in the wake of Colorado legalizing recreational marijuana. The Cole Memo effectively amounted to a deal: DOJ would allow states to legalize marijuana, but only if they enacted a robust regulatory regime; meanwhile, DOJ would allow businesses, investors, and consumers to operate freely in the state-legal marijuana market, so long as they complied with state law and federal policy.
The Cole Memo was the spark that took legalized marijuana to where it is today, legal in 29 states and the District of Columbia. And while many of the negative stereotypes about marijuana persist, the state legalized marijuana industry operating today is not your father’s marijuana market from the ‘60s. States have established extensive regulatory regimes to ensure that marijuana markets operate consistent with state law and federal policy. New technologies are capable of tracking marijuana plants from seed to sale. Banking compliance solutions have been developed to address the unique challenges posed by the marijuana industry. Sophisticated investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the marijuana industry, transforming it into a multi-billion dollar market employing tens of thousands of people and generating significant tax revenue. As with any emerging market there are some
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DOJ’s Role in State-Legalized Marijuana: