U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says that the Justice Department is “examining” marijuana policy and will be addressing the issue “in the days ahead.”
The comments come in response to one of several questions that Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) submitted to the nation’s top prosecutor as a follow-up to a congressional hearing that was held in April.
The senator wanted to know whether DOJ intended to reissue Obama-era guidance to federal prosecutors on cannabis enforcement priorities, which generally urged discretion in marijuana cases in states and territories where the plant is legal, that was rescinded under the Trump administration.
Garland didn’t directly answer the question. Rather, he more vaguely revealed that “the Department is examining a range of issues that relate to marijuana and its production, sale, and use, and we intend to address these issues in the days ahead.”
