Marijuana Moment reports
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday reaffirmed that he does not feel the Department of Justice should be using its limited resources to go after people using marijuana in compliance with state law.
During a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) asked the official about what steps his agency could take to stop transnational organizations from illicitly cultivating cannabis and stealing natural resources for their grow operations.
Garland said that he’s “not precisely familiar with the specifics” of that issue, but it is “certainly within our jurisdiction and within our scope of concern” to go after marijuana growing operations that violate state law. But while curtailing large-scale illicit traffickers is something the department will pursue, the attorney general said people using cannabis in legal states is not a worthwhile endeavor.
“The department’s view on marijuana use is that enforcement against use is not a good use of our resources,” Garland said. “And I understand that’s not what you’re talking about. You’re talking about growing and manufacturing at a large scale.”
“It’s probably not a good use of our resources where it is regulated by the state—and again, I take it that that’s not what you’re asking about, so to the extent you’re asking for examples about transnational operations of large amounts coming from Mexico or transnational operators who are coming into the United States to do the growing, these are certainly within our jurisdiction and within our scope of concern.”
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Biden AG Stresses That Marijuana Use In Legal States Is Not A Justice Department Priority
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Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request for The Department of Justice (EventID=112547)
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