[10][11][12][13] On January 4, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded three Obama-era memos that had adopted a policy of non-interference with states that have legalized recreational marijuana, including the 2013 Cole Memorandum.
Senator Cory Gardner (Republican of Colorado), threatened to block the appointment of 20 Justice Department nominees in response to the Cole Memorandum's rescission, Gardner said that he had made a deal with Trump in which the administration said it would uphold the rights of states to regulate cannabis within their associated jurisdictions and assured states with legalized cannabis that the rescission of the Cole Memo would not subject them to federal prosecutors.
[14] One of the first official statements on the Trump administration's policies came in May 2017, when, while signing the 2017 omnibus appropriations bill, Trump included a signing statement saying that his administration could ignore the Rohrabacher–Blumenauer amendment (formerly the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment), which prohibits the use of federal funds to prosecute persons for medical marijuana activities that are legal under applicable state law.
Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Michigan, and Washington and the District of Columbia have legalized it for recreational use as well.
[19] In April 2017, the governors of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington sent a letter to the U.S. administration urging continuation of Federal policy under the Cole Memorandum.