{"id":6964,"date":"2016-11-09T23:37:19","date_gmt":"2016-11-09T23:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2216241"},"modified":"2016-11-09T23:37:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T23:37:19","slug":"marijuana-industry-keeps-a-wary-eye-on-how-trump-will-respond-to-pot-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/marijuana-industry-keeps-a-wary-eye-on-how-trump-will-respond-to-pot-legalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana industry keeps a wary eye on how Trump will respond to pot legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/marijuana-industry-keeps-a-wary-eye-on-how-trump-will-respond-to-pot-legalization\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>With the news of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency settling in across Colorado and the nation, some marijuana advocacy groups and industry insiders are feeling anxious about recreational and medical pot under the uncertainty of what a Trump administration \u2014 and Republican Congress \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/11\/09\/president-trump-marijuana-industry-future\/67199\/\">will mean for their<\/a>\u00a0business.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has said he favors\u00a0states\u2019 rights and indicated he would not dismantle existing marijuana regulations, but some of his past statements and political allies have raised concerns in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for instance, who is leading Trump\u2019s White House transition team, was adamant while he was seeking\u00a0the Republican presidential nomination that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2015\/07\/chris-christie-enforce-marijuana-illegal-2016-120769\">he would seek to enforce federal pot laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really don\u2019t know,\u201d Bob Eschino, co-owner of the edibles brand Incredibles, Colorado\u2019s largest edibles company, said of what to expect under Trump. \u201cIt\u2019s really going to come from the Senate and the Congress and the people that are making the rules. I would think that Trump as a businessman would be all for states rights and job creation and everything we\u2019ve been able to do in Colorado. But some of the other people that are involved with him, I question that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, marijuana legalization proponents remained <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2016\/11\/09\/what-the-future-of-marijuana-legalization-could-look-like-under-president-trump\/\">cautiously optimistic<\/a> that their industry would remain intact as they know it.\u00a0One concern highlighted by observers and insiders is who will serve as the nation\u2019s Attorney General, looking to the possible appointment of Christie or former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has also taken a hard-line stance against legalization.<\/p>\n<p>After Tuesday\u2019s election, 28 states and the District of Colombia have some level of legal marijuana for adults, be it medical or recreational.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor who is an expert in marijuana law, says any effort by the federal government to come into Colorado or another state and try to enforce federal pot regulations would be extremely costly. It is, however, possible on some level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are certain things the federal government can do and certain things it can\u2019t,\u201d Kamin said. \u201cIt can enforce federal law anywhere in the country, including states that have different policies. It could, if it desired, arrest people in Colorado who are complying with state regulation. That is the nuclear option because it involves a huge amount of resources and displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The federal government cannot, he explained, force states to reintroduce marijuana prohibition, and it has only limited power over what it can tell a state its marijuana policies should be.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it would take an enormous effort in polarized political times,\u201d Kamin said. \u201cIt\u2019s not clear that that would be anyone\u2019s priority going into a new administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The marijuana markets might not be too big to pick apart, said Mark Kleiman, a public policy professor at New York University\u2019s Marron Institute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing that people should remember is, if the government wants to shut this down, they can do it on a day\u2019s notice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace \u2014 a backer of his southern Colorado community\u2019s recreational marijuana industry and booming cannabis cultivation operations \u2014 while lauding Pueblo\u2019s vote <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/11\/09\/pueblo-county-colorado-question-200-marijuana-question-300\/66898\/\">to retain its existing recreational marijuana market<\/a>, was slightly tempered by the unknowns at the federal level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Trump has said) he\u2019s not changing any laws \u2026 I hope that\u2019s the only campaign promise he keeps,\u201d Pace said. \u201cHe is surrounded by a bunch of those who are terrible on the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, pledged to work with Trump\u2019s administration while speaking with reporters on Tuesday night at an election watch party, though he didn\u2019t talk specifically about marijuana and any conflicts with federal pot policy.<\/p>\n<p>Beau Kilmer, a drug policy expert at the nonprofit Rand Corp., said it\u2019s unlikely that any big\u00a0changes to marijuana law would come soon. \u201cIn the grand scheme of top issues the new administration is going to be dealing with, marijuana is not going to be a top priority,\u201d Kilmer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2016\/11\/09\/what-the-future-of-marijuana-legalization-could-look-like-under-president-trump\/\">told The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\"\/>\n<p>Trump\u2019s election\u00a0drew\u00a0a wave of responses from industry groups highlighting how marijuana is a state\u2019s rights issue.<\/p>\n<p>The Marijuana Industry Group said: \u201cPresident-elect Trump has indicated that he would support states\u2019 rights to legalize, and has also indicated support for medical marijuana in the past. \u2026 We hope that as long as we are operating within the laws and rules of our State and local municipalities, we have the opportunity to maintain that effort in accordance with the will of Colorado\u2019s voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The National Cannabis Industry Association urged\u00a0federal lawmakers to respect the will of voters who have approved marijuana\u2019s legalization. \u201cNow Congress and the new administration should work to protect patients, treat small businesses fairly, and respect the will of the voters in more than half the states in this country,\u201d\u00a0the group\u2019s executive director, Aaron Smith, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>In August, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stood pat on marijuana, keeping it as a Schedule I substance on the Controlled Substances Act. The agency, however, did open some doors to more federally funded medical marijuana research.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s possible impact on the marijuana industry wasn\u2019t something Tyler Henson, president of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, was hearing about from his members leading up to the election. But after Tuesday night, the idea of what comes next has stepped into view.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody knows what Trump will do as president,\u201d Henson said. \u201cWe\u2019re a little bit more optimistic. I hope Donald Trump sticks to his word.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>The Washington Post contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the news of Donald Trump&#8217;s presidency settling in across Colorado and the nation, some marijuana advocacy groups are feeling anxious about recreational and medical pot under the uncertainty of what a Trump administration &#8212; and Republican Congress &#8212; will mean for their industry&#8217;s regulation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,6857,5662,6813,77,5577,6858,9,5019,441,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,6859,5668,6818,2655,5580,6860,5022,3015],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}