{"id":8435,"date":"2018-08-30T00:17:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T00:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3183090"},"modified":"2018-08-30T00:17:10","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T00:17:10","slug":"cory-gardner-confident-trump-wont-meddle-in-colorado-marijuana-policy-despite-report-to-contrary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/cory-gardner-confident-trump-wont-meddle-in-colorado-marijuana-policy-despite-report-to-contrary\/","title":{"rendered":"Cory Gardner \u201cconfident\u201d Trump won\u2019t meddle in Colorado marijuana policy despite report to contrary"},"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\/cory-gardner-confident-trump-wont-meddle-in-colorado-marijuana-policy-despite-report-to-contrary\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cory-gardner-confident-trump-wont-meddle-in-colorado-marijuana-policy-despite-report-to-contrary.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, remains \u201cconfident\u201d President Donald Trump will keep his promise not to meddle with state marijuana policy despite a report that the White House asked federal agencies to compile statistics and stories that paint the drug in a negative light.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere seems to be a lot of interest in these storylines going around about how staff are trying to manipulate the president or to work around his firmly held policy positions \u2013 including the position\u00a0he\u2019s held since the campaign that marijuana policy is best left to the states\u00a0 \u2026,\u201d Gardner spokesman Alex\u00a0Siciliano said.<\/p>\n<p>The storyline comes from an article first published Wednesday by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/dominicholden\/trump-secret-committee-anti-marijuana\">BuzzFeed\u00a0News<\/a> about\u00a0The Marijuana Policy Coordination Committee. It reportedly asked 14 federal agencies and the Drug Enforcement Administration to provide \u201cdata demonstrating the most significant negative trends\u201d about marijuana and how it might threaten the country. The reported purpose behind amassing all these data points was to brief the president.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegardless of the accuracy of the story, Senator Gardner remains confident in the commitment the president made to him to support a states\u2019 rights solution to the current disconnect on marijuana law,\u201d\u00a0Siciliano said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has talked about marijuana as being a states\u2019 rights issue since 2016, but other members of his administration disagree with that position. In January, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama administration policy of non-interference with states if they followed a set of guidelines on marijuana. Gardner responded by blocking nominees to\u00a0the Department of Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/04\/13\/trump-gardner-colorado-marijuana-industry-not-targeted\/\">until the president promised to support a federal bill<\/a>\u00a0to let states pursue marijuana legalization without the threat of federal prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI support Sen. Gardner,\u201d Trump told reporters when asked about the bill in June. \u201cI know exactly what he\u2019s doing. We\u2019re looking at it. But I probably will end up supporting that, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other members of Colorado\u2019s delegation are skeptical about how much faith should be placed in a presidential promise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident Trump is flailing on marijuana policy, sometimes saying the states should decide, while also allowing the attorney general and other prohibition supporters in his purview to run amuck,\u201d said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder. \u201cIf the White House is actually spreading misinformation about marijuana to undercut states\u2019 rights, it\u2019s appalling but not out of the ordinary for President Trump and his gang of prohibition supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Polis, who is running to be Colorado\u2019s next governor, wants Congress to pass the STATES Act co-sponsored by Gardner and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. He was a co-sponsor of a companion measure introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAllowing responsible adults to legally buy marijuana gives money to classrooms not cartels; creates jobs, not addicts; and boosts the economy, not the prison population,\u201d Polis said.<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana industry advocates weren\u2019t surprised to hear that federal officials were looking for numbers that could tell a negative story about cannabis.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>\u201cMisinformation surrounding the effects of cannabis has been a chronic issue since the early part of the 20th century,\u201d Marijuana Industry Group Executive Director Kristi Kelly said. \u201cAnd it has unfortunately shaped drug policy in a way that is inconsistent with 3,000 years of healing and social applications, among others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Colorado\u2019s marijuana laws are set to sunset in September 2019, which means state lawmakers will review the medical and recreational programs to see whether there\u2019s anything they want to change. If the president changes his mind on marijuana, it could have a chilling effect on proposals for home delivery or social consumption. But industry groups don\u2019t think it\u2019s likely state lawmakers would roll back or restrict cannabis access.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColorado has recognized the benefits of legalization and I have full confidence that our elected officials, in their wisdom, will recognize that when the marijuana programs are discussed in 2019,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cFurthermore, the voters of Colorado have twice voted to protect safe access to the plant in our state\u2019s constitution. Any attempt to walk this back would be in direct conflict with the will of Coloradans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, remains &#8220;confident&#8221; President Donald Trump will keep his promise not to meddle with state marijuana policy despite a report that the White House asked federal agencies to compile statistics and stories that paint the drug in a negative light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,6811,6857,7163,5662,854,6964,6813,77,9,6855,5019,441,1,3,61,162,1736],"tags":[2632,6816,6859,7165,5668,3427,6967,6818,2655,6856,5022,3015,2740],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8435"}],"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=8435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}