A quiet move by the U.S. Department of Justice in late September appears to have reopened the door for federal prosecutors to pursue low-level cannabis cases again. The document itself is not public, but a Justice Department press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming states that DOJ rescinded earlier guidance on simple marijuana possession. So far, only one district has publicly acted on the shift: the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, which now says it will “rigorously prosecute” possession on federal land.
The announcement came from U.S. Attorney Darin Smith, who said marijuana offenses on places like Yellowstone and Grand Teton will again be charged under federal law. His office described the change as a response to a September 29 DOJ memo and said the Biden administration’s earlier approach had “significantly curtailed” misdemeanor prosecutions on federal land.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Smith said he has been implementing the new DOJ policy since it came out in late September. The AP reported that DOJ headquarters and Smith’s office declined to provide the memo itself or the earlier guidance it supposedly rescinds. The AP story noted that officials in other states did not respond to questions about whether they will take the same approach.
NORML was one of the first advocacy groups to highlight the shift. In its coverage, published here, the organization noted Smith’s claim that DOJ had withdrawn earlier direction telling U.S. Attorneys not to prosecute simple marijuana possession. NORML also raised a key question: whether the Biden administration ever issued a formal written memo on low-level cannabis enforcement at all. Under Biden, mass pardons and public comments from Attorney General Merrick Garland were widely seen as signals of a softer approach, even …
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Author: High Times / High Times
