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Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner Condemns Jeff Sessions' Marijuana Enforcement Decision

Colorado Senator Cory Gardner is continuing a public standoff with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the Department of Justice announced plans to allow for stricter enforcement of federal marijuana laws last week. In an interview with NPR, Gardner said the announcement is “at odds” with Sessions’ previous statements that he would not enforce federal marijuana laws in states such as Colorado that have legalized the drug. Gardner says the decision highlights the need for transparency in the federal government’s actions.

“I opposed the legalization,” he said. “I think this is about states’ rights.”

The senator said the change in directive could highlight some need for legislative action, though he was not specific on what that might be. A study by the Marijuana Policy Group found the drug brought in about 151 million dollars in tax revenue to the state of Colorado in the year 2015. Montezuma County has eight marijuana dispensaries, out of approximately two thousand five hundred in the state.

Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.