Suthers on CNN: Feds won’t be interested in low pot use
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said Thursday morning on CNN that individuals who smoke pot and own plants likely won’t be bothered by the federal government, even though marijuana possession is still illegal under federal law.
The newly-passed Amendment 64, approved on Tuesday by Colorado voters, allows Coloradans to possess up to an ounce of pot at a time and grow up to six marijuana plants. The amendment also allows retail marijuana stores to open in Jan. 2014 after the state Legislature establishes regulations for the industry, and that’s what the federal government will be keeping an eye on, Suthers said.
Amendment 64 still has to be certified by the secretary of state and proclaimed part of the state Constitution by the governor, so it isn’t in effect yet.
But once it is, Suthers said, the federal government will be more interested in trafficking and high-level possession, as opposed to individual people. And Suthers would know — before becoming Colorado’s attorney general, he was the U.S. attorney for Colorado from 2001 to 2005.
“The federal government’s never been interested in prosecuting low-level possession. Even when I was U.S. attorney, I think we had a 100-plant threshold, and I suspect it’s even higher now,” Suthers told CNN anchor Carol Costello. “But I do think they are going to be concerned about, you know, there’s no residency requirements under this regime, so people can come into Colorado and buy it, take it out of the state, and I’m just not sure how they’re going to react to that.”
“The governor, myself, are going to be communicating with (federal) Attorney General Eric Holder, the local U.S. attorney, and it will be interesting to see what they say. Because we in Colorado really need to know that. People wanting to invest in these businesses need to know what the federal government’s viewpoint is going to be.”
Costello replied, “So you’re going to have a rough couple of months, or even a rough couple of years.”
Suthers said, “I suspect so.”
A medical marijuana plant is shown at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Seattle. After voters weighed in on election day, Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow legal pot for Photo by STF