Eric Holder is "Cautiously Optimistic" about legalized pot

Roll that isht, light that isht, smoke that isht

Eric Holder Closely Watch How Legalized Pot Works In Washington And Colorado

Via HuffingtonPost

Attorney General Eric Holder is “cautiously optimistic” about how things are going in Washington state and Colorado following the legalization and state regulation of marijuana.

But the nation’s top law enforcement official, who spoke to The Huffington Post in an interview on Friday, also said it was tough to predict where marijuana legalization will be in 10 years.

“I’m not just saying that, I think it’s hard to tell,” Holder said in a jury room at the federal courthouse in Charleston, which he visited as part of the Justice Department’s Smart on Crime initiative. “I think there might have been a burst of feeling that what happened in Washington and Colorado was going to be soon replicated across the country. I’m not sure that is necessarily the case. I think a lot of states are going to be looking to see what happens in Washington, what happens in Colorado before those decisions are made in substantial parts of the country.”

Under Holder, the Justice Department has allowed marijuana legalization to move forward in Washington and Colorado and has issued guidance to federal prosecutors that is intended to open up banking access for pot shops that are legal on the state level.

Based on the reports he has received out of Washington and Colorado, Holder also said he thinks things are going about how he’d expected them to go.

Says Holder:

“I think what people have to understand is that when we have those eight priorities that we have set out, it essentially means that the federal government is not going to be involved in the prosecution of small-time, possessory drug cases, but we never were,” Holder said. “So I’m not sure that I see a huge change yet, we’ve tried to adapt to the situation in Colorado with regard to how money is kept and transacted and all that stuff, and try to open up the banking system.”

“But I think, so far, I’m cautiously optimistic,” Holder continued. “But as I indicated to both governors, we will be monitoring the progress of those efforts and if we conclude that they are not being done in an appropriate way, we reserve our rights to file lawsuits.”

Although its a far cry from immunity, some stoners may take solace in the fact that the most powerful lawyer in the U.S. isn’t interested in locking them up for puffin’ dime bags of piff.

How long do you think it will take before that green yahmean is finally legalized?

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