Thread: Trump strikes deal with Colorado Senator on legalized marijuana

Trump strikes deal with Colorado Senator on legalized marijuana

President Trump promised Senator Gardner of Colorado he would support efforts to protect states that have legalized marijuana.
In exchange, Gardner will stop blocking DOJ nominations.
Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions revoked the Cole Memo in January, Garner has held up about 20 Justice nominations.

Chloe Aiello | @chlobo_ilo
Published 2:32 PM ET Fri, 13 April 2018 Updated 7:21 PM ET Fri, 13 April 2018 CNBC.com

President Donald Trump promised Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado he would support efforts to protect states that have legalized marijuana, ending a standoff on Department of Justice nominations.

"Since the campaign, President Trump has consistently supported states' rights to decide for themselves how best to approach marijuana," Gardner said in a statement. "Late Wednesday, I received a commitment from the President that the Department of Justice's rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorado's legal marijuana industry."

"Because of these commitments, I have informed the Administration that I will be lifting my remaining holds on Department of Justice nominees," Gardner added.

The Washington Post first reported the development, and the White House confirmed on Friday Gardner's statement was accurate.

In January, Attorney General Jeff Sessions revoked the Cole Memo, Obama-era guidance designed to discourage prosecutors from targeting states that have legalized marijuana. The move provoked an outcry from marijuana friendly states, including Gardner's Colorado, in which the marijuana industry has flourished since 2000.

Angry that Sessions had reneged on his pledge to leave marijuana states alone, Gardner promised to block all DOJ nominations, pending a resolution.

Since then, he has held up about 20 Justice nominations, the Washington Post reported.

"Clearly, we've expressed our frustration with the delay with a lot of our nominees and feel that too often, senators hijack a nominee for a policy solution," White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told the Washington Post on Friday. "So we're reluctant to reward that sort of behavior. But at the same time, we're anxious to get our team at the Department of Justice."

Trump "does respect Colorado's right to decide for themselves how to best approach this issue," Short added.

Gardner and other senators have been discussing legislation that would prevent federal government intervention in states that have legalized marijuana. Nothing has been finalized, according to Gardner's statement.

"My colleagues and I are continuing to work diligently on a bipartisan legislative solution that can pass Congress and head to the President's desk to deliver on his campaign position," Gardner said in a statement.

This move comes days after former Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced he would join the board of a medical marijuana holding company. Advocates have called this announcement a watershed moment for the marijuana industry.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/13/trum...marijuana.html

White House confirmed.

Boehner came around, so it must be right!

Trump campaigned on this. Trump didn't make it a big deal in the campaign but when he was asked about it, he always said the states should decide this issue which is what Cory Gardner is referring to when he said:

"My colleagues and I are continuing to work diligently on a bipartisan legislative solution that can pass Congress and head to the President's desk to deliver on his campaign position," Gardner said in a statement.

Most Americans know this is the right policy for the United States and its citizens on many many fronts and issues related to the illegal drug trade, especially marijuana and hemp.

Originally Posted by jtdc

Boehner came around, so it must be right!

I suspect Boehner did it for private financial gain. Trump capitulated to pressure from a single man.

President Trump promised to be a law-and-order president. Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug and as such is illegal under federal law in the United States.

MW wrote:

Trump capitulated to pressure from a single man.

WRONG!! Trump campaigned on supporting medical marijuana and leaving recreational marijuana up to the states. That was his position throughout the campaign.

Edited to insert quote because MW couldn't tell from his own post what he was wrong about.

Originally Posted by Judy

WRONG!! Trump campaigned on supporting medical marijuana and leaving recreational marijuana up to the states. That was his position throughout the campaign.

You obviously failed to understand what I was saying, please read again.

MW wrote:

President Trump promised to be a law-and-order president. Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug and as such is illegal under federal law in the United States.

Is there something not true about this?

Jeff Sessions Trumped -- Are Marijuana Stocks About to Skyrocket?

An upheaval in the U.S. marijuana industry could be on the way. But the operative word is "could."

Keith Speights
(TMFFishBiz)
Apr 15, 2018 at 3:02PM

President Trump once ranked his own The Art of the Deal as his second favorite book. However, he just might have learned something about the art of the deal from Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

Sen. Gardner vowed to block all of the president's nominees to the U.S. Department of Justice in January. This move came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the Obama administration policy that prevented federal law enforcement officials from interfering in states that had legalized marijuana. In 2012, Gardner's home state of Colorado voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

The tactic appears to have paid off. Last week, Trump reached an agreement with Gardner that could mean states like Colorado can breathe easier. Does Trump's deal now provide the fuel for marijuana stocks to skyrocket?

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

Trumping Jeff Sessions

Marijuana businesses and supporters were leery of Trump's pick of Jeff Sessions as attorney general from the outset. Sessions has been a longtime opponent of marijuana, once stating that "good people don't smoke marijuana."

Sessions' move to rescind previous Obama administration policies that left enforcement of marijuana laws largely to individual states wasn't a surprise in light of his previously stated views. That move was, however, surprising to Sen. Gardner. According to Gardner, Sessions had assured him that enforcing federal marijuana laws wouldn't be a priority for the Trump administration.

Now, though, it appears that the president has overridden his attorney general. Gardner announced that President Trump committed that the federal government wouldn't challenge Colorado's state laws allowing marijuana use.

Even more importantly, Gardner said that the president pledged to support "a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states' rights issue once and for all."

Sen. Gardner has already begun working with fellow senators in both major political parties on legislation to prevent the federal government from interfering with state laws allowing marijuana. He also is co-sponsoring a bill with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) to reform tax laws on marijuana businesses.

Good news for marijuana stocks

The Trump-Gardner deal lit a fire under several marijuana stocks. The biggest mover after Sen. Gardner's announcement of his conversation with the president was Aphria (NASDAQOTH:APHQF), with shares surging nearly 15%.

Why would this Canadian marijuana stock jump on U.S.-related news? Aphria stood as one of the few major marijuana growers in Canada that established significant operations in the U.S. However, the company has taken steps to reduce its U.S. exposure after the Toronto Stock Exchange threatened to delist the stocks of members with ongoing business activities that violate U.S. federal marijuana laws. Even with these steps, however, Aphria still owns 28.1% of Liberty Health Sciences, which focuses on the U.S. marijuana market.

Even Canadian marijuana stocks that don't have significant U.S. ties received a boost. The share prices of the two largest Canadian marijuana growers by market cap, Canopy Growth(NASDAQOTH:TWMJF) and Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQOTH:ACBFF), rose 7% and 8%, respectively.

Interestingly, the stock price of the one major U.S. company that stands to benefit the most from the new deal between President Trump and Sen. Gardner didn't move nearly as much as the Canadian marijuana stocks did. Scotts Miracle-Gro's (NYSE:SMG) share price increased less than 1% after the news of the deal broke. Scotts Miracle-Gro's Hawthorne subsidiary is a major supplier of products used by marijuana growers, including hydroponics and lighting systems.

Fueling longer-term momentum?

Is longer-term momentum for marijuana stocks now likely? Maybe. A lot rides on how much support the president will give to legislation that changes U.S. federal laws on marijuana.

A return to a hands-off policy by the Department of Justice when it comes to states that have legalized marijuana helps the U.S. marijuana industry, but is really only a temporary solution.

As long as the threat of federal intervention remains a possibility, a dark cloud will hang over marijuana-related businesses.

However, a change in U.S. federal laws that would recognize state legalization of marijuana is a totally different story. And if regulations that restrict banks from providing services to marijuana-related businesses were lifted as well, the marijuana industry in the U.S. would be poised to explode. The implications of such changes would be enormous.

Aphria, Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth, and other Canadian marijuana growers would likely rush to establish large operations in the U.S.

There would probably be a scramble for U.S.-based companies to list on stock exchanges, presenting more alternatives for investors who are largely limited to Canadian stocks right now.

Scotts Miracle-Gro could find itself in a similar position as the companies that provided shovels to miners in the gold rushes of the past.

Again, all of this depends on just how much President Trump actually does to fulfill his promise to Sen. Gardner. The political process is filled with twists and turns. For now, the prudent move for investors is probably to wait and see what happens.

Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/...s-about-t.aspx

MW, I edited my post to add the portion of your post that you were "WRONG!" about.

Originally Posted by Judy

MW wrote:


WRONG!! Trump campaigned on supporting medical marijuana and leaving recreational marijuana up to the states. That was his position throughout the campaign.

Edited to insert quote because MW couldn't tell from his own post what he was wrong about.

Actually, you are the one that is wrong because he did capitulate to pressure from Sen. Gardner. Here's what I said:

I suspect Boehner did it for private financial gain. Trump capitulated to pressure from a single man.

President Trump promised to be a law-and-order president. Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug and as such is illegal under federal law in the United States.

Trump did capitulate from the pressure Sen. Gardner put on him. Gardner was blocking Trump nominees to the DOJ and Trump was willing to sell his first born to get Gardner to back off. So, Trump made a deal with the devil to get what he wanted. This would have never happened had Sen. Gardner not applied the screws to Trump. Of course in typical Trump fashion, he folded and made a deal.