Cole Memo
Definition: The Cole Memo was a US Department of Justice memorandum issued on August 29, 2013, by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole. It told federal prosecutors to generally leave state-legal marijuana businesses alone as long as states regulated them strictly and avoided eight federal enforcement priorities. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded it in January 2018.
What Did the Cole Memo Say?
Marijuana stayed illegal under the Controlled Substances Act, but the memo told prosecutors to focus limited resources on eight priorities instead of state-compliant businesses:
- Preventing sales to minors
- Keeping revenue away from criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels
- Preventing diversion to states where marijuana is illegal
- Stopping state-legal activity from covering other illegal drugs or activity
- Preventing violence and the use of firearms
- Preventing drugged driving and other public health harms
- Preventing grows on public lands
- Preventing possession or use on federal property
Why Was the Cole Memo Important?
It came months after Colorado and Washington legalized recreational cannabis in 2012, and it gave those states, and the businesses inside them, a working truce with federal law. The memo shaped how states wrote their regulations, and its priorities still influence state compliance rules today.
What Happened After the Cole Memo Was Rescinded?
When Sessions withdrew it in 2018, he left marijuana enforcement to the discretion of individual US Attorneys. In practice, federal prosecutions of state-compliant businesses stayed rare. Medical programs kept added protection from the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which bars the Justice Department from spending money to interfere with state medical cannabis laws.
Related terms: Controlled Substances Act, Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, Prop 64
Sources: US Department of Justice: Guidance Regarding Marijuana Enforcement (Cole Memo), 2013; US Department of Justice: Marijuana Enforcement Memorandum (Sessions), 2018.
