Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding an Obama-era directive that discouraged enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized the substance, according to people familiar with the decision. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding an Obama-era directive that discouraged enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized the substance, according to people familiar with the decision.

The move potentially paves the way for the federal government to crack down on the burgeoning pot industry — though the precise impact remains to be seen. Marijuana already was illegal under U.S. law, even as federal prosecutors had been advised against bringing cases involving it in states that approved its use and sale.

The people who described Sessions’s decision, first reported by the Associated Press, spoke on the condition of anonymity. A formal announcement was expected later Thursday.

[Jeff Sessions’s war on drugs has medical marijuana advocates worried]

Eight states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing for personal pot consumption, according to NORML, a group which advocates legalization and tracks pot-related legislation.Sessions’s Justice Department has long taken a hard line stance against marijuana, even effectively blocking the Drug Enforcement Administration from taking action on more than two dozen requests to grow marijuana to use in research. Sessions has said in the past that he did not believe marijuana should be legalized, even suggesting at an appearance last year that medical marijuana had been “hyped, maybe too much.” He and top Justice Department officials had long been reviewing the 2013 guidance from then Deputy Attorney James Coledirecting federal prosecutors to effectively back off marijuana enforcement in states that had legalized the substance and had a system in place to regulate itIn practice, that meant U.S. attorneys in jurisdictions that had legalized marijuana at the state level were often reluctant to bring marijuana cases — though Cole’s memo stressed that Congress had determined it to be an illegal drug that provided significant revenue to gangs. They might now be more willing to consider such prosecutions — though they will still potentially have to contend with jurors sympathetic to defendants whose conduct would not be illegal under state law.

Pro-marijuana advocates have long been critical of Sessions’s views on the topic, though his latest directive might also upset those in his own party. Asked by a Colorado TV station in 2016about using federal authority to shut down sales of recreational marijuana, President Trump said, “I wouldn’t do that, no,” but he was noncommittal on whether he would block his attorney general from doing so.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said on Twitter that the move “directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation.”