RE:Guys, Remember PR? OTTAWA, Jan. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ – CannaRoyalty Corp. (CSE: CRZ) (OTCQX: CNNRF) (“CannaRoyalty” or the “Company”), an active investor and operator in the legal cannabis industry, commented on the Memorandum for all United States Attorneys issued by U.S. Attorney General Mr. Jefferson B. Sessions on January 4, 2018 (the “Memorandum”).
The Memorandum, as its predecessors, the so-called Cole Memorandums of 2011, 2013 and 2014, provides guidance to U.S. prosecutors regarding the enforcement of federal cannabis laws. The Memorandum is not law nor does it alter the U.S. Justice Department’s (“DOJ”) discretion or ability to enforce federal marijuana laws. U.S. prosecutors will continue to have discretion in how they enforce federal marijuana laws, as they had under the Cole Memorandums.
“No legal change has taken place here. We do not foresee the Memorandum meaningfully impacting the way that existing cannabis business is conducted within legal states,” said Marc Lustig, CEO of CannaRoyalty. “The evidence from legal states demonstrates that legalizing and regulating cannabis consumption works. It is our belief that this Memorandum has more to do with the DOJ’s desire to ensure its ability to continue to enforce federal law without specific enforcement priorities regarding cannabis, than it does to disrupting ongoing state-legal cannabis activity.” [emphasis ours]
Marc Lustig added, “To enforce federal cannabis restrictions within legal states, the DOJ would be enforcing a historical federal policy that is contrary to the desire of roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, including the majority of Republicans. This would also be directly contrary to President Trump’s campaign assertion that marijuana policy should be left in the hands of the states and contrary to the trend toward legalization within U.S. states; the Vermont House of Representatives voted earlier today to legalize possession and home cultivation of marijuana. Legal states have built significant infrastructure to prudently handle the legal cannabis industry, they are relying on tax revenues from the industry and their citizens are relying on the private sector jobs that legalization has created. CannaRoyalty operates exclusively within state-legal U.S. jurisdictions, Puerto Rico as well as in Canada, and adheres strictly to applicable laws. While the release of the Memorandum may mean some volatility for U.S. players over the short-term, we see significant opportunity for growth over the coming year and will continue to work to drive value for our shareholders.”