Congress renewed the funding prohibition in Section 542 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, and again for 2017 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017. Sen. Patrick Leahy is working hard on having the funding ban remain in the next funding bill that will be voted on shortly.

Recreational pot could be another story, except it's too entrenched in the states where it's legal and making too much money.

The Director of Colorado's Department of Revenue, Marijuana Enforcement Division, sent out this memo Friday to "marijuana stakeholders." Shorter version: Jefferson Who? We are going to continue with the Cole Memo.

On the one hand, it's true that Sessions has been slowly eroding the progress made during the Obama Administration since he was appointed AG. He rolled back protections in the Holder memo against abuse of charging decisions with respect to mandatory minimums and repeat offender statutes. In November, he announced DOJ would not issue guidance memos in the future and would examine all past memos to determine which should be rescinded. Last month, he rescinded 25 Guidance Memos and said more would be forthcoming.

On the other hand, pot is now such a clear money maker for state tax authorities, they will not take this lightly. Which is why, in Colorado, the most conservative Republicans are outraged about Sessions latest ploy of rescinding the Cole memo. I say ploy because the timing makes me suspicious this is the result of a directive from Trump to find something to deflect attention from the new book that is critical of Trump.

Whatever motivated the about-face, the reaction in Colorado has been swift, particularly among conservative Republicans.

District Attorney George Brauchler,the only DA in Colorado to bring death penalty charges against multiple defendants in recent years, who was going to run for Governor but dropped out and is now running for state Attorney General, tweeted:

This is not an issue about being pro #marijuana. This is an issue about being pro #Colorado. We are best-suited to govern ourselves, not folks who live and work 1500+ miles from here.

Colorado's Republican Senator Cory Gardner threatened to block any DOJ nominations until this is cleared up:

Cory Gardner of Colorado took the Senate floor to issue an ultimatum to Sessions: “I will be putting a hold on every single nomination from the Department of Justice until Attorney General Jeff Sessions lives up to the commitment he made to me in my pre-confirmation meeting with him. The conversation we had that was specifically about this issue of states’ rights in Colorado. Until he lives up to that commitment, I’ll be holding up all nominations of the Department of Justice,” Gardner said. “The people of Colorado deserve answers. The people of Colorado deserve to be respected.”

Gardner also tweeted:

This reported action directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation. With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in CO and other states.

Via Colorado Public Radio, Colorado's Interim U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer said:

Colorado interim U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer appeared in a statement Thursday to indicate his office didn’t intend to make any sudden changes in approach to marijuana enforcement.

Sessions, Troyer said, “directed that federal marijuana prosecution decisions be governed by the same principles that have long governed all of our prosecution decisions. The United States Attorney’s Office in Colorado has already been guided by these principles in marijuana prosecutions.”

Colorado's current Attorney General said "Don't Freak Out":

"Don't freak out,” she said. Her office could fight back if the federal government did prosecute businesses who are complying with Colorado laws. "I think we'll have a strong argument should the federal government try to change the rules," Coffman said.

Another Republican Colorado House member Mike Coffman tweeted that Sessions needs to read the Commerce Clause.

Shorter version: Sessions has just given a leg up to pending bills to remove marijuana from the Schedule of Controlled Substances and from the Control Substances Act entirely. Like Congressman Jared Polis' H.R. 1841,Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Bill , and a Republican bill, H.R. 1227, Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017

If you want to weigh in with your elected officials in Congress and urge passage, NORML has an action alert up here.

The only thing I can think of to beware of is that Donald Trump may put his short fingers into the mix and try to make a crazy deal with Congress like let's pass the federal law ending prohibition, but include a provision there will be a 5, 10 or 15% tax on all marijuana sales that will go to funding the border wall and no other purpose until the wall has been completely built.

Recreational marijuana is already taxed at too high a level in Colorado. There's a 15% state-wide sales tax and a 15% excise tax. While it's a good thing that more than $226 million in taxes were collected this year by Colorado, and that the money goes to education and many other good things, it's also good to keep in mind that too many taxes will just be an incentive to revive the black market.