With the news of Donald Trump’s presidency settling in across the nation, marijuana advocacy groups and industry insiders are feeling anxious about recreational and medical pot under the uncertainty of what a Trump administration and Republican Congress will mean for their business, reports the Denver Post. Trump has said he favors states’ rights and indicated he would not dismantle existing marijuana regulations, but some of his political allies have raised concerns in the industry. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is leading Trump’s White House transition team, was adamant while he was seeking the presidential nomination that he would seek to enforce federal pot laws. “I really don’t know,” Bob Eschino, co-owner of the edibles brand Incredibles, said of what to expect under Trump. “I would think that Trump as a businessman would be all for states rights and job creation and everything we’ve been able to do in Colorado.”
Marijuana legalization proponents remain cautiously optimistic that their industry will remain intact as they know it. One concern is who will serve as Attorney General. Besides Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has taken a hard-line stance against legalization. After Tuesday’s election, 28 states and the District of Colombia have some level of legal marijuana for adults. Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor who studies marijuana law, says any effort by the federal government to come into Colorado or another state and enforce federal pot regulations would be extremely costly. He said the federal government “can enforce federal law anywhere in the country, including states that have different policies. It could, if it desired, arrest people in Colorado who are complying with state regulation. That is the nuclear option because it involves a huge amount of resources and displacement.”