Attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions softened the tone of his at-times strident opposition to legalizing marijuana Tuesday during Senate confirmation proceedings.

But the GOP senator from Alabama – who in April said "good people don't smoke marijuana" – hinted that the status quo of broad state autonomy may change under his leadership of the Justice Department.

"I won't commit to never enforcing federal law," Sessions said Tuesday in response to a question about whether he would use the department's resources to investigate and prosecute "sick people" using cannabis in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

Sessions has been viewed with alarm by marijuana reform advocates who fear he could take a wrecking ball to the emerging multibillion-dollar, state-legal cannabis market by simply going to court and pointing out the businesses are illegal under federal law.

The senator's staff has been tight-lipped about how he would act as attorney general to President-elect Donald Trump, who has endorsed state cannabis autonomy while expressing personal opposition to legalization.

One enforcement option for Sessions would be withdrawing the Justice Department's 2013 Cole Memo that allowed recreational pot stores to open in Colorado and Washington state, followed by Alaska and Oregon and soon four more states.

Another option is vigorous enforcement of the Cole Memo's guidelines, which say federal authorities may intervene in response to triggers such as underage sales, distribution across state lines and increased drugged driving or other public health consequences.

"I think some of them are truly valuable in evaluating cases," Sessions said Tuesday about the guidelines. 'But fundamentally, the criticism I think that was legitimate is that they may not have been followed. And using good judgment about how to handle these cases will be a responsibility of mine. I know it won't be an easy decision, but I will try to do my duty in a fair and just way."

The precise effect of legalization has been hotly debated, though national and state statistics show stable or declining teen pot use. Pot seizures and intercepts, meanwhile, have decreased for the Colorado-neighboring Kansas Highway Patrol and the national U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Legalization opponents generally cite pot-related hospitalizations and instances of drugged driving as evidence of social harms, and argue the enforcement triggers in the Cole Memo have been ignored.

"We'd like [the Justice Department] to enforce the law," anti-legalization leader Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana said after Trump's election."They don't need a lot of resources through that – a computer and a printer would do just fine. Sending a letter that businesses have 30 to 60 days to close down would probably do the trick."

In response to a question about his views on cannabis federalism, Sessions – who used speaking time at current Attorney General Loretta Lynch's confirmation hearing to express his opposition to legalization – sounded potentially more menacing to the industry.

"Well, I think one obvious concern is that the United States Congress has made the possession of marijuana in every state and distribution of it an illegal act," he told fellow senators Tuesday. "So if that's something that's not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change the rule. It's not so much the attorney general's job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we're able."

For the time being, Sessions is unlikely to have the power to touch state medical marijuana programs, which have been protected by budget language since 2014. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit interpreted the language as protecting businesses, and some cannabis entrepreneurs have both recreational and medical footprints.

Sessions' stance on marijuana resulted in two protests at his office before the hearing. At first, activists pretended they were staging a smoke-in to score a meeting with staff. They returned a week later, rolling a joint in the senator's office and offering a handful of locally grown cannabis to Sessions' spokesman.

Cutting in favor of cannabis reformers is a Trump political agenda that prioritizes other policy areas such as job creation and immigration restriction. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer, the incoming White House press secretary, said Tuesday that Sessions would be required to follow "the Trump agenda" on marijuana policy.

