The White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters last week that under President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the U.S. Department of Justice will do more to enforce federal marijuana laws.

“I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement of [recreational marijuana],” Spicer told reporters during the daily White House press briefing. “There’s two distinct issues here: medical marijuana and recreational marijuana. I think when you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people.

“The states where [medical marijuana] is allowed, in accordance with the appropriations rider, have set forth a process to administer and regulate that usage, versus recreational marijuana. That’s a very, very different subject.”

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This stance is a blow to the industry, which has been on pins and needles waiting for a signal on how the administration would approach the drug amid growing acceptance. Even the threat of enforcing federal laws has “very real consequences” for the legalized industry, said Rafael Lemaitre, who previously served as associate director for public affairs for the Drug Policy Office under President Barack Obama.

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Some states have already delayed the implementation of approved November ballot initiatives and this just gives states another reason, Lemaitre said.

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“And [it’s] scaring investors away from the nascent for-profit industry,” he said in an email to MarketWatch. “This is a bad day for advocates of legal marijuana.”

Aaron Herzberg, general counsel at real estate focused marijuana company CalCann Holdings, said he doesn’t think dispensaries or marijuana businesses will slow due to Spicer’s comments.

As it stands, the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment prevents the Justice Department from spending federal funds to enforce federal prohibition laws in states where medical marijuana has been legalized. The amendment has passed three times in Republican-controlled Congress, and if it passes again in April, Herzberg said there won’t be much more that Trump or Sessions can do than complain.

Despite the confirmation of staunch weed opponent Sessions as attorney general earlier this year, many in the industry had expressed hope the administration would honor popular support on the issue.

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A recent poll released by Quinnipiac University showed 71% of Americans oppose efforts to enforce federal marijuana laws in states where it’s legal. According to the poll 59% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana.

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Kush Bottles Inc. KSHB, +1.73% , which provides packaging, supplies and branding for regulated marijuana businesses, noted in a statement based on various market studies that legal marijuana sales are projected to surpass $20 billion by 2020. The legal cannabis industry has proven to be a boon to state economies. However, the industry has been looking to the north to see whether Canada will become the first G-7 nation to fully legalize marijuana.

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“In 2017, we will continue to provide our customers with regulatory insight to ensure they operate within all applicable rules of their governing jurisdiction,” Kush Bottles Chief Executive Nick Kovacevich said in a statement. “We will also strive to further legitimize the cannabis industry with fully branded, FDA-compliant, child-resistant packaging.”

The stance the administration is taking is an easy way to turn the majority of the American people against it, said Tom Angell, chairman of the advocacy group, Marijuana Majority. And Mason Tvert, communications director for D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, said it’s critical for Congress to include the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment in the next budget, and he hopes lawmakers will extend that to all state marijuana laws.

“The vast majority of Americans agree that the federal government has no business interfering in state marijuana laws,” Tvert said. “This administration is claiming that it values states’ rights, so we hope they will respect the rights of states to determine their own marijuana policies. Mr. Spicer says there is a difference between medical and recreational marijuana, but the benefits of and need for regulation apply equally to both.”

Kush Bottles shares, which trade over-the-counter, were down 11% Friday, but are up 53% in the last 12 months.