Trump may allow states some leeway with marijuana

Carli Garcia snaps a selfie with Tommy Chong at the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco. Carli Garcia snaps a selfie with Tommy Chong at the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Trump may allow states some leeway with marijuana 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Here’s one thing Californians might not have to worry about from the Trump administration: interference in the state’s annual $7 billion cannabis industry.

While there has been speculation about how the month-old administration, particularly cannabis-shaming Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will deal with the marijuana business, insiders and industry advocates are “cautiously optimistic” that Trump doesn’t have it in for weed.

“Trump is not an ideologue, that’s the good news — he’s very transactional,” Washington, D.C., public policy consultant Nathan Daschle told participants Friday at the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco. “The only people who are really left that are opposed to this come from an ideological point of view.”

Added Joe Hunter, who has worked for various GOP campaigns, Sessions “and Donald Trump are not sitting in the Oval Office wringing their hands over cannabis.”

And because of Trump and Sessions’ strong belief in states’ rights, making it more unlikely they would interfere with states whose voters have approved legalization laws, National Cannabis Industry Association Deputy Director Taylor West said, “We’re cautiously optimistic.”

Even so, uncertainty hangs over the industry, thanks to the legal no-man’s land between federal and state law that is chilling for cannabis businesses, confusing for consumers and a potential risk to the $1 billion in weed-related tax revenue expected for California in 2018.

The disconnect: Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but medicinal cannabis is legal in 28 states and eight others plus Washington, D.C., have OKd it for adult recreational use. As long as the federal government considers marijuana to be illegal, banks are reluctant to accept money from cannabis businesses.

“It’s very urgent” to have clarity, California state Treasurer John Chiang said, especially “as the sale of recreational cannabis becomes legal next year. You can’t have an industry that doesn’t know how to proceed.”

Chiang was recently in Washington with other state treasurers who asked an administration official for clarity, particularly on banking issues. Chiang said they were told the administration was still formulating its policy.

But like officials in states that have legalized weed, Chiang is taking his own steps. He recently helped form a state Cannabis Working Group that brings together industry leaders, bankers, politicians and law enforcement officials to try to figure out how the industry can function without federal blessing.

This week the U.S. House Cannabis Caucus was formed. Its charter members include two of the House’s most liberal members — Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. — and two of its most conservative — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. Their common bond: Their states have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use.

But in Washington, the person to watch is Sessions, no fan of cannabis. Last year, when he was in the U.S. Senate, he said, “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.”

But Sessions seemed more benign during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year, saying that when it comes to bridging the federal-state marijuana divide, “I know it won’t be an easy decision, but I will try to do my duty in a fair and just way.”

Since 2013, many in the weed business have relied for guidance on what’s colloquially known in the trade as “the Cole memo.” The 2013 Department of Justice memo, authored by Deputy Attorney General James Cole, said federal authorities weren’t going to be as focused on “states and local governments that have enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form” and have “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems.”

Industry advocates were somewhat hopeful that Sessions’ views now seem more in accordance with that guidance.

While in California recently to testify at a California state Senate hearing, Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, whose voters voted to legalize cannabis in 2012, said he “would be very disappointed if the new attorney general came in and just stamped everything down and started sending in the federal troops everywhere.”

“Every indication is that President Trump, he knows what he wants, he’s got his own value system and that he’s going to try and run the show,” Hickenlooper said. “We’re optimistic that he is going to let the experiment continue.”

Presumably California is on safer footing than before the Legislature passed regulations on medical marijuana in 2015, advocates say, as regulators race to have cannabis regulations in place by 2018, when recreational sales begin. But uncertainty remains.

In a report this week, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said, “We find that there is significant uncertainty regarding the resource needs for departments to regulate and tax medical and nonmedical cannabis” because of “the future federal stance toward states legalizing cannabis use.”

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last year led the statewide ballot measure to legalize adult recreational use, reminded those at the cannabis business conference Thursday night to remain vigilant.

“A few years ago, this moment (legalization) was an extraordinary moment,” Newsom said. “Don’t take it lightly, and don’t take it for granted. If we don’t take this moment seriously ... we don’t have a lot of friends right now in Washington, D.C.”

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli