Attorney general Jeff Sessions' decision to overturn an Obama-era policy that allowed legal marijuana to flourish likely won't make him many friends—certainly not among the 94 percent of Americans who support medical marijuana legalization, the 64 percent who say it should be legal nationwide, the thousands of people currently employed by the legal marijuana industry, the parents of kids whose seizures have been mitigated by cannabis, or even members of his own party, like senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, who accused Sessions of going back on his word to members of Congress.

"This is about a decision by the state of Colorado, and we were told that states’ rights would be protected,” Gardner said in an impassioned speech Thursday on the Senate floor.

But while Sessions may not win any popularity contests in Boulder any time soon, the entrepreneurs and investors fueling the legal marijuana boom of the past few years remain, well, pretty chill about the whole thing. Yes, Sessions has rolled back the Obama-era Cole memo, which essentially instructed federal prosecutors to deprioritize marijuana crimes in states where it's legal. That's a setback. But in practice, legal weed purveyors see the move as unlikely to be as disastrous for their businesses—and their customers and patients—as many expect.

"The public gets a little scared, but the reality is, so far, it means absolutely nothing," says Randy Maslow, cofounder of iAnthus Capital Management, which invests in the cannabis industry.

The Department of Justice's announcement Thursday rescinded all nationwide guidance regarding the enforcement of federal marijuana law. And while that pierces that protective shield around legal marijuana companies in states like Colorado, Washington, and as of earlier this week, California, it does not specifically instruct federal attorneys to go after legal weed.

'The reality is, so far, it means absolutely nothing.' Randy Maslow, iAnthus Capital Management

Maslow, a former lawyer, takes that as a positive sign. Before the Cole memo, he says, federal attorneys mostly left the enforcement of these crimes up to the states. Given the way state governments have come around to marijuana legalization, with 29 states legalizing it in some form or another, Maslow predicts it's unlikely that repealing the Cole memo would suddenly turn law enforcement against the industry, or spur US attorneys to buck the will of their own state governments. Especially when legalized marijuana has brought jobs, tax revenue, and in Colorado, one study found, even a decline in opioid deaths.

"It is extremely unlikely, to put it mildly, that US attorneys are going to go after the good actor, the businesses and customers that adhere strictly to the state’s legal marijuana program," Maslow says. "And the state is not going to devote resources to catching and prosecuting anybody except the same bad actors they were prosecuting before."

If Sessions had wanted to, he could have issued explicit guidance directing federal attorneys to go after legal marijuana businesses. It wouldn't be the first such directive. In May, Sessions explicitly directed federal prosecutors to pursue the strictest sentences possible for all crimes, overturning former attorney general Eric Holder's directive, which urged prosecutors to avoid bringing charges against defendants that would trigger mandatory minimum sentences.

In his memo Thursday, Sessions issued no such directive, which entrepreneurs in the space view as a promising sign. "I think it’s a lot more nuanced than saying this is going to kill all cannabis," says Micah Tapman, managing director of Canopy, an accelerator and venture capital firm for cannabis startups.

Still, those entrepreneurs who can are readying a backup plan. Jon Vaught, CEO of Front Range BioSciences, launched his Colorado-based business two years ago. An organic chemist by background, Vaught started the company with the goal of bringing the same tests and technology that ensure health and safety in the food and drug industries to cannabis. "[Legalization] opened the door to companies like ours to create safety in the marketplace," Vaught says.

And yet, he's all too aware of the risks associated with running such a business under a Sessions-led Department of Justice. Sessions was once famously quoted, after all, saying that "good people don't smoke marijuana." That's one reason why Vaught is eyeing partnerships in more cannabis-friendly countries, including Canada, Israel, and Australia. He's also working on applying his technology to other crops.