This “Cole Memo I” reiterated the U.S. Justice Department’s commitment to enforcing the Controlled Substances Act consistent with Congress’ determination that marijuana is a dangerous drug that serves as a significant source of revenue to large-scale criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels. It instructed Department attorneys and law enforcement to focus on the eight priorities, listed below, in enforcing the CSA against marijuana-related conduct.
On January 4, 2018, the Cole Memo was rescinded by U.S. Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions’ memo on Marijuana Enforcement, available here. However, the eight Cole Memo enforcement priorities remain in FinCEN’s Feb. 14, 2014 Guidance (FIN-2014-G001), below). When filing a SAR on a marijuana-related business, the issue of whether or not a Cole enforcement priority is implicated is a factor in whether the SAR should be labelled as a Marijuana Limited, Marijuana Priority, or Marijuana Termination SAR.
- Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors;
- Preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels;
- Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;
- Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity;
- Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana;
- Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use;
- Preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and
- Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property.