On August 29, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) would not challenge policies in Colorado or Washington that legalize the sale and recreational use of marijuana in contravention of federal law.

In response to this decision, the IACP, along with a large coalition of law enforcement leadership associations, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing our extreme disappointment with the decision of the DOJ to not challenge the marijuana legalization laws in Washington and Colorado.

The letter made clear the law enforcement community’s profound concern over the decision and its impact on our communities and the safety of the citizens we serve. The decision ignores the connections between marijuana use and violent crime, the potential trafficking problems that could be created across state and local boundaries as a result of legalization, and the potential economic and social costs that could be incurred.