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Colorado Senate OKs bill guarding against federal marijuana crackdown

Colorado Senate OKs bill guarding against federal marijuana crackdown
Posted at 5:06 PM, Apr 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-12 19:06:42-04

DENVER (AP) -- Colorado's Senate has passed a bill to allow pot growers and retailers to reclassify recreational weed as medical marijuana in the event of a federal crackdown.

The bill is seen as the boldest bid yet by a U.S. marijuana state to avoid federal intervention in its pot market.

Colorado's Republican-controlled Senate passed the bill Wednesday and sent it to the Democrat-led House.

Skeptics say nothing guarantees that reclassifying pot as medicine would stop federal action.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and the Trump administration has given mixed signals on its policy toward U.S. marijuana states.

Colorado voters first authorized medical marijuana in 2000, and the state began recreational pot sales in 2014.


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