Feds Greenlight ‘Rigorous’ Low-Level Cannabis Prosecutions, Raising Questions Over Whether Biden’s Softer Approach Was Ever Real Policy

A quiet move by the U.S. Department of Justice in late September appears to have reopened the door for federal prosecutors to pursue low-level cannabis cases again. The document itself is not public, but a Justice Department press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming states that DOJ rescinded earlier guidance on simple marijuana possession. So far, only one district has publicly acted on the shift: the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, which now says it will “rigorously prosecute” possession on federal land.

The announcement came from U.S. Attorney Darin Smith, who said marijuana offenses on places like Yellowstone and Grand Teton will again be charged under federal law. His office described the change as a response to a September 29 DOJ memo and said the Biden administration’s earlier approach had “significantly curtailed” misdemeanor prosecutions on federal land.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Smith said he has been implementing the new DOJ policy since it came out in late September. The AP reported that DOJ headquarters and Smith’s office declined to provide the memo itself or the earlier guidance it supposedly rescinds. The AP story noted that officials in other states did not respond to questions about whether they will take the same approach.

NORML was one of the first advocacy groups to highlight the shift. In its coverage, published here, the organization noted Smith’s claim that DOJ had withdrawn earlier direction telling U.S. Attorneys not to prosecute simple marijuana possession. NORML also raised a key question: whether the Biden administration ever issued a formal written memo on low-level cannabis enforcement at all. Under Biden, mass pardons and public comments from Attorney General Merrick Garland were widely seen as signals of a softer approach, even if nothing was codified in writing.

In Wyoming, the reaction was immediate. Several cannabis users interviewed by WyoFile criticized the shift and said they planned to continue consuming cannabis in national parks. WyoFile’s reporting quotes Smith describing marijuana as a “public safety hazard” and saying his office will enforce federal law regardless of state legality. Wyoming prohibits all forms of cannabis, though many visitors enter Yellowstone through Montana, where legal access is available a short drive from the park’s border.

Cannabis Business Times added further context. Its analysis, published here, noted that Biden never issued a formal memo on simple possession. That raises the possibility that DOJ’s move is less about undoing a written directive and more about redefining priorities under the new administration. The outlet also pointed out that the Obama-era Cole Memo instructed prosecutors to prevent cannabis use on federal property, and while Sessions rescinded that memo in 2018, enforcement patterns did not shift dramatically.

What remains unclear is how far the new policy will reach. No other U.S. Attorney’s Office has publicly said it plans to ramp up simple-possession prosecutions, and DOJ has not released the September memo or explained its national scope. For now, the only documented shift is in Wyoming, where federal prosecutors say they intend to pursue charges for possession anywhere under federal jurisdiction, including national parks and other public lands.

The core unresolved questions are straightforward:

• What exactly did DOJ rescind?
• What does the September 29 memo say?
• Will other U.S. Attorneys follow Wyoming’s lead?

Until the department releases the memo or other districts speak publicly, the national implications remain uncertain. What is clear is that one U.S. Attorney is treating the shift as a green light to revive simple-possession cases on federal land, and that marks a meaningful change for millions of people who visit America’s parks each year.

Photo by niu niu on Unsplash

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