Colorado leaves police free to help with pot crackdown

A failed measure would have prohibited public employees from assisting federal agents in the case of a crackdown.

In this Oct. 10, 2016, file photo, the morning sun rises behind a row of maturing pot plants at Los Suenos Farms in Avondale, Colo. The government still has many means to slow or stop the marijuana train and President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to be the next attorney general has raised fears that the new administration could crack down on weed-tolerant states. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

DENVER (AP) — Colorado law enforcement officers are free to help in a potential federal marijuana crackdown.

That’s after the state Senate rejected a bill to prohibit public employees from assisting federal agents in “arresting a Colorado citizen for committing an act that is a Colorado constitutional right.”

The Colorado bill was inspired by threats that federal authorities may try cracking down on the marijuana industry. Federal authorities generally rely on local law enforcement to enforce federal drug law. But senators called the bill confusing.

California lawmakers are considering a similar bill .

Colorado is still considering a measure to allow marijuana growers to reclassify recreational pot as medical pot, a gambit to avoid federal seizure of recreational pot plants.

The Trump Administration has sent mixed messages on whether a marijuana crackdown is planned.