Speaking today before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Attorney General James Cole reaffirmed that the Justice Department is unlikely to challenge statewide legalization efforts, provided that these efforts impose “robust regulations” which discourage marijuana sales to minors and seek to prevent the diversion of cannabis to states that have not legalized its use. “We will not … seek to preempt state ballot initiatives,” Cole told members of the Committee, adding that state “decriminalization [laws] can co-exist with federal [drug] laws.”