The Washington Post reports that the Obama Administration will not preempt state laws:
The Obama administration on Thursday said it will not stand in the
way of Colorado, Washington and other states where voters have supported
legalizing marijuana either for medical or recreational use, as long as
those states maintain strict rules involving distribution of the drug.
In a memo sent Thursday to U.S. attorneys in all 50 states,
deputy attorney general James M. Cole detailed the administration’s new
stance, even as he reiterated that marijuana remains illegal under
federal law.
The memo directs federal prosecutors to focus their resources on
eight specific areas of enforcement, rather than targeting individual
marijuana users, which even President Obama has acknowledged is not the
best use of federal manpower. Those areas include preventing
distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing the sale of pot to
cartels and gangs, preventing sales to other states where the drug
remains illegal under state law, and stopping the growing of marijuana
on public lands.
A Justice Department official said that Attorney
General Eric Holder had called the governors of Colorado and Washington
around noon on Thursday to inform them of the administration’s official
stance.
