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Obama: Feds will not go after states with legal pot

The president said, 'It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view' to focus on drug use in states where it is now legal.

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Carolyn Kaster/AP/File
President Barack Obama speaks at the Interior Department in Washington. The president has said he won't go after Washington state and Colorado for legalizing marijuana, in a Barbara Walters interview airing Friday on ABC.
  • By Associated Press

| WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama says he won't go after Washington state and Colorado for legalizing marijuana.

In a Barbara Walters interview airing Friday on ABC, Obama is asked whether he supports making pot legal. He says, "I wouldn't go that far."

But the president won't pursue the issue in the states where voters in November legalized the use ofmarijuana. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Obama says, "It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view" to focus on drug use in states where it is now legal.

Marijuana became legal in Washington state last week. It became legal in Colorado earlier this month.

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