President’s pot comments prompts call for policy

Medical marijuana advocates are taking some solace from President Obama’s statement that prosecuting individual users in Colorado and Washington is not a priority, but they want assurances that federal crackdowns on big pot dispensaries will end in California and other states.

Local and state officials, meanwhile, called on the administration to clarify its enforcement policy in states with marijuana laws.

Obama said federal authorities would leave alone individual users in Colorado and Washington, states that legalized recreational marijuana use.

Still, federal officials said they will continue to try to shut down big commercial pot operations, whether they operate under state medical marijuana laws or not. The federal government is planning to soon release policies for dealing with marijuana in Colorado and Washington, where pot is now legal under state law.