From On High

Colorado and Washington cannabis users, you can relax . . . for now. In the first public airing of his views since these two states approved measures legalizing the use and possession of cannabis by adults 21 and older, President Barack Obama said he had “bigger fish to fry” during an interview with Barbara Walters on ABC News. “It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal,” he told Babs. But the presidents’ statements sound vaguely familiar . . . remember how back in 2008 Obama made an election promise not to “use Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws about medical marijuana”? What ever happened to that? In any case, the Prez acknowledged the age-old conflict that continues to hamstring cannabis rights for patients and caregivers across this country: state MMJ laws and the federal government’s Controlled Substances Act do not see eye to eye. “This is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law,” Obama told Walters. “I head up the executive branch; we’re supposed to be carrying out laws. And so what we’re going to need to have is a conversation about how do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it’s legal?” Methinks we’re going to need more than “a conversation” about this, Mr. President.