White House mulls pot initiative response

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The White House has not decided how to respond to passage of marijuana legalization measures in Colorado and Washington, administration sources said.

The U.S. Department of Justice has maintained that federal law trumps state law but no formal decision has been made yet on whether the feds will step in to block the new laws, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

"I really don't know what we're going to do," a high-ranking law enforcement official told the Post.

The Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration have been engaged in a concerted effort to drive medical marijuana dispensaries out of business in California. However, the Post said the administration declined to take a pre-emptive stand on legalization measures that appeared on the ballots in Washington, Colorado and Oregon.

On administration official told the Post they suspected the White House held off because the administration did not want to antagonize voters before Tuesday's election, particularly in Colorado.

"It was a battleground state," the official said.