President Barack Obama tells ABC News that policing pot in Colorado and Washington, where voters last month cast ballots to legalize, tax, and regulate recreational use of the drug by adults, will be a low priority for the feds.

The news comes in an interview with Barbara Walters slated to air this evening as part of Walters’ annual “most fascinating people” show.

In the interview Obama says that the federal government “has a lot to do when it comes to criminal prosecutions” and that going after recreational pot smokers in states that has “already determined that it’s legal.” As such, he said the U.S. Department of Justice is drafting guidelines that will address the end of prohibition in those states (and, presumably, any others that follow suit in the coming years).

Check out a preview of the interview here.

This article appears in December 14 • 2012.

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