OBAMA IN POT QUANDARY: Leahy Wants Clarification on State Marijuana Laws. “Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy is asking the Obama administration to clarify its position on the recreational use of marijuana, which two states legalized by referendum Nov. 6 but remains illegal under federal law. The Vermont Democrat on Thursday released a letter he sent to Office of National Drug Control Policy Director R. Gil Kerlikowske on Dec. 6 asking how the agency intends to react to new state laws in Colorado and Washington that allow adults to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal purposes. The states’ laws also allow adults to create licensing schemes for the cultivation and distribution of the drug. Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, with cultivation, possession and distribution punishable by prison time.”