Cannabis policy of the Barack Obama administration

During the presidency of Barack Obama, the government eased enforcement of federal marijuana laws in U.S. states permitting cannabis use. This also applies to the every other administration before him including Nixon administration.

In contrast, Time reported in 2012, "Two years [after his first year in office], the Obama Administration is cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries and growers just as harshly as the Administration of George W. Bush did."

According to Jessica Bulman-Pozen and Gillian E. Metzger in 2016, "in declining to enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act with respect to marijuana offenses in Colorado and Washington, the [Obama] Administration has accommodated those states’ decisions to legalize recreational marijuana use."