Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee have vowed to defend the state’s legal marijuana law against a federal crackdown suggested Thursday by the White House. 
 
 With White House press secretary Sean Spicer suggesting Thursday that the Trump administration would crack down on states that have legal recreational marijuana, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson vowed to defend Washington state’s legal pot law. 
 
 “I will resist any efforts by the Trump administration to undermine the will of the voters in Washington state,” Ferguson said in an interview. 
 
 Spicer said during a press briefing Thursday that the issue rests with the Justice Department. But he said, “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement of it.” 
 
 He added it’s “something that the Department of Justice I think will be further looking into.” No details were provided. 
 
 Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee sent a letter to U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions, dated Feb. 15 that laid out arguments for Washington’s state-regulated pot industry. 
 
 They said illegal dealing is being displaced by a tightly regulated industry that is projected to pay $272 million in taxes this fiscal year. That frees up law-enforcement officers to protect communities facing more pressing threats. They also noted that legal pot entrepreneurs must undergo criminal and financial background checks. 
 
 “Given the limited resources available for marijuana law enforcement, a return to ‘full’ prohibition’ is highly unlikely to end the illicit production, trafficking and consumption of marijuana,” wrote Ferguson and Inslee, who asked for a meeting with Sessions. 
 
 This is not a fight President Donald Trump and his administration should pick, Inslee said earlier this month. “They would be on the wrong side of history,” the governor said. 
 
 Ferguson said his lawyers are already “quite prepared” to argue against a federal crackdown but will begin reviewing strategies now that Spicer has sent the administration’s first signals about recreational marijuana. 
 
 “When he talks about ‘greater enforcement,’ I take that seriously,” said Ferguson, whose legal team twice prevailed over Trump’s lawyers in federal court decisions on the president’s travel ban. 
 
 With 56 percent of the voters approving, Washington legalized adult possession of small amounts of marijuana and state-regulated farming and sales of pot in November 2012. 
 
 Tension has existed ever since about the federal government’s ongoing prohibition of all forms of marijuana. 
 
 The Obama administration let Washington and Colorado, the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana, proceed with their experiments as long they adhered to the so-called Cole Memo of August 2013. 
 
 Authored by U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole, the memo told Washington and Colorado they could carry out the voters’ will as long as they followed eight Department of Justice priorities, such as preventing sales to minors and preventing legal pot revenue from going to criminals. 
 
 As a candidate, Trump said he supported medical marijuana. He said recreational marijuana “should be a state issue.” 
 
 Spicer’s comments come a day after the Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era directive on public-school bathroom requirements for transgender students, arguing it should be a state, not federal decision. 
 
 Ferguson said it was inconsistent for Trump and Republicans to support states’ rights and a crackdown on legal marijuana in states where voters have approved it. 
 
 A national poll by Quinnipiac University released Thursday showed that 71 percent of voters said the government should not enforce federal laws against states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana. All groups — Republicans, Democrats, Independents, young, old, men, women — agreed with this view, according to the poll. 
 
 The Justice Department has several options, including filing lawsuits on the grounds that state laws regulating pot are unconstitutional because they are pre-empted by federal law. 

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 CLOSE Support is at an all-time high (and growing). Video provided by Newsy Newslook 
 
 Jars of state-legal marijuana sit inside a cannabis dispensary in Denver, Colo. (Photo: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY) 
 
 DENVER — The White House threw the country’s marijuana industry into a panic after announcing Thursday that there would likely be “greater enforcement” of federal anti-cannabis laws under President Trump. 
 
 Speaking to reporters, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the Trump administration would not use federal laws against medical marijuana users, in part because Congress has already banned it from doing so. But he made a distinction between medical and recreational use and said: “I do believe you'll see greater enforcement” of federal laws against recreational marijuana use. 
 
 The country’s fast-growing marijuana industry has been stuck on edge for months, trying to decipher how the new administration will approach cannabis but generally hopeful that the president was serious when he said he believed the states should decide such things. 
 
 Spicer signaled a potentially major shift in enforcement: “There is still a federal law that we need to abide by in terms of recreational marijuana and other drugs of that nature.” He did not provide a timeline or any specifics about how a crackdown could occur. Every state-level marijuana marketplace has been operated illegally, as far as the federal law is concerned, but Justice Department prosecutors have largely left them alone. 
 
 Later, Spicer seemed to suggest the matter was less settled than he initially indicated, and referred reporters to the Justice Department for comment and follow up. The Justice Department declined to comment to USA TODAY Network reporters. 
 
 Still, Spicer's initial comments were what reverberated across the country, through an industry all-too-fearful of what the Trump presidency might do to their efforts. 
 
 Legalization skeptics welcomed the news and said they hoped the Trump administration would prioritize the nation’s public health. 
 
 New Attorney General Jeff Sessions is generally considered a marijuana opponent, but Trump during the campaign said he thought such decisions should be left to states, a policy set by President Obama. If carried out by the Justice Department, stricter enforcement would mark a significant policy shift and risk putting tens of thousands of “budtenders,” growers, distributors and brokers out of business. 
 
 Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and California voters have all approved legal pot even though it remains illegal under federal law. 
 
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 Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, a Boulder-area Democrat, criticized Spicer's comments: “Now either the president is flip-flopping or his staff is, once again, speaking out of turn — either way these comments leave doubt and uncertainty for the marijuana industry, stifling job growth in my state. The public has spoken on recreational marijuana, we’ve seen it work in Colorado, and now is the time to lift the federal prohibition.” 
 
 Spicer’s remarks came just hours after the release of a Quinnipiac University poll showing 71% of Americans would oppose efforts to enforce federal marijuana laws in those eight states. The poll also found that 93% of voters support allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes and 59% support making it legal for all purposes. Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from interfering with states’ medical marijuana programs but has remained silent about recreational marijuana. 
 
 “If the administration is looking for ways to become less popular, cracking down on voter-approved marijuana laws would be a great way to do it,” said Tom Angell, chairman of the pro-legalization Marijuana Majority. “On the campaign trail, President Trump clearly and repeatedly pledged that he would leave decisions on cannabis policy to the states. With a clear and growing majority of the country now supporting legalization, reneging on his promises would be a political disaster and huge distraction from the rest of the president’s agenda.” 
 
 States that have legalized recreational marijuana argue their rules have reduced black-market sales and ensure that marijuana business deals happen safely and under the close eyes of tax collectors. Despite being illegal in most states, recreational marijuana remains widely popular, bought and sold on the black market through illicit cash transactions that enrich criminals. 
 
 “It is hard to imagine why anyone would want marijuana to be produced and sold by cartels and criminals rather than tightly regulated, taxpaying businesses,” said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. 
 
 Legalization supporters say they’re mystified why Trump, who ran on a platform of less government regulation, and increased states’ rights and national job creation, would be willing to change course. They’re hoping the president will change his mind once he learns more. But they also fear marijuana-related stocks would tank Friday as word spread of the new approach. 
 
 The legal cannabis marketplace is estimated to create more than 250,000 new jobs for American workers and $24 billion in sales by 2020, according to a new analysis by New Frontier Data, which tracks industry trends. New Frontier based its estimates on a study commissioned by Colorado state officials. 
 
 CLOSE The legalized marijuana industry is growing more than pot. Analysts say it could create over a quarter of a million jobs while other industries decline. Buzz60 
 
 "I think after the feds learn how well-regulated Washington’s adult use and medical cannabis markets are, they will leave it status quo,” said Ian Eisenberg, the founder of Uncle Ike's, a cannabis retailer in Seattle. 
 
 Many industry experts say they think the country has come too far to roll back legalization, especially since California’s voters just approved it in November. Among the supporters of legalization is Peter Thiel, whose Founders Fund in 2015 made a multimillion-dollar investment in Privateer Holdings, the world's first private equity firm investing exclusively in the legal cannabis market. Thiel was also an early investor in Facebook, Lyft and Spotify. 
 
 “I don't think it's realistic for Trump to wage an all-out war against recreational marijuana,” said Aaaron Herzber, a partner and general counsel at CalCann Holdings in Santa Ana, Calif. “My guess is that this is saber rattling.” 
 
 Legalization critics say the country is improperly permitting large businesses to operate in the marijuana marketplace, raising concerns that cannabis will become the next Big Tobacco. 
 
 "This isn't an issue about state’s rights, it’s an issue of public health and safety for communities,” said Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which generally opposes recreational marijuana. “We're hopeful that the Trump administration will pursue a smart approach to enforcement that prioritizes public health and safety over political ideology." 
 
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– Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and the White House has signaled that the eight states that have legalized recreational use will soon be reminded of that fact. At a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters he believes we will soon see "greater enforcement" of the law when it comes to recreational marijuana, though he said President Trump has no problem with medical use, the Hill reports. "There is still a federal law we need to abide by in terms of when it comes to recreational marijuana and other drugs of that nature," Spicer said. Spicer linked recreational marijuana use to the opioid addiction crisis, which the Los Angeles Times calls "an incendiary charge that many medical experts would dispute." Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson tells the Seattle Times that he will protect the state's legal pot law and resist any attempt to "undermine the will" of voters. Other critics noted that on the campaign trail, Trump said the issue should be left to the states. "If the administration is looking for ways to become less popular, cracking down on voter-approved marijuana laws would be a great way to do it," Tom Angell, chairman of the pro-legalization Marijuana Majority group, tells USA Today.