Jeff Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Thursday, March 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(AP Photo)

President Donald Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, should spend more time on fentanyl and heroin trafficking issues instead of marijuana, said Maura Healey, the top prosecutor in Massachusetts.

"He is obsessed with marijuana," Healey told business leaders on Thursday.

"I think if you go back and you look at any number of the statements that he's made, the positions that he's taken, he spends a tremendous amount of time focused on marijuana, where as a matter of law enforcement, where I see the issues right now, where I see the problems, are with fentanyl and heroin," Healey said to reporters after speaking to the business-backed New England Council. "And that's where I would like to see more support and more focus and more attention."

Sessions has frequently made clear his opposition to legalization of marijuana. "We need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized. It ought not to be minimized, that it's in fact a very real danger," he said last year before becoming attorney general.

Healey, a top Trump critic among Bay State Democrats, said the opioid crisis is still raging in Massachusetts and they've seen little help from President Trump, despite his campaign promises to fix a national problem.

"We've asked for help, we need the help and to me it's a shame that we have not seen anything from the federal administration yet in terms of needed resources," she said.

"I think it's shameful that at this point, we're 100 days into this administration and we haven't seen anything in terms of additional resources, or additional plans, or proposals to deal with a serious opioid crisis," Healey added.

Trump has set up a working group on drug addiction. Chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the commission includes Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a fellow Republican. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is also serving on the commission.

Christie "cares deeply about this" issue, Baker said during a Thursday afternoon appearance on WGBH's "Boston Public Radio" show.

The group has held six or seven calls with governors and lieutenant governors around the country, according to Baker.

Baker said part of the commission's goal is to take the best of what the states are doing and incorporate it into national initiatives or national guidelines that states could pursue.

After her speech to the New England Council, reporters also asked Healey about regulatory oversight of legal marijuana in Massachusetts.

Bay State voters in November 2016 approved a law broadly legalizing recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21.

The law places a regulatory structure, including a Cannabis Control Commission, under the state treasurer's office, similar to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.

Massachusetts lawmakers, now considering an overhaul of the law passed by voters, are weighing whether to take the Cannabis Control Commission out of the treasurer's office and give it a quasi-independent status, like the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

Asked whether she's comfortable with a Gaming Commission model for the Cannabis Control Commission, Healey said, "I'm not sure if that's the necessary model or not. I'll tell you, you know, where I come down. I want a system in place that operates with integrity, that is mindful of public health, and mindful of public safety, and is set up in a way that is generating enough financial revenue and support for state actors and local actors to be able to do what they need to do in terms of fulfilling their responsibility when it comes to public safety and public health."

Healey, who opposed the ballot initiative legalizing marijuana, said she remains interested in the debate over marijuana law in Massachusetts.

"We need to get this right here in Massachusetts for the sake of the wellbeing and the health and the safety of our residents and our communities," she said.