FBI Director James Comey backtracked on the comments he made about potentially loosening the law-enforcement agency’s policy on marijuana in testimony before a congressional oversight hearing on Wednesday.

“I am absolutely dead-set against using marijuana,” said Mr. Comey in an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I did not say that I am going to change that ban.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, who is ardently anti-drug, said Mr. Comey made light of pot use when he spoke in front of a conference on Monday saying the FBI was getting pot-smoking applicants for cyber security jobs.

Mr. Comey said he’s against using marijuana, but “I’m determined not to lose my sense of humor.”

On Monday, Mr. Comey spoke before the White Collar Crime Institute in New York.

“I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals, and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview,” Mr. Comey told the group. He added the FBI was “grappling with” its marijuana policies.

All applicants who have smoked marijuana within the last three years are excluded from consideration, the FBI’s website said.

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