The head of the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to legally challenge marijuana ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington. The AP reports that

Raymond Yans says the approvals send "a wrong message to the rest of the nation and it sends a wrong message abroad." He hopes Attorney General Eric Holder "will take all the necessary measures" to ensure that marijuana possession and use remains illegal throughout the U.S.

The U.N. drafted an anti-drug treaty in 1961, called the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The U.S. is a signatory. According to the treaty, signatories may legalize cannabis for industrial and "horticultural" uses (hemp), but agree to "adopt such measures as may be necessary to prevent the misuse of, and illicit traffic in, the leaves of the cannabis plant."