U.S. Attorney Lawrence Keefe's office will focus its crime-fighting efforts on the intersection of marijuana and violent crime and pot dealers who engage in large-scale sales, not small-time marijuana cases.

Keefe's office clarified its approach to prosecuting state marijuana crimes after offering last week to take up any cases local prosecutors wouldn’t because of challenges differentiating between illegal pot and legal medical hemp.

“Unlike recreational marijuana users who largely engage in small-time transactions, these violent criminals pose a very real and ongoing threat to the law-abiding citizens of our communities,” Keefe said in a Tuesday press release.

“For this reason, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida will continue to exercise its federal prosecutorial discretion and responsibility to pursue those cases that involve violent felons who commit gun violence while trafficking in marijuana.”

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Keefe also said he has no intent to target medical marijuana in his district, which spans from Escambia to Alachua County, and includes five state judicial circuits — the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 14th. Despite a booming medical marijuana industry in the state, on the street and at the federal level the drug is still illegal.

“(We) will not prosecute marijuana-related businesses that operate here in compliance with Florida state law,” he wrote. “The resources of this office should be allocated to higher priorities ... precious resources should not be used to prosecute federally here in the Northern District of Florida what the Florida state Legislature has determined to be a legal in regard to marijuana."

He said gun violence, drug and human trafficking, domestic terrorism and addressing elections safety, national security and public corruption take priority.

Keefe’s offer to take on state marijuana followed decisions by State Attorney Jack Campbell and other top prosecutors around the state, who have said until they can afford to invest in testing that can tell the difference between marijuana and hemp, they would put a pause on prosecuting some cases.

Hemp, or cannabis with a psychoactive THC content of .3% or less, was legalized by the Florida Legislature and the 2018 federal Farm Bill, but issues have arisen among law enforcement agencies unable to tell the difference between them. They both come from cannabis plants and look and smell the same.

Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter