Washington  - US President Barack Obama's administration relaxed rules Monday on prosecuting marijuana users, saying it would no longer target people who get the drug from state- sanctioned medical suppliers.

In a new guidelines that mark a reversal of former president George W Bush's policy, the Justice Department said it was not an "efficient use of limited federal resources" to prosecute individuals or suppliers that are complying with state laws allowing medicinal marijuana.

Fourteen US states have adopted laws that allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. The Bush administration opposed the practice and said it would continue to prosecute individuals under federal laws.

Attorney General Eric Holder stressed that police and prosecutors would continue to crack down on anyone using state laws as a pretext for illegal drug use or drug trafficking.

"It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana," Holder said. "But we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal."(dpa)