U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling. State House News Service photo

Opioid crimes are his top drug enforcement priority, but U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters Wednesday that his enforcement of federal marijuana laws could ensnare anyone from an hourly wage employee at a marijuana dispensary to a bank that opens an account for a pot shop.

During a meeting with reporters at the federal courthouse, Lelling, a recent appointee of President Donald Trump, repeated that he will not rule out bringing criminal cases against participants in the forthcoming state-legal retail marijuana industry.

“It puts the banks in a bind. I understand that,” Lelling said. Marijuana distribution is unambiguously illegal under federal law and he cannot preemptively rule out anyone for prosecution, he said.

While state Cannabis Control Commission members have expressed interest in conferring with Lelling, the prosecutor said he can’t meet with the panel.

“The department won’t allow me to meet with a regulatory body, and I hate to hide behind that but I think ultimately that’s right,” Lelling said. “A meeting like that is a recipe in frustration. I simply can’t give it to them.”

Lelling also said he has never smoked marijuana.

The top prosecutor has previously made clear that his focus would be on bulk traffickers.

“This office will pursue federal marijuana crimes as part of its overall approach to reducing violent crime, stemming the tide of the drug crisis, and dismantling criminal gangs, and in particular the threat posed by bulk trafficking of marijuana, which has had a devastating impact on local communities,” he said in a Jan. 4 statement.

Trump’s pick to enforce federal laws within Massachusetts said the office will place more emphasis on immigration crimes, an area of focus for his office in 2017.

“When it comes to immigration enforcement, we will be more aggressive,” Lelling said, noting the president has emphasized that policy. “I think you will see increased immigration enforcement from my office.”

Corruption within state government will also remain a focus of the office that brought more than 100 counts against former Sen. Brian Joyce.

“It’s still a priority for the office,” Lelling said. “Public corruption cases, you need the feds.”

The top Bay State federal prosecutor’s task changed on Jan. 4, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama administration policy dating back to 2013 to essentially look the other way on state-regulated marijuana enterprises.

Pressed by pro-pot activists to clarify his approach in light of Sessions’ memo, Lelling on Jan. 8 said he could not “provide assurances that certain categories of participants in the state-level marijuana trade will be immune from federal prosecution,” and he did not waver from that stance Wednesday.

Lelling’s office on Jan. 12 announced charges against two Massachusetts men for allegedly running an illegal operation to grow marijuana for sale. Peter Molle Jr. and Eric Vallee were featured in a magazine article that discussed their marijuana cultivation, according to prosecutors, who said authorities found commercial-sized growing operations and marijuana packaged for sale at central Massachusetts properties belonging to the two. Lelling’s office noted each defendant faces a mandatory sentence of five years and up to 40 years imprisonment.