Posted on 01/19/2014 8:13:36 AM PST by Sub-Driver
January 19, 2014, 10:26 am Obama: Pot laws 'important to society'
By Justin Sink
President Obama said in an interview published Sunday he does not believe marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol and that it was “important” that the legalization of the drug in some states to “go forward” because it would prevent unfair penalties for some users.
"As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol,” Obama said in an interview with The New Yorker.
Pressed on whether marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol, Obama noted that it’s “not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy.”
But, Obama said, he did see pot as less dangerous “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”
Obama said he was particularly concerned by disproportionate arrests of and sentences for minorities possessing the drug.
“Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” he said. “And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.”
The president said he believed it was unfair that the government was “locking up kids or individual users for long stretches of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing.”
That’s why, Obama said, he was generally supportive of experiments in Washington and Colorado to legalize the drug.
“It’s important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished.”
Last September, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department would work with the states to implement the law, even though federal law continues to prohibit possession or use of the drug.
A Department of Justice memo said that the federal government would still prosecute those who distribute the drug to minors, buy from criminal enterprises, move marijuana to states where it is illegal, or drive drugged.
Legal pot went on sale for the first time at the beginning of the month in Colorado, raking in millions of dollars in early sales.
Of cOurse you don't BO YOU WANT YOUR DRUG DEALING FRIENDS TO MAKE A LOT OF MONEY..Are you still smoking pot?I AM ALMOST SURE YOU STILL SMOKE A PACK A DAY OF TOBACCO
You really hate the 8th amendment, don't you?
Considering the damage he does when he does something, I suggest moving the White House to Colorado for the next three years.
When it comes to someone enjoying beer or pot in their own homes, only the government knows what is best for you and what your limits should be. Lengthy prison terms, even for first offenders, is the only way to rid the earth of people who like to relax.
Further proof that Obama can turn any subject into an excuse to launch a soliloquy about his favorite topic. Himself.
America approves of this moron. Unbelievable.
Obama: Pot laws important to society.
Kind of like Obamacare you have it but good will it do.
Sounds like the communist manifesto!
You’re right.
The fools just refuse to see.
The whole of Western Civilization is in serious decline and will only continue to get much much worse.
Soros funded the legalization drives in Arizona. Keep ‘em high and they won’t care who is running the country. An old commie trick.
As a "kid" or as a young adult? I'm guessing he smoked marijuana at least through his college years.
...and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life.
So pot is "not very different" from cigarettes? Amazing how he says this stuff with a straight face. Cigarettes don't get you high, Mr. president.
When was the last time jOkeass to a drug test?
So do the NFL playoffs, which I plan on watching after I lay in some comfort food.
Sure it did. = “ I want to see more white folks in jail and less colored folks in jail for pot. By the way I smoke cigs, choom and snort a little blow so stop arresting colored folks but bust more white folks”
Much as I despise Soros, it was the big drug companies and the Hearst company that promoted the illegalization of hemp and marijuana.
Hearst held huge timberlands used to produce paper. Hemp required much less earth to grow and effort to process than did timber, and he wanted to protect his profits. The drug companies wanted to promote their expensive prescription drugs when drugs could have been made more cheaply with hemp.
The AMA was against the criminalization, but they were fighting Roosevelt’s government. The debate in Congress apparently lasted 92 seconds after yellow journalism and lunatic testimony influenced the law makers.
As with alcohol, it should be restricted among minors, but I notice no ill effects on various of my successful friends.
Said president of the Choom gang.
Well said.
How about Arizona enforcing federal law? How about state abortion law? How about state gay marriage laws? I detest Obama.
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