Young people should be focused on climate change and jobs -- not the legalization of marijuana, President Barack Obama says.
In an interview posted Monday, Obama sounds a little exasperated when VICE founder Shane Smith told him that the No. 1 question viewers had for the president was whether or not he’d back legalization and that it would mean “the biggest party” of his tenure if he did so. (It was the last question of the interview, however.)
“First of all, it shouldn’t be young peoples’ biggest priority,” Obama said. “Let’s put it in perspective. Young people, I understand this is important to you. But you should be thinking about climate change, the economy, jobs. War and peace. Maybe way at the bottom you should be thinking about marijuana.”
Obama also said he’d separate decriminalization and legalization, noting that there is growing bipartisan recognition of the cost of harsh prison terms for marijuana possession and use.
“We may actually be able to make some progress on the decriminalization side,” Obama said, adding that if enough states decriminalize marijuana Congress may decide to reclassify marijuana from a schedule I drug to a schedule II drug, meaning it has a legitimate medical purpose and can be prescribed more easily.
Likely presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined a pair of Democratic senators last week to introduce legislation that seeks to block the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana users and providers in states where it’s been legalized.
But Obama added that he doesn’t see legalization or decriminalization as a panacea.
“Do you feel the same way about meth? Do we feel the same way about coke? How about crack? How about heroin?” he said. “There is a legitimate, I think, concern about the overall effects this has on society, particularly vulnerable parts of our society. Substance abuse generally, legal and illegal substances, is a problem.”
The administration last July criticized drug legalization and warned that a declining perception of risk is leading more U.S. teens to smoke pot.
Legalization advocates used the Vice interview as an opportunity to renew a call for Obama to change marijuana classification without waiting for Congress.
“The president is right that as voters force more and more changes to state marijuana laws, national policymakers will have no choice but to catch up,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority. “But he should think again about how important this issue is. On average, there's a marijuana possession arrest in the U.S. about every minute. Billions of dollars are wasted on enforcing prohibition laws that don’t stop anyone from using marijuana but do ruin people’s lives with damaging criminal records. And the black market is controlled by drug cartels and gangs that use violence to protect their profits. This is a serious issue, and the president needs to treat it as such.”
Obama in the interview also said he was “embarrassed” for the 47 Republican senators who sent a letter to Iranian leaders in hopes of scuttling a proposed deal on Iran’s nuclear program, saying it’s “not how America does business.”
And he called it “disturbing” that the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee is chaired by climate change skeptic Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., but said that the Republican party will change its approach to climate change “because voters will insist on it.”
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