In a new interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama suggests that marijuana should be treated like a public health issue and regulated just like alcohol and tobacco.
This is the closest Obama has come to endorsing legalization. Alcohol and tobacco aren’t prohibited by federal law, and Obama implied that marijuana shouldn’t be either. Fearful of public backlash, the president has been cautious about airing his views on marijuana. But now that he’s going back to being a private citizen, he is opening up on his views on the drug and its place in the lives of Americans.
“I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea,” Obama said. “But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it.”
The president continued, “I will have the opportunity as a private citizen to describe where I think we need to go. But in light of these referenda passing, including in California, I’ve already said … that it is untenable over the long term for the Justice Department or the DEA to be enforcing a patchwork of laws, where something that’s legal in one state could get you a 20-year prison sentence in another.”
Post-presidency, could Obama become a marijuana crusader? He’s admitted in the past that marijuana is less problematic than alcohol, and even said last year that “if enough states end up decriminalizing, then Congress may then reschedule marijuana.”
And there’s already a handful of lawmakers dedicated pro-cannabis reform in Congress. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) has proposed legislation that would lift the federal ban on pot in states that have legalized it through the democratic voting process.
When Rolling Stone asked Obama if he couldn’t have done more for marijuana reform, he said it wasn’t feasible for him to do so.
“One of the things that I think it’s important for progressives to do when we’re in a reflective mode after an election like this is, we can’t have it both ways,” Obama said. “We can’t say, ‘Why aren’t you reaching out to the folks who voted against us? And by the way, why aren’t you maximizing getting 100% for the things that those of us, you know, who are already progressive and living on the coasts think should be done right away?’
“The point is that politics in a big, diverse country like this requires us to move the ball forward not in one long Hail Mary to the end zone, but to, you know, systemically make progress.”
