WHITE HOUSE: DO NOT MISINTERPRET THE PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS
Despite his comments in the New Yorker last week comparing marijuana to alcohol, the White House Press Secretary states that “The President’s position on these matters has not changed.”
In response to a question from CNN today, Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary, told reporters that “the President’s position on these matters has not changed.” Carney stated “he [the President] made clear that he sees it as a bad habit and a vice, and not something that he would encourage. He’s not endorsing any specific move by a state, he’s simply making an observation.”
Carney clarified the President’s position, saying that President Obama was not endorsing Colorado and Washington’s legalization policy but rather, he was making the point that too often, law-enforcement officials display racial bias in prosecuting for marijuana offenses, and that we ought to use appropriate discretion when prosecuting users. The White House and the President’s stated position is consistent with SAM’s approach that low-level marijuana users should not be criminalized nor saddled with arrest records that stigmatize them for life.
The White House’s official stance on marijuana is stated clearly on its website writing that marijuana smoke has significantly more carcinogens than tobacco smoke and that, unlike alcohol, adolescent use of marijuana causes permanent brain damage.