Obama: cannabis should be treated «like cigarettes and alcohol»

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Barack Obama says that cannabis should be treated as a public health issue in the same way as tobacco and alcohol. He also says that the federal ban is a wall that is crumbling more and more every day. In his view, legal regulation of cannabis is the best way to prevent abuse and misuse.

Back in 2014, Barack had already taken a similar stance, noting that cannabis was less dangerous than alcohol: «We need to have serious conversations about cannabis and drugs in general.».

A Difficult Position for the DEA

In this interview, Barack Obama explains that the President of the United States cannot implement this reform on his own. It requires legislative support from Congress, the DEA, and the Department of Justice. In August, the DEA rejected a petition proposing the reclassification of cannabis:

«As you can imagine, the DEA has always sought to enforce drug laws. So it’s difficult for them to stop.» It’s also worth noting that enacting federal legalization would have been impossible with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The American pro-cannabis advocates have felt frustrated by Obama’s refusal to use all his power to defend their cause. «[The President] would have been very helpful if he had taken more concrete action on this issue before leaving the Oval Office,» says Tom Angell. «The president did not pressure the DEA to decriminalize marijuana. This will be one of the biggest disappointments of the Obama era.»

It may have been a disappointment, but during his second term, Barack prevented the DEA from intervening in state-licensed dispensaries and farms. Obama also hints in his interview that federal legalization should be coming soon: «One-fifth of the population has access to legal cannabis; we can’t maintain this situation where you can use it freely in one state and face 20 years in prison in another.»

On the other side of the debate, the anti-cannabis organization Smart Approach to Marijuana welcomes Trump's choices for his administration. Health Secretary Tom Price and the Secretary of State for Justice Jeff Sessions are, in and of themselves, evidence that the federal government's stance will not change.

«This is now a mature debate. We’ll have to address it the same way we did with same-sex marriage. I’ll have the opportunity to express my views on the subject and on the direction we should take as a U.S. citizen.».