Is U.S. Beginning to Follow Uruguay's Lead? Obama Admits Marijuana is No More Dangerous than Alcohol

U.S. President Barack Obama has been busy this week presenting his case to the American people that his administration is taking measures to insure that national intelligence agencies will not be abusing their resources. But on a somewhat smaller issue, Obama has come out saying that he believes marijuana use is no more dangerous than alcohol, a position he had been criticized for shying away from earlier in his presidency.
"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," Reuters quotes the president saying in a New Yorker magazine article. "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."
The president then said that legalization of the plant should go forward in states where it has been legalized, saying that the penalties have fallen more severely on minorities for past infractions.

This comes in stark contrast to Obama's statements during his campaign for the White House when he jokingly brushed off the suggestion of legalization during town hall meetings in which online audiences were able to put forward questions to the candidate via the Internet.

On March 26, 2009 Obama responded to an online question voted on by Internet audiences. It was, in fact, the highest voted question in the online survey.

"I don't know what this says about the online audience," Obama said. "The answer is 'no' I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."

Since that time, the states of Washington and Colorado have voted in legalized marijuana for recreational use, and several other states have moved toward more accepted medical use of the drug. Led by President Jose "Pepe" Mujica who has gained worldwide popularity recently, the South American nation of Uruguay took the issue one step further becoming the first country to legalize the drug.

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox has joined in the same chorus. Now, four years after that town hall meeting, even Barack Obama is speaking a more accepting tone. The change in tone might be a turning point for the overall national attitude toward marijuana in particular, and the U.S.-led "war on drugs" in general.

While Obama's comments fell well short of advocating legalization, it certainly signals a shift in general rhetoric.