In a letter to Obama's desk yesterday, members of Congress urged Presdient Obama to reconsider the way we view marijuana, stating: "Lives and resources are wasted on enforcing harsh, unrealistic, and unfair marijuana laws. Nearly two-thirds of a million people every year are arreseted for marijuana posession. We spend billions of dollars each year enforcing marijuana laws which disproportionately affect minorities."
The letter was sparked by Obama's interview with David Remnick, in which he state that marijuana is 'no less dangerous than alcohol'. Obama said in the interview "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. I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."
The 18 Congressmen are asking Obama to, "instruct Attorney General Holder to delist or classify marijuana in a more appropriate, at the very least eliminating it from Schedule I or II."
Only time will tell how Obama will react to this pressure, but if recent trends in marijuana legalization are any indicator, it's likely Obama will use this as a way to further progess on America's misguided war on drugs, and finally legalize marijuana
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