The White House under President Obama has sent decidedly mixed signals on marijuana. So when the administration began its "We the People" project, which promised a policy response for any petition with enough signatures, legalization advocates quickly submitted one with 75,000 signers calling for marijuana to be regulated "in a manner similar to alcohol." Now they have an answer, just not the one they wanted:
Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, offered the official White House response on marijuana, saying the administration does not support legalization. He said that research finds that marijuana is associated with addiction, respiratory disease and cognitive impairment and that pot is ever more potent, possibly affecting still-developing brains of people in their 20s. He went on to say that the White House drug control strategy is “balanced and comprehensive, emphasizing prevention and treatment” and “innovative law enforcement.”
Wow, man. Bummer. That sounds just like something that could have come out of the Nixon White House. Even granting everything bad Mr. Kerlikowski said about marijuana, much worse things can be said about alcohol, so the question of whether it would be wise to regulate marijuana "like alcohol" hasn't really been addressed. Of course, if you were being contrary, you could argue that the question of treating aclohol "in a manner similar to maijuan" could be thrown into the mix, too.
