According to President Obama, smoking pot isn’t a more perilous prospect, health-wise, than drinking alcohol. Of course, Obama, in an interview with The New Yorker, couched this statement in a series of responsible-sounding disclaimers.

The Washington Post on Sunday picked up the money quotes from the president’s musings on marijuana:

“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 president said an interview with “The New Yorker” magazine.

Smoking marijuana is “not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy,” Obama said.

Obama also discussed the bigger-picture aspects of the legalization issue, such as racist and classist practices in law enforcement, and whether legalization would improve society as a whole.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson

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