“President Obama On Marijuana Legalization And Criminalization: The VICE News Interview.” YouTube. Trans. Shane Smith. YouTube, 23 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 July 2015
Shame Smith interviews the President Barack Obama on the issue of criminalization and marijuana legalization on VICE media on March 23, 2015. Shane Smith is a Canadian Emmy Award-winning journalist and web entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of the International media company VICE Media. Shame graduated from Carleton University with a degree in political science. In this interview Smith questions the President with public questions on the internet that are addressed to President Obama, the questions include topics such as climate change, Iran’s nuclear deal, and Marijuana. I will be focusing specifically on the last part of the interview that addresses the topic of marijuana.
Smith begins his interview by stating that marijuana legalization will be the biggest part of our (young peoples) legacy, President Obama responds with saying that Marijuana shouldn’t be the young people’s biggest priority, young people should be thinking about the economy, climate change, and war peace instead of legalizing marijuana. President Obama begins his interview on marijuana by addressing the issue of pot criminalization, he clearly suggest that he supports decriminalizing pot. The President addresses the corruption of the Criminal Justice System, pointing out that the system is skewed towards cracking down nonviolent drug offenders, that now affect communities specifically of color and individuals in that community.
The president recognizes that due to criminalization individuals have been affected by a felony record that has left them unemployed, prisons have been disproportioned, and this has cost money to many states. The Presidents adds that even Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats have realized that this doesn’t make sense. He includes that they might be able to make some progress on decriminalizing, and that if enough states end up decriminalizing then Congress might reschedule marijuana. President Obama then clarifies that the legalization of marijuana and decriminalization is not a panacea, a remedy for all. There is an overall effect this has in society, abusing substance whether legal or illegal is also a problem. Lastly the President adds that locking up somebody for 20 years is probably not the best strategy to fix this problem, and that is something we have to think of as a society.
Overall the President does not state his position on supporting or not supporting marijuana legalization, however he does state that marijuana is not a panacea, and that if enough states decriminalize then maybe Congress could approach a marijuana. From his interview we can conclude that he does not agree with the marijuana policies of incarceration, and with the discrimination of arrests. We can also conclude that legalizing marijuana is not a major priority to the President, he is not in a hurry to approach a deal on marijuana.