



- - Tuesday, January 21, 2014

President Obama's latest claims about marijuana are contradicted by research and official positions of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is part of the White House. And Mr. Obama's words have anti-drug leaders worried about negative repercussions among youth.


The National Drug Control Policy's official stance, posted on the website, says the opposite of Mr. Obama on all counts.


And as reported by the government's National Institute on Drug Abuse, adolescent use of marijuana does something that alcohol does not; it causes permanent brain damage, including lowering of I.Q.

Taxpayers have spent billions of dollars warning about drugs, often about marijuana, but these efforts were dramatically undercut by the president's comments.


He told the interviewer, David Remnick, that his earlier years of prodigious puffery were "a bad habit and a vice." Yet he doesn't warn others not to follow in his footsteps.

The Drug-Free America Foundation responded on its blog: "His laissez-faire attitude about legalization has drug policy and prevention experts scratching their heads in confusion as to why the president will not give clear guidance...either he is seriously ill-informed about the issue or is completely ignoring warnings from his highly-esteemed advisors."

The foundation called it an "irresponsible move for such a person in the most highly-regarded position in this country."

The official National Drug Control Strategy from drug czar R. Gil Kerlikowske lists marijuana as one of the "four major drugs (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine)."

Don't expect him to resign in anger about how Obama is undercutting his work, however. He's a short-timer because Mr. Obama nominated him last fall to become the new Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

So for now, perhaps until Kerlikowske is at his new job, anti-marijuana messages remain on the White House Website. As one page describes things, "confusing messages being presented by popular culture, media, proponents of 'medical' marijuana, and political campaigns to legalize all marijuana perpetuate the false notion that marijuana is harmless."

They should add Mr. Obama's name to the list of confusing messengers who perpetuate false notions. Except confusing messenger is too polite a term. Outright hypocrite fits better.

Be on the lookout for the White House to remove warnings of marijuana use from its Website, such as this gem: "The Administration steadfastly opposes legalization of marijuana and other drugs because legalization would increase the availability and use of illicit drugs, and pose significant health and safety risks to all Americans, particularly young people."

It is impossible to reconcile that post with Mr. Obama's failure to enforce federal drug laws against marijuana, and with his statement to The New Yorker about Colorado's and Washington's open violation of those laws, namely, "it's important for it to go forward."

Why go forward? The president's explanation is indeed a head-scratcher: "Because it's important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished."




But Mr. Obama's claim was shot down by an earlier federal publication, "Marijuana Myths & Facts: The Truth Behind 10 Popular Misconceptions".

Myth #10 is "The government sends otherwise innocent people to prison for casual marijuana use."




But what about alcohol? Mr. Obama stated he doesn't think marijuana is more dangerous that alcohol.

One trick used by pro-pot proponents seems to have worked with Obama. They adopt an extremely-narrow definition of marijuana's dangers by discussing solely on whether it is "toxic," meaning that high dosages become poisonous.





He offers up loose arguments, even discredited arguments, because he doesn't expect serious follow-up from the media. Even if he gets it, Mr. Obama simply talks in circles, ends the questioning, and shuts that reporter out in the future.

Anyone who believes otherwise must be smoking something.

Ernest Istook is a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma.