Nick Gillespie, Patrick Kennedy Battle over Pot: We Tried Prohibition Once, It Didn’t Work

President Obama gave every pot advocate in America a metaphorical contact high when he appeared to soften his position on marijuana over the weekend, and despite the White House backtracking from what he said, it’s still a big effing deal. Reason’s Nick Gillespie battled Patrick Kennedy over that very issue on CNN with Don Lemon Wednesday night. Kennedy argued legalizing pot for adults sends the wrong message to kids, while Gillespie kept insisting prohibition just does not work.

Kennedy argued that marijuana is “damaging to emotional growth as well as to cognitive growth,” and if it’s legal for adults, “young people think it’s no big deal.” Gillespie shot back that there are far worse consequences of keeping it illegal, citing the disturbing racial disparity in drug arrests across the country. Kennedy responded by saying black people are “arrested and incarcerated at much higher rates” regardless of what the offense in question is.

Gillespie said that the U.S tried prohibition once with alcohol and it failed miserably, saying he just wants to be able to treat adults “like adults who are responsible for what they do.” Lemon cited stats showing people think alcohol is more harmful than pot, which Kennedy agreed with, but then went on to say that should mean, ideally, Obama should “regulate the liquor industry.”

Watch the video below, via CNN:

[photo via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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