Obama to Vice Viewers: Pot Shouldn’t Be Your ‘Number One’ Priority

As promised, Vice News released its full, 18 minute video interview with President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon. And after covering climate change, Iran, ISIS and other issues that have dominated the president’s agenda of late, Vice co-founder and CEO Shane Smith brought up the “number one” question from viewers online: When you are going to legalize marijuana?

“For young people, I’m sorry, but if you legalized marijuana it would be the biggest part of your legacy,” Smith told Obama.

“First of all, it shouldn’t be young people’s biggest priority,” the president said in response, saying they should be more concerned with climate change, the economy, war and peace and then maybe “down at the bottom,” marijuana. But Obama did see the “criminalization” of the drug as an important issue.

Obama admitted that the U.S. criminal justice system is “so heavily skewed towards cracking down on non-violent drug offenders” and that the system more negatively affects “communities of color.” He also said he was “encouraged” that some “very conservative Republicans” — Rand Paul, anyone? — who are “starting to recognize this doesn’t make sense.”

But at the same time, Obama said legalization or even decriminalization is “not a panacea,” asking, “Do you feel the same way about meth? Do we feel the same way about coke? How about crack? How about heroin?”

Watch the full interview below, via Vice (marijuana section begins at approx. 14:20):

[Photo via screengrab]

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