President Jimmy Carter has come out against marijuana legalization, according to Project SAM, the anti-marijuana group started earlier this year by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Kevin Sabet, a former advisor in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Here's Project SAM's press release, via the blog of Project SAM board member David Frum:
President Jimmy Carter, at a meeting that included state legislators and regulators from Colorado and Washington, as well as most of the states targeted for legalization in 2016, and attended by the nation's premier public health scientists like former White House Deputy Drug Czar Thomas McLellan, announced that despite mischaracterizations, he "opposed the legalization of marijuana" and predicted the experiments in Washington and Colorado would go badly. He also said that he didn't believe in imprisoning users of marijuana, but favored SAM's approach of arrests with treatment referral and health assessments.
President Carter has been falsely characterized as supporting legalization by pro-marijuana lobbyists nationwide. Today, he set the record straight:
"I do not favor legalization. We must do everything we can to discourage marijuana use, as we do now with tobacco and excessive drinking," President Carter told the crowd. "We have to prevent making marijuana smoking from becoming attractive to young people, which is, I'm sure, what the producers of marijuana….are going to try and do."
Cody Marr/The Yipster Times
The President also said "I hope that Colorado and Washington, as you authorize the use of marijuana, will set up very strict experiments to ascertain how we can avoid the use of marijuana… There should be no advertising for marijuana in any circumstances and no driving under the influence. We need to avoid the use of marijuana, particularly among young people." President Carter endorsed the strict list of 12 regulations created by National Families in Action's "But What About The Children?" campaign.
"I'm very proud of Patrick Kennedy and his Project SAM, Smart Approaches to Marijuana," the President said. "I wish him and Kevin Sabet every success in your independent project to make sure marijuana is handled responsibly."
When asked about decriminalization from a Washington state legislator, President Carter remarked that he believes arrests for marijuana should be in place and result in a warning hearing, treatment, and screening. He opposed permanent records for people with marijuana use.
"I said this 35 years ago….that I didn't want to make it so that a person could possess…or smoke marijuana with impunity but that they could be chastised, offered treatment, etc."
Does this mean Carter thinks Willie Nelson should be arrested, chastised, and offered treatment?
