The haze surrounding Jimmy Carter’s
position on
marijuana legalization has lifted.
Six months after the former president told a Georgia
crowd he supported state efforts to
legalize marijuana use, Carter told gathering in Atlanta on Friday he supported
keeping weed illegal.
“I do not favor legalization,” Carter said,
according to a statement from Smart Approaches
to Marijuana. “We must do everything we can to discourage marijuana use, as we
do now with tobacco and excessive drinking.”
SAM,
as the group is known, was founded by conservative writer David Frum and former
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.). The group opposes legalizing weed, but supports
arresting users and sending them to treatment rather than jail.
Carter’s tune was different in December, when it was
widely reported he had backed Washington state and Colorado’s decision to allow
residents to legally buy and grow the drug.
“I’m in favor of it. I think it’s OK,” Carter said
then. “I don’t think it’s going to happen in Georgia yet, but I think we can
watch and see what happens in the state of Washington for instance around
Seattle and let the American government and let the American people see does it
cause a serious problem or not.”
In his speech Friday, Carter was more cautious about
what could happen in Colorado and Washington.
“There should be no advertising for marijuana in any
circumstances and no driving under the influence,” he said. “We need to avoid
the use of marijuana, particularly among young people.”
One thing is clear: Carter has long favored the
decriminalization of marijuana. While still in office in 1979, he called for
the drug’s decriminalization. His office echoed that position in a statement to
POLITICO in December. Read more:
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