El Paso parents react to Obama’s statements on pot

President Barack Obama said in an interview this past week with the New Yorker Magazine, he doesn’t think marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol, “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”

Patriots Coach Bill Belichick warned his team this past weekend, “no marijuana.” This as the team was prepping to play the Broncos in a state that legalized recreational pot use.

But the NFL and Belichick’s stance is much stricter than President Obama. Obama said state legalization efforts should be accepted and measured; pot is a “vice” but he didn’t “think it is more dangerous than alcohol;” and that he believes blacks and Latinos are disproportionately affected by marijuana-related arrests.

Obama admitted to smoking pot in his 1995 memoir, saying, “it’s not something i’m proud of. It was a mistake as a young man.”

His new statements fly in the face of what many parents believe. Margaret Castaneda wrote on the KVIA Facebook page:”Great. Now when I tell my kid that drugs only lead to a bad place, she can say, I can be president someday!”

Another Kathryn van Kruiningen Cordero wrote:”Pot for medical purposes I agree with. For recreational use, no way. Most everyone hooked on drugs began with smoking pot.”

But some parents agree with the President.

“Alcohol has been behind murders, rapes,” Jeff Miller said. “I mean almost every crime you can think of alcohol is behind it. And I don’t think it should be criminalized because it affects the poor people more than the wealthy people.”

Raylien Sloan is just three months from bringing a new baby into the world. She said,
“If its legal and they want do they’re going to do it. I’m going to raise them to know that it’s not something that you should be doing, just like underage drinking and smoking.”