White House responds to marijuana legalization petition

Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, responded Friday to an extremely popular marijuana legalization petition on the White House’s “We the People” site.

He responded to the petition by stating that the legalization of marijuana would not resolve the problems associated with drug use.

“When the President took office, he directed all of his policymakers to develop policies based on science and research, not ideology or politics,” Kerlikowske said. “So our concern about marijuana is based on what the science tells us about the drug’s effects.”