It’s been about a week since former Vice President Joe Biden said that marijuana may be a gateway drug.
He was met with plenty of backlash for the comment and in a call with reporters on Monday, Biden told Nevada Independent’s Megan Messerly that he didn’t make the comments people think he did.
He said, “I said some say pot was a gateway drug.”
“I don’t think it is a gateway drug. There’s no evidence I’ve seen to suggest that,” he added.
He told Messerly, “With regard to the total legalization of it, there are some in the medical community who say it needs to be made a Schedule II drug so there can be research studies, as not whether it is a gateway drug but whether or not it, when used in other combinations, may have a negative impact on people overcoming other problems, including in fact on young people in terms of brain development—a whole range of things that are beyond my expertise. There are serious medical folks who say we should study it more. Not that we should make it illegal, that we should be in a position where we criminalize it but where we should look at it.”
“It’s a debate, and I want a lot more before I legalize it nationally,” he said. “I want to make sure we know a lot more about the science behind it.”
Senator Cory Booker’s national press secretary, Sabrina Singh, questioned why the former vice president is maintaining his opposition to legalization when he says now that he knows cannabis is not a gateway drug.
“If @JoeBiden finally agrees with @CoryBooker that marijuana is not a gateway drug, then why does he still oppose federal legalization?” tweeted Singh.
