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"Politicians are giving stoners a run for their money as the most enthusiastic advocates for pot.\nIn the latest example, a U.S. representative from Colorado invited President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to tour one of his state's now-legal marijuana dispensaries. Rep. Jared Polis extended the invite after both Obama and Reid made recent remarks that cast marijuana in a not-so-negative light.\nSee also: The Legal Stoner's Guide to Colorado's New Marijuana Law\nPolis sent a letter to Obama and Reid on Thursday, thanking the two for their \"shifting positions on the regulation and legalization of marijuana.\" \n\"It is vital that our nation\u2019s leaders recognize that marijuana\u2019s placement on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act has cost taxpayers millions of dollars,\" Polis wrote, \"and has classified countless people as criminals simply for using or being in possession of a substance that, as you noted, Mr. President, is less dangerous than alcohol 'in terms of its individual impact on consumers.'\"\nPolis is referring to Obama's recent remarks to The New Yorker, in which he said that marijuana is a \"bad habit\" but ultimately not more dangerous than alcohol.\nIt's no secret that Obama knows a thing or two about the marijuana from personal experience. \n\"When I was a kid, I inhaled,\" Obama famously told the New York Times in 2006. \"That was the point.\"\nAlthough Reid has said he has never tried pot, he recently became a proponent of legalizing it, at least for medicinal purposes.\n\"I guarantee you one thing,\" Reid told the Las Vegas Sun. \"We waste a lot of time and law enforcement going after these guys that are smoking marijuana.\"\nColorado became the first state state in the modern era to allow recreational marijuana sales when its new law took effect on Jan. 1. Washington also passed a law allowing for recreational marijuana, though its stores won't open for business until later this year. A number of other states have passed laws permitting the sale of medical marijuana.\nA Pew poll from April 2013 found that for the first time in four decades, the majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana.\n\nPerhaps riding the tide of public opinion and the momentum generated by Colorado's new law, a host of state-level politicians have, of late, come out in support of updating marijuana laws. Pot has recently gained political allies in New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Florida, to name a few.\nIn addition, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that legal marijuana businesses should, and soon will, have access to the American banking system. \nAlthough states have moved to legalize the drug, marijuana sales are still prohibited by federal law. The federal government has taken a hands-off approach and said it will, for the most part, leave it up to states to regulate marijuana.\nAs for Polis, his missive to Obama and Reid concludes by suggesting it's time to reconsider national law.\n\"I am confident that when you see Colorado\u2019s work to implement the law while protecting children and raising revenue for our schools firsthand, we can begin to make similar efforts on a federal level,\" he wrote.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\nBONUS: The American History of Marijuana, Man\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/01/24/obama-marijuana-tour/>