Mayor Bloomberg Says Medical Marijuana Is A Hoax

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today declared that medical marijuana is “one of the great hoaxes of all times.”

He made these comments on his weekly radio show in the context of the state legislature’s vote to decriminalize small amounts of pot. He generally favors reducing penalties in the city for pot possession but he is a foe of outright legalization.

A medical marijuana bill is also moving through the state legislature.

“Medical, my foot,” the mayor said on the WOR broadcast. “There is no medical. This is one of the great hoaxes of all times. The bottom line is, I’m told marijuana is much stronger today than it was 20, 30 years ago … I don’t have any personal experience in terms of today.”

Bloomberg included various disclaimers presumably because in 2002 in he admitted smoking weed and enjoying the heck out of it.

The mayor today also seemed to be concerned about how drug dealers would be able to continue to make a dishonest living if legalization takes place. “And number two, drug dealers have families to feed. If they can’t sell marijuana, they’ll sell something else. And the something else is gonna be worse. And, the push to legalize this is just wrongheaded. If you think about it, they say, ‘Oh well it’s not gonna hurt anybody, it doesn’t lead to dependency.’ Of course it does. You can argue about recreational things, but it’s a very slippery path.”

One of Bloomberg’s handlers subsequently tried to clarify what Hizzoner was trying to gett o. “An aide later explained that the mayor is concerned that recreational users would be able to access a system intended only for those with medical needs.”

In a previous radio broadcast, Bloomberg insisted that many high school grads would be better off becoming plumbers than going to college.

NY Physicians for Compassionate Care registered strong disagreement with the mayor’s anti-pot position: “Mayor Bloomberg’s statement that medical marijuana is a hoax is tantamount to saying that the moon landing was faked. Marijuana, given in oral and inhaled forms, has been shown in large, gold-standard, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials conducted at major medical centers to relieve pain and muscle spasm, and stimulate appetite and weight gain in patients with wasting syndromes. The data is published for all to see and has been backed up by biochemistry.”

Do you agree that medical marijuana is a hoax or is the mayor’s opinion about pot half baked?