Sorry I didn't get to this a bit earlier, but Frank Lombardi of our City Hall Bureau sent along some of Mayor Bloomberg's comments on (not) legalizing medical marijuana today:
"Terrible idea, just a terrible idea. California's experience has not been good... I mean, the idea of medical marijuana, we all know what that means: It means everybody is going to qualify," he said.
"Okay, look, the worst thing is the hypocrisy of saying it's medical marijuana. If you want to legalize it [outright], let's have that debate, but that's what you're really talking about. It has nothing to do with medicine.
"All things considered, marijuana today is a more potent than it used to be and there is enough evidence that people abuse it and may lead to using harder drugs. Some people argue no, some people argue yes, but on balance, I think it's a terrible idea.
"New York has enough problems right now... You don't need more things that take away judgment and common sense."
As Mr. Lombardi has explained in the past on DP -- in the context of Bloomberg's super-groovy appearance with the cast of "Hair" at the Inner Circle Show -- this isn't the first time the mayor has bucked the idea of legalizing pot, even though he admitted during his first run for office to having partaken of a little wacky weed in his younger days.
