When Barack Obama was running for president he wasn't shy about his past marijuana use, saying, “I inhaled. That was the point.”

Well, it looks like he wasn't joking.

A forthcoming election-year biography of the commander in chief, Barack Obama: The Story, by David Maraniss, describes the future leader of the free world as quite the bogarter of weed when he was a teen in Hawaii:

An excerpt released to publicize the tome describes Obama as a true leader … in partying:

When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted 'Intercepted!' and took an extra hit.

… When the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.

Sounds like a guy who went to college in L.A. in the '80s (which Obama did).

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The drug decriminalization group Drug Policy Alliance was quick to respond today, noting that the Obama administration has raided medical marijuana establishments in states like California, where it's legit, despite the president's previous indications that cannabis prosecution wouldn't be a priority during his tenure.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the group, says:

… The president has been losing lots of hearts and minds, especially those of young voters, with his striking silence on marijuana issues since he became president — apart from providing lame excuses for the federal government's aggressive undermining of state medical marijuana laws.

Most disappointing is his failure to say a word as president about the fact that half of all drug arrests each year are for nothing more than possessing a small amount of marijuana, which is something Barack Obama did lots of in his younger days….

Noting that polls show that about half of Americans say we should legalize it, Nadelmann says its time for Obama to intercept this issue for the good of the people:

President Obama needs to come clean once again about marijuana — but this time he needs to speak not of his own youthful use but rather of the harmful consequences of today's punitive marijuana policies for young Americans today.

Agreed? Pass it on.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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