www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWY79JCfhjw&feature=youtu.be  

The White House has posted a conversation between President Barack Obama and David Simon, the creator of The Wire, about changing the drug war to de-emphasize incarcerations.  

On the video, Obama declares himself a huge fan of the HBO series (Omar is his favorite character) and sounded sympathetic to Simon’s push to ratchet down a drug war that has put enormous numbers of people in prison.  

The comments are similar to ones he made to Vice News, where the president spoke in favor of decriminalization of marijuana as “progress.” The sudden burst of news from the president on the issue comes after years where he has done little on the issue directly and where his administration has sent conflicting messages on legalizing marijuana in particular.  

The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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