Mayor Bloomberg: There's No Medical Marijuana

Bloomberg ad
In 2002, NORML launched this ad campaign that embarrased recently-elected New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It was not a good week for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. First he was targeted with a ricin letter, then he called medical marijuana "one of the greatest hoaxes of all time."

On Friday, Bloomberg told WOR radio host John Gambling, when asked about the effort to legalize medical marijuana in New York State: "Yeah, right, medical, come on. There's no medical."

The outgoing mayor stumbled on with this predictable observation: "The bottom line is, I'm told marijuana is much stronger today than it was 20 or 30 years ago… I don't have any personal experience in terms of today."

In 2001, Bloomberg admitted that he had smoked marijuana. "You bet I did," he said. "And I enjoyed it."

Then he became mayor and his reign of terror against marijuana smokers began. More than 400,000 New Yorkers have been arrested for having pot "in public view" during his three terms in office.

Previously, Bloomberg said on Gambling's show: "I am opposed to legalizing marijuana. Number one, it's much more potent than when you and I were teenagers, or whatever. And number two, the drug dealers are gonna sell something, because they've got to feed their families, and if there's no money in marijuana, they'll start selling harder stuff. And that's not good."

Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom

Publisher of CelebStoner.com, former editor of High Times and Freedom Leaf and co-author of Pot Culture and Reefer Movie Madness.