Following the passage of a bill last week by a city council committee in Washington D.C. that brought the nation's capital a step closer to decriminalizing marijuana, President Obama voiced publicly his opinion that it's important for the legalization of marijuana to go forward.

In an interview with David Remnick for The New Yorker, Obama said that he believes that in regard to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington "it's important to go forward," as a matter of social justice.

"Middle-class kids don't get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do," Obama said. "It's important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished."

He went on to elaborate that African-American and Latino youths are less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh punishments if caught smoking marijuana.

Obama's endorsement of the drug comes just days after the Washington D.C. City Council's public safety committee voted unanimously to pass a bill that reduces penalties for possessing less than an ounce of marijuana to a fine as little as $25, the Chicago Tribute reports.

With eight times more Black than non-Black people in D.C. reportedly arrested on marijuana possession charges, the Chairman of the committee Tommy Wells said that one of the main goals of the bill is fairness.

"This is a social justice bill that addresses disproportionate impact," Wells told reporters.

The full council is expected to pass the bill when it comes to a vote, as it's reported that in addition to nine of the 13 council members who have already voiced their support, the Mayor has also said that he will back it.

The residents of D.C. are behind this measure too, with 63 percent in favor of legalizing marijuana, according to a poll from the Washington Post.

This legislation comes on the heels of the legalization of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado. With the President having taken the bold step of publicly endorsing the legal maneuver pulled off in these two states, he went on to play the devil's advocate during his New Yorker interview,exploring another side of the issue.

"...Those who argue that legalizing marijuana is a panacea and it solves all these social problems I think are probably overstating the case," Obama said. "There's a lot of hair on that policy. And the experiment that's going to be taking place in Colorado and Washington is going to be, I think, a challenge."

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