“How did I anticipate this question?” President Barack Obama joked during a Q&A event in Jamaica on Thursday when a Rastafarian man in the audience asked about the legalization of marijuana and hemp industry’s potential ability to lift Jamaicans out of poverty.

Obama resisted the urge to pander to the friendly crowd, but rather explained the situation as it stands in the U.S. now and how he think it might develop in the future.

“I have to tell you, it’s not a silver bullet, because if you are legalizing marijuana, then how do you deal with other drugs and where do you draw the line?” Obama asked, rhetorically. Noting that two states, Colorado and Washington, have now legalized recreational marijuana use, he said, “We will see how that experiment works its way though the process.” But, he added, “I do not foresee anytime soon Congress changing the law at a national basis.”

In an interview with Vice News last month, Obama struck a similar tone on marijuana, arguing that it “shouldn’t be young people’s biggest priority,” but admitting that the U.S. needs to stop “cracking down on non-violent drug offenders.”

Watch video below, via ABC News:



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[Photo via screengrab]

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