O'Donnell blasts hypocrisy of marijuana prohibition

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell slammed politicians Tuesday night for ignoring reality and continuing to "get high" on alcohol while Americans were being sent to jail for smoking marijuana.

Gallup has found that . A record-high 50 percent of Americans say the use of marijuana should be made legal, up 4 percent from last year and 14 percent from 2006.

Yet the drug is still a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, a classification reserved for addictive drugs like heroin that have no accepted medical value.

"Now we know that no one in the Obama administration is stupid enough to actually think that [marijuana is as dangerous as heroin,]" Donnell said on the "Rewrite" segment of his show. "But we also know that politicians have no intention of facing reality any time soon when it comes to marijuana."

"Politicians will continue to allow young lives to be ruined for mere possession of marijuana. Politicians will continue to allow people to be arrested, allow people to go to jail, allow people to get criminal records, get kicked out of school, get fired, be turned down for jobs, because they try or use marijuana. Something more than one President of the United States has done."

"Meanwhile, America is going to continue getting high as it always has," he continued. "Legally, on booze, and illegally on a lot of things, including marijuana, which is a much, much healthier choice than whiskey."

"Such hypocrisy carries an even stronger stench than the alcohol-drenched breath of those politicians and judges and prosecutors and DEA officials. I really don't know how they can sleep at night."

Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:

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