Two years after launching the war on drugs, President Richard Nixon made a startling admission during a meeting in the Oval Office. He said that marijuana was “not particularly dangerous.” The remarks, captured by the former president’s secret recording system, bolster the notion that the criminalization of marijuana was driven by politics. Ernesto Londoño, a New York Times reporter who covers drug use and counternarcotics policy, explains.

Video by Ernesto Londoño, Christina Shaman and James Surdam / The New York Times

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