Waukesha, Wisconsin – When it was pointed out that the President’s remarks to The New Yorker magazine about marijuana – which he described as a bad habit but not any worse for a person than alcohol – contradict the administration’s official policy on marijuana, Obama stood by his views.

The President declined to say whether he would support removing marijuana as a “Schedule One” narcotic, a classification that includes heroin and ecstasy.

“I stand by my belief based on the scientific evidence that marijuana for casual users, individual users, is subject to abuse, just like alcohol is and should be treated as a public health problem and challenge,” Obama said in an exclusive interview with CNN.

Read more: Obama on the problem of criminalizing marijuana use | CNN