Oliver Stone's new movie, Savages, may not be all that good, but the auteur behind The Hand and the scribe of 8 Million Ways to Die—and a bunch of excellent movies too—is not just praising California pot but insisting it's time to legalize weed in these United States.

He tells High Times:

If you appreciate California weed, which I have for many years, you'll realize that we're somewhat close to the money when we say that, California has surpassed Thailand, Jamaica, South Sudan, and certainly Mexico as the king and queen of quality weed. I'm thinking myself of getting into the business, although I suspect there'd be a lot of stress with the Feds changing the rules all the time. Those bastards….

And MTV News reports that Stone has harsh words for President Barack Obama and prohibition:

"I think it's a tragedy what has happened, and I saw it coming 40 years ago, and it keeps going. And of course politicians keep making election promises," Stone told MTV News. "It's an easy subject to win votes on. "At the same time, a lot of money gets involved, and it's built up into a huge industry in America and in Mexico, where we have criminal justice that has been perverted. We have victimless crimes all over our jails: 50 percent of our jail population is involved with victimless crimes, most of them with drugs. Money gets made by the prisons and the precept will take them private, you know that, and the politicians win votes, the prosecutors, the judges, the bailiffs, everything. It's like the Pentagon: It never stops when you start." So, what's it going to take to make a real change? "It would take a bold man," Stone shared. "Obama promised it, but he never delivered. He certainly talked about it. He let us down in a big way on that issue. You know what it's going to take? New leadership. Young people like yourself to get out there and get in front of things and just call a spade a spade. Maybe when some of these old, ignorant bastards die, we can change things."

More, including video of Salma Hayek's unintentionally hilarious explanation of the motivation for her deadly drug queenpin character, here.