In an interview with BuzzFeed, Bill Gates said he voted for Initiative 502 and is impressed by the legal marijuana market being established by the Liquor Control Board.

According to BuzzFeed, Gates said:

“I think people are going about this trying to make sure it’s labeled well, trying to make sure you’re collecting taxes so more than any of the additional state costs that will get imposed by this thing are funded by the consumers.” … And he suggested the legal market would cut into the illegal drug trade. Traffickers “are going to make a lot less money, and some of the perverse things about the illegal drug trade will be avoided.”

Gates did not answer the question of whether he has tried marijuana. Although, he has been rumored to have used it …

(H/T Marijuana Majority)

And here’s what Gates recommended reading in 2012 … you know, to show his intellectual philanthropic side:

Obama and cannabis

Meanwhile, in a few widely reported on quotes in the New Yorker, President Obama said marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and added that the legal systems being established here and in Colorado should be allowed to go forward:

What clearly does trouble him is the radically disproportionate arrests and incarcerations for marijuana among minorities. “Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” he said. “And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.” But, he said, “we should not be locking up kids or individual users for long stretches of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing.” Accordingly, he said of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington that “it’s important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished.”

As Joel Connelly reported in this blog: As a teenager, Obama was part of the self-named “Choom Gang” at Punahou School in Honolulu. He spoke about marijuana and getting “a little blow” in his autobiography.

Pro-legalization public figures:

Crazy crap said on the anti-legalization front:

Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.

If Google Plus is your thing, check out our marijuana coverage here.