Barack Obama called for re-thinking the federal government's stance on marijuana, and said that the drug should be treated as a "public health" issue, in a recent interview with The Rolling Stone.

"It is untenable over the long term for the Justice Department or the DEA to be enforcing a patchwork of laws, where something that's legal in one state could get you a 20-year prison sentence in another," Obama told The Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner.

50 PHOTOS Marijuana legalization laws by state See Gallery Marijuana legalization laws by state Alabama: Medical use only, otherwise possession is a felony (Photo: Dennis Macdonald via Getty Images) Alaska: Marijuana legalized for medical and recreational use (Photo: Zoonar/N.Okhitin via Getty Images) Arizona: Marijuana legalized for medical use (Photo: Mikel Ortega via Getty Images) Arkansas: Medical use only (Photo: Getty Images) California: Legal for medical and recreational use (Getty) Colorado: Legal for medical and recreational use (REUTERS/Rick Wilking) Connecticut: Decriminalized and legalized for medical use (Photo: Shutterstock) Delaware: Decriminalized (Photo: Shutterstock) Florida: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Georgia: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Hawaii: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Idaho: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Illinois: Decriminalized (Photo: VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm) Indiana: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Iowa: Medical use only (Photo: Getty Images) Kansas: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Kentucky: Not legal (Photo: Dorling Kindersley via Getty Images) Louisiana: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Maine: Legal for medical and recreational use (Photo: Shutterstock) Maryland: Decriminalized (Photo: Shutterstock) Massachusetts: Legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Michigan: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Minnesota: Decriminalized (Photo: Getty Images) Mississippi: Decriminalized on first offense (Photo: Getty Images) Missouri: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Montana: Medical use only (Photo: Dennis Macdonald via Getty Images) Nebraska: Decriminalized on first offense only (Photo: Shutterstock) Nevada: Legal (Photo: Shutterstock) New Hampshire: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) New Jersey: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) New Mexico: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) New York: Decriminalized unless in public view (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton) North Carolina: Decriminalized (Photo: Getty Images) North Dakota: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Ohio: Decriminalized (Photo: Shutterstock) Oklahoma: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Oregon: Legal for medical and recreational use (Photo: Shutterstock) Pennsylvania: Medical use only (Photo: Henryk Sadura via Getty Images) Rhode Island: Decriminalized (Photo: Shutterstock) South Carolina: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) South Dakota: Not legal (Photo: Dave and Les Jacobs via Getty Images) Tennessee: Medical use only (Photo: Shutterstock) Texas: Medical use only, decriminalized in Houston and Dallas (Photo: Shutterstock) Utah: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Vermont: Decriminalized (Photo: Shutterstock) Virginia: Not legal (Photo: Shutterstock) Washington: Legal for medical and recreational use (Photo: Shutterstock) West Virginia: Medical use only (Photo: Getty Images) Wisconsin: Medical use only (Photo: Getty Images) Wyoming: Not legal (Photo: Space Images via Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

Obama said that while he doesn't believe that legalization is a "panacea," he thinks that marijuana should be treated as a public health issue similar to cigarettes and alcohol.

There's already a thriving commercial market for marijuana in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, and seven more states, including California, voted to legalize marijuana in various forms on November 8.

At the federal level, however, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Obama stressed that whatever his position, de-scheduling marijuana is not something he can do by "presidential edict."

"Typically how these classifications are changed are not done by presidential edict but are done either legislatively or through the DEA," Obama said. "As you might imagine, the DEA, whose job it is historically to enforce drug laws, is not always going to be on the cutting edge about these issues."

The DEA passed up the opportunity to re-schedule marijuana in August, after they were forced to respond to a widely-circulated petition.

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No arrests have been made in connection with Monday's twin bombings near the finish line of the race, which sent metal fragments and nails into a crowd of thousands of runners and spectators, killing three people and wounding 180. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) In this handout provided by The White House, President Barack Obama, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and First Lady Michelle Obama talks with Prince George at Kensington Palace on April 22, 2016 in London, England. The President and his wife are currently on a brief visit to the UK where they attended lunch with HM Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle and later dinner with Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at Kensington Palace. Mr Obama visited 10 Downing Street this afternoon and held a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron where he stated his case for the UK to remain inside the European Union. 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(Photo by Andrew Taylor/G20 Australia via Getty Images) In the oval office, Former President George Bush., President-elect Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Washington, D.C., January 7, 2009. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images) In this handout image provided by The White House, President Barack Obama eats a nectarine following a town hall meeting at Kroger's Supermarket July 29, 2009 in Bristol, Virginia. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images) U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and Cuban President Raul Castro greet one another before bilateral meetings at the Palace of the Revolution March 21, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. These are the first direct talks between Castro and Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years. 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Obama likened the debate around marijuana reform to same-sex marriage — change happens incrementally at first.

"There's something to this whole states-being-laboratories-of-democracy and an evolutionary approach," Obama said. "You now have about a fifth of the country where this is legal."

While marijuana advocates welcomed Obama's comments, some say he should have taken more action on the issue during his presidency.

"It would have been very helpful if he had taken more concrete positive action on this issue before it was almost time to vacate the Oval Office," Tom Angell, of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority told Business Insider. "That this president didn't apply pressure on the DEA to reschedule marijuana this year will likely go down as one of the biggest disappointments of the Obama era."

Groups on the other side of the debate point to Trump's pick for secretary of health and human services, Tom Price, as evidence that the president-elect will not make any moves to soften the federal government's stance on marijuana reform.

"It appears that Trump is picking people who are pretty anti-marijuana," Kevin Sabet, the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana told Business Insider. "HHS [health and human services] plays a big role in drug prevention and I think that what we need is more awareness and prevention around marijuana, so this pick is encouraging."

Obama, for his part, said that he'll use his profile as a private citizen to move the needle on marijuana reform after he leaves office.

"I will have the opportunity as a private citizen to describe where I think we need to go," Obama told The Rolling Stone. "This is a debate that is now ripe, much in the same way that we ended up making progress on same-sex marriage."

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