Marijuana should be considered a public health issue — much like cigarettes and alcohol.

That, at least, is what President Obama said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.

“I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea,” Obama said. “But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it.”

Echoing his past support of legalization, the president noted that drug classifications are not changed by “presidential edict.” Instead, he said, drug classifications are decided “legislatively or through the DEA.”

While the federal government currently considers marijuana a Schedule 1 substance, 26 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana in some form.

“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 added.

In 2012, Obama said the federal government would not go after recreational marijuana users in states where the drug was legalized by voters.