"Marijuana smokers are not going to attack and kill a cop. They just want to get a bag of chips and relax." - DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier.

Washington, DC, police chief on marijuana: "All those arrests do is make people hate us" - Vox: "Lanier is making a nuanced but firmly supportive legalization argument. She said that marijuana isn't always healthy for users. But she also acknowledged that it's a relatively benign drug in terms of public safety, and its use is so widespread and accepted that arresting people for pot can actually do more harm than good by hurting police relations with the community. The comments are generally supported by drug experts and a vast body of research. Marijuana, with its tame effects on behavior, generally doesn't cause crime. But alcohol does: it's a factor in about 40 percent of violent crimes, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence...

""All those [marijuana] arrests do is make people hate us." She added, "Marijuana smokers are not going to attack and kill a cop. They just want to get a bag of chips and relax. Alcohol is a much bigger problem." The police chief clarified her comments to emphasize that she believes marijuana isn't healthy. "But I'm not policing the city as a mom," she said. "I'm policing it as the police chief — and 70 percent of the public supported this.""