Although President Barack Obama has stated that he opposes marijuana legalization, on Thursday he suggested that states should decriminalize marijuana and treat it like tobacco.

During an interview with Kansas City news station KMBC, the president said that states could overhaul laws banning marijuana and then discourage the use of pot the same way "we've been able to discourage a lot of other bad things that people do," like tobacco.

"I think that we have to separate out legalization -- there's a lot of concern about drug abuse of any sort by our children and the general population -- versus the heavy criminalization of non-violent drug offenses," Obama said. "And I think that a lot of states are taking a look to see, do we have proportionality in terms of how we are penalizing the recreational user."

He continued to say that the United States has managed to discourage the use of other harmful products without putting people in jail.

"I think that's what every state across the country, including some very conservative states that don't have a lot of tolerance for marijuana, are looking at is do we want to be throwing people in jail for five, 10, 15 years if they're not major drug dealers but they're using a substance that's probably not good for them but is probably not hurting too many other people?" he said.

Obama's comments came on the same day that Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser implemented a new law decriminalizing the use of small amounts of marijuana in spite of legal threats made by congressional Republicans.

According to city officials, the local government has the authority to enact the pot law. However, the U.S. Constitution gives Congress final say over city laws, USA Today reports.

Last November, two-thirds of D.C. voters approved Initiative 71, which allows Washington residents to possess up to two ounces of pot, reports USA Today. The measure, which applies only to adults older than 21, also allows residents to grow up to six pot plants in their own yards and smoke weed in the privacy of their own homes. Smoking in public places and buying and selling pot remain illegal, but people can transfer one ounce of pot to another person, as long as it is not being exchanged for money, goods or services

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