The second part of the statement was that it has been used in military and to calm populations. If you think that statement is bold already then you probably don't know about various projects like MK Ultra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
Oh and the effect of drugs being illegal can again be read up in history. There has been prohibition.
If I sounded like marijuana was a conspiracy I am sorry. That's not what I meant. Like I said I just think that the image of a politician who publicly states that marijuana tends to drop. I think that is because a big portion of the population doesn't have a really strong opinion on that topic, but are careful about it. That's a theory now. ;)
There also was a something on political activism of population in relation to the state of legal (or cheap/available) drugs here on HN at some point.