Two years after launching the War on Drugs, calling substance use “public enemy No. 1,” President Richard Nixon privately acknowledged marijuana was “not particularly dangerous.” The admission came during a March 1973 Oval Office meeting with aides and was captured on Nixon’s secret recording system. “Let me say, I know nothing about marijuana,” Nixon said. “I know that it’s not particularly dangerous, in other words, and most of the kids are for legalizing it. But on the other hand, it’s the wrong signal at this time.” He also mentioned harsh sentencing in cannabis cases. “The penalties shoul…