In fact, that’s why Rubio didn’t go so far as to say he wanted harsher laws. All he would commit to was enforcing federal law. And all he’d say about his “bottom line” on pot prohibition was that legalizing “yet another mind-altering substance” isn’t “good for the country.”

Tell that to the pharmaceutical industry.

Yes, Rubio’s position on pot has all the integrity and staying power of president Obama’s long-“evolving” position on gay marriage. It has all the hallmarks of a fighting retreat—the admission that people have “different views,” the refusal to stand by a straight answer, the weak analogies and the appeal to the children.

The principled position on banning pot is simple enough. It’s not that more people would get high in a different way. It’s that, if marijuana were legalized, too many people would get too high.

But that’s not what. Rubio said, and he’s a man who chooses his words carefully.