Where Do Presidential Candidates Stand on Marijuana?

[riversedge]

umm.. a bit too cautious for my tastes. I wish she would be open to at least decriminalization of the weed.


http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2015/07/where-do-presidential-candidates-stand-on-marijuana-10/

Where Do Presidential Candidates Stand on Marijuana?



By Tom Angell on July 22, 2015 Law & Politics, People

The 2016 presidential field is taking shape, and many of the candidates are weighing in on the debate about marijuana.

Here’s a roundup of what the declared candidates have said about cannabis policy, as well as what they’ve admitted about their own marijuana consumption.

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Hillary Clinton – Democrat

The former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady has said marijuana has medical value and that she wants to see states move forward with their own laws. “I think we need to be very clear about the benefits of marijuana use for medicinal purposes,” she told CNN. “I don’t think we’ve done enough research yet, although I think for people who are in extreme medical conditions and who have anecdotal evidence that it works, there should be availability under appropriate circumstances.”

“On recreational, you know, states are the laboratories of democracy. We have at least two states that are experimenting with that right now,” she said. “I want to wait and see what the evidence is.”

Those comments indicate an openness to letting states enact their own marijuana laws without federal interference but, on the other hand, Clinton also told KPCC radio that, “I think the feds should be attuned to the way marijuana is still used as a gateway drug and how the drug cartels from Latin America use marijuana to get footholds in states, so there can’t be a total absence of law enforcement, but what I want to see, and I think we should be much more focused on this, is really doing good research so we know what it is we’re approving.”

During her last presidential campaign, in 2007, she said, “I don’t think we should decriminalize it.”

In 2011, as secretary of state, Clinton responded to a question about whether legalization would reduce drug cartel violence by saying, “It is not likely to work. There is just too much money in it, and I don’t think that you can legalize small amounts for possession, but those who are making so much money selling, they have to be stopped. They can’t be given an even easier road to take, because they will then find it in their interest to addict even more young people. Mexico didn’t have much of a drug problem before the last 10 years, and you want to keep it that way. So you don’t want to give any excuse to the drug traffickers to be able legally to addict young people.”

On a personal level, she said she’s “absolutely not” tried marijuana. “I didn’t do it when I was young. I’m not going to start now.”...

....... more from other candidates.....