John Kerry might get my support in '08 for his drug war stance

[Hippo_Tron]

Before I start, I want to say that this isn't a Kerry lovefest thread. I've been trying to stay away from '08 threads as much as possible but I was doing research for my speech on needle exchange and I came across this...

http://www.drugpolicy.org/statebystate/elect_2004/profiles/kerry/

Kerry's stance on the drug war seems to be the best one I've seen from a high profile Democrat so far. Frankly I think that the drug war is one thing that might be a key difference among Democrats in this upcoming election and I'm inclined to give some serious consideration to anyone who has some interest in changing it.

Also, before I say this, I don't want this to be a Hillary or Bill Clinton bashing thread. However, the fact is that while he was President, Clinton escalated the drug war and pursued many of the same harmful policies that Bush is doing right now. Of course Bush is worse because he won't even listen to people who want to discuss reforms, as Clinton did, but the fact is that both of them pursured this horrible drug war. If Senator Clinton's views on the drug war are the same as her husband's, then I would seriously have to question whether I want her as our nominee. Likewise if Wes Clark, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Al Gore, Russ Feingold, or anyone else running wants to continue to support the Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush drug war policies then I might be more inclined to support John Kerry over them.

Maybe Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Clark, Feingold and Gore will come out in favor of drug war reform as well and personally I hope that they do. My point is that I don't want to go another election cycle without addressing this issue and for that reason I am considering voting for Kerry in the primaries, something I definitely was not considering before.

[nam78_two]

1. k&r/nt

[Vincardog]

2. War on Drugs is BIG Government run amok.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. They need to lay off WEED!

:grr:

[AndyTiedye]

4. Ashcroft Sent Jets Guarding Our Cities Away To Catch Pot Smugglers in '01

[blm]

12. Ashcroft would shut down a high school dance if he could get away with it.

Hey you kids....wipe those smiles off your faces.

[BootinUp]

5. You say you don't

want to have this be a Hillary or Bill bashing thread. A good approach would be to back up your claims with something other than an opinion with no credible sources.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. Which claims are you talking about?

I've heard nothing from any of the people I've mentioned about drug war reform, other than Kerry. This either leads me to believe that they have said nothing about it, or support the current policies. If you have some evidence to the contrary please let me know because I want to see it.

[BootinUp]

8. I would be surprised

to learn that during the Clinton admin there was not a more intelligent policy than you describe. So I wonder if you have anything to support what you said.

[politicasista]

7. Nobody is bashing Hillary n/t

[Nozebro]

9. Drug War will soldier on. Too many special interests are addicted to it.

nt

[blm]

11. Get special interest money out of campaigns. Public financing of campaigns

is also supported by Kerry since 1985.

[blm]

10. It's always been a factor for me.

When he was running the prosecutor's office in Mass., he put drug possession as a lowest priority for his prosecutors and discouraged them from pursuing these cases, practically decriminalizing it through the priority system.

I think he and Kucinich were the only ones for legalizing medical marijuana in 2004.

[cadmium]

13. Kennedy quote

I used to give lectures on addictive disorders. I don't know remember where I got this quote originally.

" There is no area in which there is so much mystery, so much misunderstanding, and so many differences of opinion as in the area of narcotics"

John F. Kennedy

[cadmium]

14. Kennedy quote (double post- sorry)

I used to give lectures on addictive disorders. I don't know remember where I got this quote originally.

" There is no area in which there is so much mystery, so much misunderstanding, and so many differences of opinion as in the area of narcotics"

John F. Kennedy

[MH1]

15. Thank you for posting this - I was looking for a link on this recently

I do like this statement by Kerry:

The second thing is, we are imprisoning a bunch of people in the United States of America with automatic sentences and putting nonviolent people away and filling up our jails in the most absurd, ridiculous, overly expensive way, and we need to review those sentences and begin to deal differently with the punitive component of small drug use, et cetera and some of the folks who have been sent away. It just doesn’t make sense. There are cases of entrapment and other cases that I think are wrong and we need to review those and change them.

Kerry's problem in 2004? People were too scared of "terra, terra, terra!" to recognize basic common-fucking-sense when it slapped them upside the head.

Even though I couldn't have given a link, I knew Kerry's position on this. And I wasn't the political junkie in 2004 that I am now. Damn it pisses me off that so many people were too dense to see what a great President Kerry would be.

[blm]

16. Yep - you think his closeness with Hunter Thompson woulda given a clue or

two. Sheesh, they were compadres for over 30 years.

[Imagevision]

17. Has Kerry touched on drug trade coming out of Afgan??

[eridani]

18. Kucinich has a much stronger stance on this issue

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/drugwar.php

[Hippo_Tron]

19. Kucinich needs to get elected statewide...

To convince me that he would be an effective national candidate.

[_dynamicdems]

20. Thank you for this post.

This issue doesn't get discussed much but it is one of the most important social issues in our society.

This statement by Senator Kerry in particular, makes so much sense:

"The second thing is, we are imprisoning a bunch of people in the United States of America with automatic sentences and putting nonviolent people away and filling up our jails in the most absurd, ridiculous, overly expensive way, and we need to review those sentences and begin to deal differently with the punitive component of small drug use, et cetera and some of the folks who have been sent away. It just doesn’t make sense."

An interesting read related to this subject is the senator's book, "The New War" which deals with International Crime and Drug Cartels and the relation to terrorism. Also interesting are statements he's made about the drug trafficking coming out of Afghanistan, particularly after we dropped the ball there to pursue a preemptive war in Iraq.