U.S.
Democratic Presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton speaks during the National Council of La Raza annual
conference in Kansas City, Missouri July 13, 2015. REUTERS/Dave Kaup
As
the candidates vie for the Democratic presidential nomination, here’s a
round-up of where they stand on one of the hottest issues among
progressives and liberals — marijuana legalization.
Hillary Clinton
Clinton has kept questions about legalization at arm’s length and has
so far refused to take a strong position. Her campaign has refused a
donation from the National Cannabis Industry.
She has expressed limited support for medical marijuana, telling a
CNN town hall event “I think for people who are in extreme medical
conditions and have anecdotal evidence that it works, there should be
availability under appropriate circumstances.”
Clinton’s approach has broadly been a state-based one. She pleased marijuana advocates Sept. 14, saying she would not look to reverse decisions made by states and cities to legalize pot.
Speaking to The Hill,
Dan Riffle, director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy
Project said “Hillary is probably the worst of the bunch on marijuana
reform, and even she has said states should be ‘laboratories of
democracy’ when it comes to legalization.”
Bernie Sanders
Self-declared socialist and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders supports
marijuana decriminalization and the use of medical marijuana. Sanders
believes that possession of small amounts of cannabis should become a
civil, not a criminal offense, subject merely to a fine.
Like Clinton, he is also willing to let the states chart their own
path on marijuana reform. Speaking on Public Access TV Sept. 16, Sanders said,
“what the federal government can do is say to the state of Colorado
that if you choose to vote to legalize marijuana, we will allow you to
do that without restrictions.”
He added that further examination of the “pluses and minuses – of
which there are both” would be needed before moving more aggressively on
the reform front.
Martin O’Malley
The former Maryland governor has a mixed record on marijuana
legalization. As mayor of Baltimore, he was a fierce opponent of moving
the law in a more libertarian direction.
Even as recently as last year,
O’Malley said of marijuana legalization “I’m not much in favor of it,”
adding, “because of seeing what drug addiction has done to the people of
our state and the people of our city and I also know that this drug and
its use and its abuse can be a gateway to even more harmful behavior.”
In 2012, he said he would veto legislation that would legalize
medical marijuana. But O’Malley shifted his position in 2014 and signed
legislation that decriminalized small amounts of marijuana for medical
purposes.
O’Malley attended a “marijuana legalization listening session” in
September to hear the views of those with deep connections to the
cannabis industry and legalization movement in Colorado. He has not come
out in favor of legalization and said it would be several years before
the necessary data could be gathered to measure the success of
Colorado’s reforms.
Jim Webb
Former U.S. senator from Virginia Jim Webb has not come out for pot
legalization but has endorsed a wide-scale reform to America’s criminal
justice system of which drug law reform would be a part.
“The time has come to stop locking up people for mere possession and
use of marijuana,” Webb wrote in his book “A Time To Fight.” Webb is not
opposed to states legalizing marijuana and has said the federal
government should refrain from interfering in their affairs on this
issue.
Lincoln Chafee
The former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee’s position on
marijuana is not yet clear and he has said his views will “evolve during
the campaign.”
In 2012, Chafee signed legislation
decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. He has also
petitioned the federal government to reclassify marijuana from schedule I
to schedule II drug. Speaking to HuffPost Live Chafee said the prospect
of extra revenue from legalizing and taxing marijuana was “enticing.”
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