Decriminalization of Marijuana

GEORGE W BUSH
Bush has not voiced any support for decriminalizing the possession of marijuana for personal use and crime statistics from the height of his administration demonstrate his lack of tolerance. According to NORML, the 2002 FBI Uniformed Crimes Report shows that 697,082 people were arrested for drug violations in 2002, accounting for almost half of the total drug arrests in the entire nation. Of those 697,082 people, 88% of them were arrested for possession-only offences while the remaining arrests where charged with “sale/manufacture,” while even included those who were producing it privately for medicinal uses. Under Bush’s presidency, “Operations Pipe Dreams” and “Operation Headhunter” have both been enacted by the Drug Enforcement Agency, spearheaded by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Both target businesses that sell or distribute glass pipes, or other smoking paraphernalia. In 2003 alone, 50 individuals, including actor Tommy Chong, were indicted, resulting in 3 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine, depending upon the indictment.

SENATOR KERRY
Senator Kerry has voiced mild support for the decriminalization of marijuana. In a November 2003 Rolling Stone article, he declares he is “not quite” for the legalization of the drug, but describes his “unspoken” approach to prosecuting it. “What we did in the prosecutor's office was have a sort of unspoken approach to marijuana that was almost effectively decriminalization. We just didn't bother with small-time use. It doesn't rise to the level of nuisance, even. And what we were after was people dealing with heroin and destroying lives, and people who were killing people. That's where you need to focus,” Kerry told Rolling Stone At the November 4, 2003 “Rock the Vote Debate, aired on CNN, Kerry did admit to using smoking marijuana.

DAVID COBB
According to his response to the National Political Awareness Test, Cobb would support legalizing “small amounts of marijuana.” He is also quoted in the NPAT as saying, “The "war on drugs" is actually a war on our civil liberties. It is also a war on people . . . most of whom are poor, young, and disproportionately people of color.” On his election site, Cobb says he adheres to the principles and platform of the Green Party, which also supports the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, something they define as a “victimless crime.”

MICHAEL BADNARIK
According to Project Vote Smart’s National Political Awareness Test, Badnarik would support decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and eliminate federal funding for the so-called “war on drugs.” NORML’s candidate comparison information says that specific to marijuana, Badnarik says: "Personally, I have never smoked a marijuana cigarette -- a fact most people find hard to believe for someone who attended college in the early 70's. Why are these people in jail? ... By releasing the half million people in jail for marijuana, we would have more than enough room to imprison all the violent criminals for their entire sentence, rather than releasing them early because of overcrowding." According to his official campaign website, “On a fundamental level, Libertarians believe that it is the unalienable and constitutional right of individuals to medicate themselves and choose for themselves what to put into their bodies, as long as they live up to the consequences of their actions. The federal government has no proper say in the matter, and state governments violate the rights of the people in their own attempts to enforce morality.”

RALPH NADER
In the 2000 presidential election, Nader went on record and supported the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use. On his official campaign website, Nader says "Law enforcement should be at the edges of drug control not at the center. It is time to bring some illegal drugs within the law by regulating, taxing and controlling them. Ending the drug war will dramatically reduce street crime, violence and homicides related to underground drug dealing."

Medical Marijuana

GEORGE W. BUSH
In an article that ran in an October 1999 edition of the Washington Post, Bush says he supports allowing decisions regarding the medicinal use of marijuana to be left to each state. According to Americans for Safe Access, Bush has made no mention of the issues since taking office. However, under his administration, raids on medicinal marijuana patients where states have legalized its use have continued. In September of 2002, a federal raid was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency against the Wo/Men’s Alliance, a medicinal marijuana collective in Northern California, that destroyed over 160 plants intended for use by chronically ill or debilitated patients recommended the treatment by physicians. The raid was in direct violation of Proposition 215, which legalized the use of medicinal marijuana in the state of California. In January of 2003, Ed Rosenthal, who grew pot for medicinal purposes at the request of the city of Oakland, was tried and convicted for violating federal drug laws. However, during the trial, the judge permitted no mention of medicinal marijuana or Proposition 215.

JOHN KERRY
According to numerous campaign speeches, Kerry favors the legal access to marijuana for seriously ill patients and a federal study to determine the appropriate federal policy. Kerry co-authored (along with fellow MA senator Ed Kennedy) a letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency in October of 2003, expressing his strong support for the application of the University of Mass.- Amherst to become a bulk manufacturer of marijuana for distribution to researchers at the Food and Drug Administration and DEA-licensed laboratories. The letter also encourages research into the therapeutic effects high-grade, research quality marijuana will have on diseases like glaucoma and AIDS. Kerry voiced his opposition at the January 2004 New Hampshire College Convention for federally prosecuting medical marijuana patients who reside in states where its use is legal.

DAVID COBB
Cobb does not address the issue directly on either his website or the Project Vote Smart’s National Political Awareness Test. However, the Green Party platform opposes “the arrest, harassment or prosecution of anyone involved in any aspect of the production, cultivation, transportation, distribution or consumption of medicinal marijuana, as well as the harassment, prosecution or revocation of license of any health care provider who gives a recommendation or prescription for medicinal marijuana.”

MICHAEL BADNARIK
According to his campaign website, Badnarik views Bush’s refusal to permit medicinal marijuana as an “outrage.” He continues, saying “The decision to ingest, smoke or consume any drug should be up to the individual, under the advice of his or her physician, when appropriate. Locking people up for trying to relieve their pain is cruel and unusual punishment for an act that hurts no one.” According to the website, Badnarik does not agree with the use of the federally approved marijuana substitute Marinol, because while it contains the psychoactive THC, it “lacks other cannibinoids crucial to marijuana as an effective medicine.” However, on the National Political Awareness Test, Badnarik did not support any issues relating to medicinal marijuana.

RALPH NADER
Nader has not made his stance on this issue public.

Repealing the Drug Offender Exclusionary Provision from the Federal Higher Education Act

GEORGE W. BUSH
Under Bush, the Department of Education was instructed to enact and enforce a provision in the 1998 federal Higher Education Act that bars students with drug convictions from receiving aid. The provision prevents any student with convictions of marijuana possession or sales from receiving federal student aid for periods ranging from one year to indefinitely. According to NORML, approximately 50,000 citizens have been denied federal student aid annually under the Bush presidency.

JOHN KERRY
Kerry told Students for Sensible Drug Policy in January he would be in favor of repealing the drug use penalty currently in place for drug felons, “if the offence is use [of drugs]” but not “if the offence is selling.”

MICHAEL BADNARIK
Badnarik has not taken a public position regarding the repeal of a 1998 provision to the federal Higher Education Act.

DAVID COBB
Cobb, nor the Green Party, have taken a stance on the repeal of the 1998 provision to the federal Higher Education Act.

RALPH NADER
Nader has not taken a public stance on this issue.