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Hillary Clinton on Medical Marijuana and Drug Policy
"Hillary Clinton opposes decriminalization [of marijuana for medical purposes], Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer said."
"I don't think we should decriminalize [marijuana], but we ought to do research into what, if any, medical benefits it has.... If there's something that could be made available that would be legal, we should look to that."
During a major policy address in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 29, 2007, Sen. Clinton was asked if she would continue President Bush's policy of arresting sick and dying medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. Sen. Clinton responded: "Well, I will certainly look into it, I certainly will."
During a Manchester campaign on July 13, Len Epstein, a volunteer for Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM), told Sen. Clinton, "Twelve states allow medical marijuana, but the Bush administration continues to raid patients," to which she responded, "Yes, I know. It's terrible." Epstein then asked, "Would you stop the federal raids?" Sen. Clinton responded, "Yes, I will."
With respect to Colombia, the drug trafficking in Colombia is so tied up with political issues, with guerrilla movements, that it poses a much more difficult dilemma than many other parts of this drug war. I support the American effort to try to bring more resources to bear on dealing with the narcotraffickers and the guerrillas who traffic in drugs in order to fund their movements. But, unless you get to the root of the problem, which is this is a cash crop that does have income potential for very poor people, it's going to be hard to make the military solution alone work.
"There is a great disparity in arrests and convictions and sentencing," she said before condemning as "indefensible" the federal mandatory sentencing guidelines, passed in the late 1980s, that give harsher terms for offenses involving crack than for the same amount of powder cocaine.
Washington Times August 10, 2007
We need diversion, like drug courts. Non-violent offenders should not be serving hard time in our prisons. They need to be diverted from our prison system. We need to make sure that we do deal with the distinction between crack and powder cocaine. And ultimately we need an attorney general and a system of justice that truly does treat people equally, and that has not happened under this administration.
2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University Jun 28, 2007
I have spoken out on my belief that we should have drug courts that would serve as alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system for low-level offenders. If the person comes before the court, agrees to stay clean, is subjected to drug tests once a week, they are diverted from the criminal justice system. We need more treatment. It is unfair to urge people to get rid of their addiction and not have the treatment facilities when people finally makes up their minds to get treatment.
Senate debate in Manhattan Oct 8, 2000