Hillary should come out and end the drug war, espessially the war on Marijuana

[Joe the Revelator]

It's a drop in the bucket proposal, but, it appeals to young people, older millennials (like myself), and it's just good policy. We shouldn't be locking people up for life because they grow a plant in their backyard.

[atomingai]

1. I don't think she cares about these problems.

[Joe the Revelator]

2. Probably not, but I'm trying to be constructive

And work on issues I personally care about now. This is an easy easy easy one.

[atomingai]

4. I understand.

[bigwillq]

3. Kick

[yourpaljoey]

5. How will she fill those private prsions for perfidious profit?

[villager]

6. Well of course she *should*....

But given the center-right drift of most of her base, it's dubious she'll ever get around to it...

[Mika]

7. She'll never do that. Her entire career is about creating business opportunities for corporations.

Iraq, Libya, America. Doesn't matter.

Money, Not Morals, Drives Marijuana Prohibition Movement
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/08/money-not-morals-drives-marijuana-prohibition-movement/

[Warren DeMontague]

32. The irony is, legalization will spur the development of all sorts of industries.

Not just marijuana but hemp, too. An environmentally friendly economic boom.

[Hydra]

8. She should, but as pointed out, there is a financial/political calculus involved

Last edited Wed Jun 8, 2016, 11:43 PM - Edit history (1)

The drug war is making a lot of people a lot of money and granting powers to the police that they should not have. The price is untold human misery...but that's holy in the minds of Republicans. If you aren't suffering, you aren't doing it right...or something.

[JonLeibowitz]

28. +1. Well said.

[Chan790]

9. LOL.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a champion of the drug war...and personally profiting from it.

Clearly you have more sense than to suggest the selfish RW toadie actually do something because it's the right thing to do.

[Joe the Revelator]

16. I'm just saying things I want and that would help earn my vote.

Whether she does them or not is a completely different story.

[Trajan]

29. Maybe it was sarcasm ...

Not sure your response was warranted ...

Don't matter ...

[Chan790]

36. It was definitely warranted and necessary. Not sarcasm.

Hoping for Hillary Clinton to end the drug war is like hoping Hillary Clinton will stop being a Wall St. lackey who was foisted on us by the establishment of the party, the media, and old people who aren't going to live long enough to reap the destruction they have passed on to later generations by handing the nomination to that abomination of a fake Democrat. She's just going to go on sucking the lifeblood out of Americans on the behalf of her friends on Wall St. and dragging away Americans for petty offenses to be incarcerated in the prisons of her friends in the for-profit prison industry.

In an earlier day and age, when the common folk encountered a vampire, they didn't give it the Democratic nomination...they drove a stake through its heart and lopped off its head.

[truedelphi]

10. Most of the Old Guard of the Dem Party is totally

enthralled by Big Pharma. And the Clintons are among the worst of the worst.

Google "Lynnette Shaw" to find out how Janet Reno and Billie Boy ruined one activist's life.

Add to Big Pharma, the notion of helping the privatized Prison Industry, and you will soon realize that nether Clinton will ever be much of a help.

[davidn3600]

11. Those are poor people's problems

She doesn't care.

She supports the private prison industry. Her husband is a big part of why America today is the world's biggest jailer.

[TheProgressive]

12. It would cut into big pharma profits, so Clinton will not change anything...

Clinton isn't about the 99% - she is about the the 1% like herself...

[One Black Sheep]

13. I think Hillary will move to the center/right very soon

She thinks she has to, to compete with Trump, and will try and out-muscle Trump, saying she will be ready and prepared to invade more countries, and that she wants to overthrow the evil dictator guy in Syria, and also she will move to the right on other issues as well.
Hillary and her campaign seem to think they can much more easily get right wingers and republicans who may not like Trump to vote for her - rather than the left, but I think they are very much mistaken.

Get ready for a lot of rhetoric reminiscent of the right wing, coming from Hillary soon...my prediction.

[w4rma]

33. I don't think she will go full neocon because of electability. I think she truly IS a neocon.

Bernie exposed the "centrism" lie for the lie that it is.

And considering that the Republicans just rejected all of the neocon candidates for Trump, she'll just make herself more unpopular.

[gollygee]

14. Hillary is going to follow the people

If you want her to become active on that front, then people need to be active and show that it's a priority for most people. She follows on these kinds of things. Petitions, letter writing, protests, etc. She won't expend political capital on it. She'll only be in favor of it if she'd have to expend political capital to oppose it.

I have no doubt she will be in favor of marijuana decriminalization if she sees it is an important issue to the general population of the US.

[bhikkhu]

15. Congress has to do that

The executive branch can decline to enforce and let the states make their own decisions, as Obama generally has, but as far as legalizing that's up to congress. I think it will happen in my lifetime, but it will take awhile still - there's a lot of backwards people electing backwards representatives still in the US.

My own state, Oregon, legalized last year. One of the compromises was that local governments were allowed to opt out, also losing out on the tax revenue. My local government (perpetually underfunded and not too bright) did opt out, and a local referendum to reverse that also failed...

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Actually, the executive can initiate the process to deschedule cannabis from the CSA.

Admittedly, it's a more straightforward deal when congress does it, but the POTUS has significant power as head of the exec. branch.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2015/02/13-how-to-reschedule-marijuana-hudak-wallack



Then there's the bully pulpit aspect too.

[loyalsister]

26. I'm hoping that Obama will do it before he leaves office

He seems to be issueing quite a few commutations and pardons over the past year or so. I'm cautiously optimistic that that is what has been his motivation and that he may take it further.

[Ash_F]

18. That is not true the Feds have made raids in states where medical cannabis is legal.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Fewer in recent years.

You have the Cole memo as well as explicit direction from congress to the DEA not to interfere in states where medical mj is legal.

[Ash_F]

21. OK hopefully she will stick with that and go further.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Agree 100%.

I live in a state that is now pulling in several times the projected revenue in taxes from legal marijuana, and as someone who wants our state services funded with a balanced budget, I don't want the feds screwing it up.

Legalization works, and is working. It's a beautiful thing to behold.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Agree. By coming out now for a full descheduling of marijuana she could get a lot of millennials

on board.

A majority of Americans period support marijuana legalization, plus it's the right thing to do.

[Doctor_J]

22. Pharma makes millions off of the drug war, and is one of Mrs Clinton's biggest donors

So good luck with that

[Cheese Sandwich]

23. She won't though

[bahrbearian]

24. Well first she has to set up meetings with a Multinational Cannabis Lobbist and give some speech's.

Or they could just donate to the Foundation.

[BlindTiresias]

25. Unlikely

[Trajan]

27. Her problem ...

Is how to get MORE citizens inside of those Private Prisons ...

It's a quid pro quo, you know .... Expect MORE youth imprisonment, especially those of color ...

[Warren DeMontague]

31. The simple fact of the matter is, authoritarians like DWS and Chris Christie can whine and cry

but legalization is coming, like it or not.

The would-be control freaks simply don't have the resources to force everyone in this country to behave according to their dictates.

Even if the executive branch wanted to shut down, say, all the marijuana dispensaries in California, they don't have the funds and the personnel.

So it's really a matter of how much leadership we get at the federal level versus how much those of us in the states continue to move the ball forward.

[coyote]

34. She won't. She's not a progressive

Plus it helps to heel minorities

[aikoaiko]

35. That would be a big win for her. So fucking easy, too.

[Florencenj2point0]

37. You are correct and Hillary has said the same

pay attention

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have changed her mind when it comes to marijuana policy, according to National Journal. Clinton had previously expressed that she did not want marijuana decriminalized, but thought research ought to be done into its benefits. On Tuesday, she appeared to be more acquiescent to a change in the law. Clinton called for more research to be done, without doubting the medical benefits. Hillary stopped short of making an endorsement, saying, “I think we need to be very clear about the benefits of marijuana use for medicinal purposes. I don’t think we’ve done enough research yet.”

When she came to the issue of whether it should be legal for adults to use, Clinton said that states like Colorado and Washington have already reformed and that they are “laboratories of democracy.” Clinton claims to be holding out on forming her opinion until she has the evidence from the two states. Her change of heart mirrors that of the Democratic Party, which, as of late, has become more amenable to the case for making marijuana legal for adults to use, medically or otherwise.

In my personal life the people who smoke grass every day or almost every day have been a real drag on my happiness and their own, but I do not agree with it being illegal. I do think it is addictive, but so is alcohol and that is legal. Shrug. At a time when parents are doing anything they can to keep their kids from becoming addicts, marijuana use doesn't help, for someone who has an addictive personality it is a gateway drug, just like alcohol use is. So Hillary is just fine with me. Vote for her or enable tRump, it's up to you.

[Scuba]

38. Look for her to cede this issue to The Donald.

[Joe the Revelator]

39. Shame if she does that, its an easy layup for her.

It's already in motion, all she would have to do is to not stand in the way of progress.

[B Calm]

40. It would go a long way of earning my vote in November.

[VulgarPoet]

41. Don't hold your breath.

How will her precious private prisons profit?

[B Calm]

43. If she is a reflection of the Hillary supporters on du, I won't!

I like breathing.

[Miles Archer]

42. I don't see that happening at all.

I'm not "bashing."

I just read your post and I'll be honest. She's probably the last politician I could think of that would put this on her agenda. Legalization may continue at a state level, but I do not see her becoming a champion, or even a vocal supporter, of this.