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Joe Biden Walks Back Marijuana 'Gateway Drug' Comment After Week Of Criticism [View all]
MarijuanaMoment
Published 3 weeks ago on November 25, 2019By Kyle Jaeger
About one week after former Vice President Joe Biden said he opposed legalization in part because marijuana might be a gateway drug, the Democratic presidential candidate is now saying research doesn’t support that position.
In a call with reporters on Monday, the Nevada Independent’s Megan Messerly asked Biden whether he was wrong about suggesting that cannabis was a gateway to harder drugs at an earlier town hall event in Las Vegas.
Biden denied that he made the claim in the first place. “I didn’t,” he said. “I said some say pot was a gateway drug.”
After noting that he supports decriminalization, expunging prior records, releasing those incarcerated for marijuana offenses and rescheduling the plant, the former vice president formally walked back his position on whether existing scientific research demonstrates that cannabis leads to the use of other substances.
“I don’t think it is a gateway drug. There’s no evidence I’ve seen to suggest that.”
snip
“That has been my position and continues to be my position,” he said.
“With regard to the total legalization of it, there are some in the medical community who say it needs to be made a Schedule II drug so there can be research studies, as not whether it is a gateway drug but whether or not it, when used in other combinations, may have a negative impact on people overcoming other problems, including in fact on young people in terms of brain development—a whole range of things that are beyond my expertise. There are serious medical folks who say we should study it more. Not that we should make it illegal, that we should be in a position where we criminalize it but where we should look at it.”
snip
Published 3 weeks ago on November 25, 2019By Kyle Jaeger
About one week after former Vice President Joe Biden said he opposed legalization in part because marijuana might be a gateway drug, the Democratic presidential candidate is now saying research doesn’t support that position.
In a call with reporters on Monday, the Nevada Independent’s Megan Messerly asked Biden whether he was wrong about suggesting that cannabis was a gateway to harder drugs at an earlier town hall event in Las Vegas.
Biden denied that he made the claim in the first place. “I didn’t,” he said. “I said some say pot was a gateway drug.”
After noting that he supports decriminalization, expunging prior records, releasing those incarcerated for marijuana offenses and rescheduling the plant, the former vice president formally walked back his position on whether existing scientific research demonstrates that cannabis leads to the use of other substances.
“I don’t think it is a gateway drug. There’s no evidence I’ve seen to suggest that.”
snip
“That has been my position and continues to be my position,” he said.
“With regard to the total legalization of it, there are some in the medical community who say it needs to be made a Schedule II drug so there can be research studies, as not whether it is a gateway drug but whether or not it, when used in other combinations, may have a negative impact on people overcoming other problems, including in fact on young people in terms of brain development—a whole range of things that are beyond my expertise. There are serious medical folks who say we should study it more. Not that we should make it illegal, that we should be in a position where we criminalize it but where we should look at it.”
snip
more at link
Note that Biden still supports keeping Cannabis illegal. in Late 2019.
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
39 replies
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