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Tag: election 2020

  • Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Vows To Decriminalize Heroin, Other Opioids

    Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Vows To Decriminalize Heroin, Other Opioids

    Yang also vowed to legalize marijuana on April 20, 2021.

    Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang outlined his position to decriminalize drugs such as heroin and non-prescription fentanyl when found in small amounts during a CNN town hall on Sunday.

    The candidate, who is relatively unknown in a crowded and growing field of Democratic presidential hopefuls, is running on a number of unusually progressive positions, including a $1,000 per month universal basic income for all U.S. citizens. He also fully supports the complete legalization of marijuana across the country.

    At the town hall, Yang described the opioid crisis as a “plague” and called out the U.S. government for being “complicit in enabling this opioid epidemic,” saying it “stood by while Purdue Pharma dispensed hundreds of thousands of OxyContin prescriptions as a non-addictive wonder drug.”

    “We need to decriminalize opiates for personal use,” Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang says. “I’m also for the legalization of cannabis” https://t.co/bW5PJhIGsH #YangTownHall pic.twitter.com/Z6jJQbfGKD

    — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 15, 2019

    He recalled an exchange he’d had with a high school student whose friends had gotten their hands on fentanyl patches and were now addicted to opioids.

    “How can we get them treatment when they’re afraid they’re going to get sent to jail if they step up and say, I have a problem?” Yang asked on behalf of the student. He then brought up the example of Portugal, which decriminalized all opioids as long as an individual doesn’t have more than a week’s supply of the drug. “Then, instead of referring you to a jail cell, we refer you to treatment.”

    Yang specified that this policy would include heroin. However, he is not currently in favor of decriminalizing cocaine, because “the addiction has very different features.”

    Yang has also vowed to pardon all non-violent cannabis-related crimes after legalizing the drug on April 20, 2021 and high-fiving every released prisoner on their way out.

    Currently, all major Democratic presidential candidates support cannabis legalization. President Donald Trump has expressed support for decriminalization, though he said he would leave the issue up to the states. No other candidates have expressed support for opioid decriminalization.

    A recent Emerson poll found that Yang is polling at 3%, just ahead of Senator Cory Booker. Despite founding multiple start-ups, including the non-profit Venture for America, Yang is running without political experience. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Joe Biden: '80s Anti-Drug Bills Were "Big Mistake"

    Joe Biden: '80s Anti-Drug Bills Were "Big Mistake"

    “The big mistake was us buying into the idea that crack cocaine was different from the powder cocaine, and having penalties… it should be eliminated,” said Biden.

    Former Vice President Joe Biden again voiced regret for his support of a 1980s-era anti-drug bill that imposed tougher penalties and prison sentences for drug offenses that, in turn, bolstered disproportionate rates of incarceration in black and Latino communities.

    Speaking at a panel on opioid addiction at the University of Pennsylvania on April 11, Biden said that it was a “big mistake” to support the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 which levied more severe sentencing for possession of crack cocaine, a substance more predominantly found in communities of color, than for possession of powder cocaine. 

    But Biden, who is weighing his options in regard to a 2020 presidential bid, also noted that the crime bills added drug courts, which he viewed as a positive alternative to incarceration.

    Biden, who serves as Presidential Professor of Practice at UPenn, was joined on the panel by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. The panel addressed the national opioid epidemic and efforts to address legal and cultural issues regarding addiction and drug use.

    Biden weighed in on several topics in the discussion, including the overwhelming amount of advertising dollars spent by pharmaceutical companies to promote opioid medications, which he described as “criminal.”

    Biden also said that closer negotiations with countries like China and Mexico, which are regarded as major sources of illicit narcotics, and increases in port security and technology to aid in detection—which he acknowledged was a missed opportunity by the Obama administration—would both help curb the flow of drugs into the United States. Biden specifically targeted President Donald Trump’s efforts to build a security barrier between the U.S. and Mexico while discussing this topic.

    “Instead of building more barriers, we could take one-tenth the amount of money talked about building the wall and significantly increase the technological capacity at ports of entry,” he noted.

    And in regard to the aforementioned crime bills, which Biden sponsored—and in the case of the 1986 bill, co-authored—he reiterated statements made at other public events in which he admitted that there had been missteps in his efforts towards criminal sentencing.

    “The big mistake was us buying into the idea that crack cocaine was different from the powder cocaine, and having penalties… it should be eliminated,” said Biden.

    And while acknowledging that he “[gets] beat up on the crime bill,” Biden also said that in his mind, there was also a positive outcome to his efforts.

    “The crime bill put in drug courts,” he said. “I think we have to do a whole lot more of that diversion to have an impact.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Democrats Embrace Legalization In 2020 Primaries

    Democrats Embrace Legalization In 2020 Primaries

    A number of presidential hopefuls have been vocal about their experiences with marijuana and their desire to end its federal prohibition.

    Just a few election cycles ago, presidential candidates had to carefully craft their answers when asked whether they had ever tried marijuana. Heading into the 2020 campaign, however, many prominent Democratic candidates are vocally supporting marijuana legalization at the federal level. 

    Last week, U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Cory Booker introduced legislation in the Senate that would legalize cannabis and expunge the records of people who have been convicted of federal marijuana-related expenses. Four other presidential candidates—Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren—co-sponsored the bill. 

    The movement also has momentum outside Congress. Former Texas congressman and likely candidate Beto O’Rourke sent an email to supporters this week announcing his support for changes to federal marijuana policy, according to Reuters. 

    “We should end the federal prohibition on marijuana and expunge the records of those who were locked away for possessing it, ensuring that they can get work, finish their education, contribute to the greatness of this country,” O’Rourke wrote. 

    Senator Kamala Harris opposed an effort to legalize cannabis in California in 2010. (A later measure legalized recreational cannabis in the state.) However, she recently joked about marijuana use, riffing on President Bill Clinton’s infamous remark during the 1992 election that he had smoked marijuana, but did not inhale. 

    “I inhaled,” Harris said. “Half of my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?”

    Bernie Sanders has said that he tried cannabis, but didn’t like it and “nearly coughed my brains out.” He added, “It didn’t do a whole lot for me.”  

    Still, Sanders has been outspoken about the need to legalize cannabis. His home state of Vermont was the first in the nation to legalize cannabis through legislative action rather than a vote. 

    “Too many lives are being destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people get criminal records. You know why? Because they have smoked marijuana,” Sanders said this week. 

    Another candidate, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, has been more cautious in his attitude toward marijuana reform. Despite the fact that he led a state that legalized marijuana early on, Hickenlooper has not called for federal legalization. However, he said that states should have the choice and federal banking laws need to change if that happens. 

    Polls show that most Americans—of both parties—favor legalizing cannabis. Among Democrats, three-quarters of voters feel that federal prohibition has to end. This cultural shift likely explains the enthusiasm from candidates, said Erik Altieri, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). 

    “The Democratic candidates are just acknowledging the practical and political reality—this is not only good policy, it’s good politics,” he said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kamala Harris Reveals She Smoked Pot In College

    Kamala Harris Reveals She Smoked Pot In College

    Harris discussed her stance on marijuana legalization and revealed a bit about her past use in a recent radio interview.

    Citing her Jamaican roots and past inhalation of pot, Kamala Harris firmly stated her support for the legalization of marijuana on a New York-based radio show, “The Breakfast Club.”

    While the bill S.420 to legalize marijuana was submitted to Congress just last week, the issue of marijuana’s legality is bigger than ever.  Harris, a former California attorney general and 2020 presidential contender, was speaking with the radio show’s co-host Charlamagne Tha God about the social issue of legalizing pot.

    When Charlamagne asked Harris if she’d ever smoked pot, Harris laughed and said yes, she had inhaled from a joint, and now was probably breaking news with the admission.

    Harris’ views on the legalization of marijuana have slowly altered since her vocal opposition in 2010. Five years and many studies and nationwide discussions later, Harris changed her position to one of support for medical use.

    CNN reports that in her interview with “The Breakfast Club,” she intimated support for recreational use of pot, citing “”that it gives a lot of people joy and we need more joy.”

    In Kamala Harris’ book The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, she moves beyond just legalization of the drug and calls for prison reform. “We need to legalize marijuana and regulate it, and we need to expunge nonviolent marijuana-related offenses from the records of millions of people who have been arrested and incarcerated so they can get on with their lives.”

    Answering the radio hosts about her position on the legalization of marijuana and if she opposes it, Harris was clear: “That’s not true. And look I joke about it, half joking—half my family’s from Jamaica, are you kidding me,” Harris laughed along with the radio hosts.

    “No, I do not—no, no,” Harris continued. “I have had concerns, the full record, I have had concerns, which I think—first of all, let me just make this statement very clear, I believe we need to legalize marijuana,” she said. “Now, that being said—and this is not a ‘but,’ it is an ‘and’—and we need to research, which is one of the reasons we need to legalize it. We need to move it on the schedule so that we can research the impact of weed on a developing brain. You know, that part of the brain that develops judgment, actually begins its growth at age 18 through age 24.”

    View the original article at thefix.com