Volume 126 Issue 8

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Top Stories N: Worldwide revolutions O: Trump shouldn’t handle confidential information S: Hockey continues undefeated A&L: Restaurant review

DU Clarion

November 6, 2019 Volume 126 Issue 8

[www.duclarion.com]

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Cannabis and candidates: Where do they stand?

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

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Photo courtesy LA Sentinel

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Photo courtesy the White House

Photo courtesy the City of South Bend

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Grace Ganz | Arts & Life Editor

hether you’ve seen the news blasts for debates on CNN or the Denver Votes truck on campus, it’s easy to see that the 2020 presidential race already in full swing. In the midst of a presidential race, voters are tasked with researching candidates’ stances on many hot topic issues. Here in the Driscoll Green column, we’re here to offer you the run-down on marijuana: who supports legislation, who doesn’t, who is unclear?

Marijuana has not been heavily debated throughout the first four democratic debates, which has seen a significant decline in number already; The 26 original presidential candidates has now been narrowed down to 17, with the clear front runners being Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. President Trump has also not been hugely vocal or comprehensive about cannabis policies. Currently, over 60 percent of Americans support federal marijuana legislation. In the past year, the government has been steadily mobilizing progessive marijuana laws, most notably with the recent landslide

House of Representatives passing of The Secure And Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act on Sept. 25. So how do the presidential candidates feel about marijuana? Read about the five Democratic frontrunners and President Trump’s views below.

with drug and marijuana legislation is the most controversial out of all the presidential candidates. For decades, Biden has asserted himself as a proponent of the war on drugs, often criticizing his conservative counterparts, notably President George Bush, for being too lenient on drug legislation. During the ‘80s and ‘90s, a Joe Biden: drug and crime crisis infiltrated the U.S., most notably in the Previous Vice President Joe crack cocaine epidemic. In efforts Biden does not support federal to crack down on crime and drug legislation and views marijuana use, the government passed as a dangerous gateway drug, a series of policies that have which sets him as the outlier notoriously furthered racial bias among all other presidential in the criminal justice system candidates. During the Sept. 12 and mass incarceration. In his Democratic debate, Biden stated previous position as head of the that marijuana crimes should Senate Judiciary Committee, be regarded as misdemeanors, Biden spearheaded a great deal of rather than resorting to prison these policies including the 1984 sentences. Though Biden now Comprehensive Control Act, The actively supports the decriminal- Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the ization of marijuana, his views Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and are somewhat contradictory since the Violent Crime Control and misdemeanors can still result in Law Enforcement Act, each sumjail time. Biden has stated that marized here on Vox news. These he does not support prison time laws supported controversial polfor non-violent crimes; he has icies such as higher penalties and vouched for more funding into longer prison sentences for drug rehabilitation centers over pris- related crimes, as well as police ons, stating that “nobody should stops and seizures of someone’s be in jail for a drug problem.” property under suspicion of However, Joe Biden’s history

drug activity. Biden has since gone back on his hard-hitting and punitive policies in his 2008 support of the Second Chance Act and the 2010 support of the Fair Sentencing Act. In his presidential race, Biden published his criminal justice reform plan that shows him in support of marijuana decriminalization and decreased prison time for nonviolent crimes.

Elizabeth Warren: The heavy-hitting leader in the Democratic race supports federal legislation, proving to be one of the most passionate advocates of legalization. Warren supports medical and recreational marijuana and has endorsed several marijuana reform bills, notably the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, “a bill that would allow states to make their own cannabis policies without fear of federal interference,” according to Medical Marijuana, Inc. news. Continued on p. 2


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