Roseanne Barr on Drugs : Oct 4, 2012
Re-write drug laws to be sane and people based

A: The jury is NOT out, anymore; Listen, demonizing Weed is just plain bad policy. We're criminalizing our own people, wasting billions of dollars and eroding our freedom with the endless, destructive "War on drugs," but, specifically, the part focused on persecuting and prosecuting people who use Marijuana. We destroy our own credibility by allowing cigarettes and alcohol to be sold everywhere while hypocritically pretending we're all about protecting people. I could go on all day, so don't get me started. The facts are everywhere and they're incontrovertible. We've had twenty years of Presidents who smoked pot and it didn't stop them from becoming President.

Roseanne Barr on Drugs : Sep 24, 2012
Legalize medical Marijuana

Q: Strongly Oppose; Legalize medical Marijuana

Mitt Romney on Drugs : Sep 19, 2012
We share cross-border drug problem with Mexico

A: I'd tell him that this is a problem that we share, that this is not Mexico's problem. We have a responsibility in this country to reduce drug usage. The fact that there is a drug world, narco-crime and terrorism, and that these cartels are terrorizing the people of Mexico, and some of that violence spills over our border. That's due to the demand here in this country. And so the US must make a priority of helping reduce demand in this country, and communicating to our young people, and older people, that when they use these illegal drugs, they are contributing to the deaths of people around the world. So I'm going to make that a priority. That's #1. And #2, I'm going to let him know that we want to help, as we did in Colombia with intelligence work and surveillance work.

Roseanne Barr on Drugs : Aug 31, 2012
End all Drug Wars; stop monopoly of subsidized prisons

Barack Obama on Crime : Aug 27, 2012
FactCheck:Biden more conservative than Obama on crime issues

Obama-Biden vs. Romney-Ryan on Domestic Issues:
• Alternative Sentencing
• Death Penalty
• Drugs in Society
• Marijuana Legalization
• Gun Rights
• Environment vs. Economy
• Nuclear Waste
• Infrastructure Investment
• WikiLeaks and Secrecy
• Internet Policy
• Health Mandate
• Medicare
• ObamaCare

Paul Ryan on Drugs : Aug 13, 2012
Speechwriter for Director of National Drug Control Policy

• Paul Ryan was the speechwriter for the first Director of the National Drug Control Policy (William Bennett, 1990)
• Paul Ryan has been rated -10 by NORML, indicating a "hard-on-drugs" stance. (Dec 2006)
• Paul Ryan opposes regulating tobacco as a drug. (Apr 2009)

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Aug 1, 2012
People 95% positive on legalizing; incumbents 100% negative

The responses I got in the governor's office--calls, letters, faxes, emails, people talking to me on the street--to my position on marijuana were about 95% positive.

The reaction from elected officials, on the other hand, at least officially, was 100% negative. But I have been approached by some elected officials who've said, "Way to go. This needed to be said. Your position is right, but I can't say that in public." I'm willing to risk my political future to educate people and bridge the divide.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Aug 1, 2012
Marijuana is safer than alcohol

Bad personal decisions should not be criminal if they don't harm anyone else. It is and should always be illegal to drive while you're impaired or to commit crimes. But people will always use drugs. We can't change that. Our real focus should be on reducing death, disease, crime and corruption. These problems are all related to drug prohibition, not drug use. But what I've found is that most people base their position on this issue on emotion instead of facts. The truth is that marijuana is safer than alcohol. I'll be the first to tell you that the world would be a better place if no one drank or did drugs. But that will never be the case.

Jill Stein on Drugs : Jan 29, 2012
I support legalization of marijuana

I also support legalization of marijuana, ending war, and other bread-and-butter concerns for young people. This is a constituency that is just itching for a platform of this sort.

Jill Stein on Education : Jan 29, 2012
Establish basic right to free college education

I also support legalization of marijuana, ending war, and other bread-and-butter concerns for young people. This is a constituency that is just itching for a platform of this sort.

Jill Stein on Crime : Jan 25, 2012
Incarcerating poor & minorities has become big business

Jill Stein on Drugs : Dec 21, 2011
Marijuana is dangerous because it's illegal, not vice-versa

A: We wouldn't remove all laws against all drug use. Marijuana is a drug that is dangerous because it's illegal. It isn't illegal because it's dangerous. There are drugs in use that are far more harmful than marijuana--such as alcohol. Legalize marijuana and the dangers go away. Regulate it so that children can't buy it on the street corner.

Q: What about other drugs?

A: Drug use is a public health issue, not a criminal or moral issue. It should not be dealt with in the criminal justice system, but primarily as a public health issue.

Ron Paul on Drugs : Nov 22, 2011
Cancel the drug war, and cancel its violence

PAUL: I think that's another war we ought to cancel, because it's to nobody's benefit. And that's where the violence is coming from.

Q: Does that mean legalize all these drugs?

PAUL: I think the federal war on drugs is a total failure. You can at least let sick people have marijuana because it's helpful, but compassionate conservatives say, well, we can't do this--the federal government's going in there and overriding state laws and putting people like that in prison. Why don't we handle the drugs like we handle alcohol? Alcohol is a deadly drug. The real deadly drugs are the prescription drugs. They kill a lot more people than the illegal drugs. The drug war is out of control. I fear the drug war because it undermines our civil liberties. It magnifies our problems on the borders. We spent, over the last 40 years, $1 trillion on this war. And believe me, the kids can still get the drugs. It just hasn't worked.

Ron Paul on Drugs : Sep 7, 2011
Our drug war is driving our immigration policy

But there is a mess down there, and it's a big mess. And it's the drug war that's going on there. And our drug laws are driving this. So now we're killing thousands and thousands of people. That makes it much more complicated.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Jun 15, 2011
75% of border violence with Mexico is due to drugs

A: We should make it as easy as possible to be able to get a legal work visa--not citizenship, not a green card. And then legalize marijuana. 75% of the border violence with Mexico would go away--that's the estimate of the drug cartels' activities that are engaged in the trade of marijuana. We've had 28,000 deaths south of the border over the last four years. If we can't connect the dots between prohibition and violence, I don't know if we ever will.

Q: Is border violence the main reason you're for liberalizing drug laws?

A: I'm opposed to drug war A through Z. Half--half!--of what we spend on law enforcement, the courts, and the prisons, is drug-related. And to what end? We have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. "America, land of liberty and freedom?" You know, that's baloney. More than 2 million Americans are behind bars now. Communist China has 4 times the population and they have 1.5 million people behind bars.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Jun 15, 2011
Marijuana is safer than alcohol

A: I don't smoke pot today. I don't drink alcohol. But I've done both of them and I can speak with authority over the fact that there's a big difference between marijuana and alcohol. And the difference is that marijuana is a lot safer.

Gary Johnson on Principles & Values : Jun 15, 2011
Calls himself classical liberal; others prefer libertarian

Gary Johnson on Drugs : May 27, 2011
Legalize marijuana instead of 1.8 million arrests and $70B

A: Legalizing marijuana, talking about harm reduction strategies regarding all the other drugs, so talking about legalizing marijuana. I came at this issue from a cost-benefit analysis standpoint. I'm not telling you anything that you don't recognize. Half of what we spend on law enforcement, the courts and prisons is drug-related and to what end? Well, $70 billion a year. We're arresting 1.8 million people a year in this country. We now have 2.3 million people behind bars. We have the highest incarceration rate of any person in the world, America.

Q: What do you do when people are in a crack-induced state of psychosis?

A: There's an educational process in all this. But you treat it first as a health issue, rather than a criminal justice issue. You don't treat it first as a criminal justice issue. Let's differentiate between marijuana though and harder drugs. What I'm advocating is the legalization of marijuana.

Ron Paul on Drugs : May 5, 2011
We don't need laws to tell us to not use heroin

A: It's an issue of protecting liberty across the board. If you have the inconsistency, then you're really not defending liberty. We want freedom [including] when it comes to our personal habits.

Q: Are you suggesting that heroin and prostitution are an exercise of liberty?

A: Yes, in essence, if we leave it to the states. For over 100 years, they WERE legal. You're implying if we legalize heroin tomorrow, everyone's gonna use heroin.

How many people here are going to use heroin if it were legal? I bet nobody! "Oh yeah, I need the government to take care of me. I don't want to use heroin, so I need these laws!"

A: I never thought heroin would get applause!

Gary Johnson on Drugs : May 5, 2011
Harm-reduction: health issue rather than criminal issue

A: As governor of New Mexico, everything was a cost-benefit analysis. Using that as a criteria: half of what we spend on law enforcement, the courts, and the prisons is drug-related. And to what end? We're arresting 1.8 million people a year in this country. We now have 2.3 million people behind bars. We have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. If people look at it, they'll see that 90% of the drug problem is prohibition-related, not use-related. That's not to discount the problems with use and abuse, but that ought to be the focus. I advocate legalizing marijuana: control it; regulate it; and tax it. It'll never be legal for kids to smoke pot or buy pot; It'll never be legal to do harm while smoking pot. When it comes to all other drugs, I advocate harm-reduction strategies, which is looking at the drug problem first as a health issue rather than as a criminal justice issue.

Ron Paul on Health Care : May 5, 2011
Legalizing prostitution is about protecting liberty

A: They will, if they see that my defense of liberty is the defense of their right to practice religion and say their prayers where they want. It's an issue of protecting liberty across the board. We don't have the First Amendment so we can talk about the weather. We have the First Amendment so we can say very controversial things. If you have the inconsistency, then you're really not defending liberty. You can't hurt other people, but yes, you have the right to do things that are very controversial. If not, then you'll have a government that tells us what we can eat and drink and whatever.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : May 2, 2011
Drug policy today parallels Prohibition in the 1920's

By managing marijuana like alcohol and tobacco--regulating, taxing and enforcing its lawful use--America will be better off. Alcohol Prohibition (1920-1933) had only a minimal effect on the desire of Americans to drink but pushing alcohol underground had other effects: overdose deaths, gang violence, and other prohibition-related harms increased dramatically during the Prohibition years.

Mitt Romney on Drugs : Apr 20, 2011
Opposes legalization of recreational or medical marijuana

Ron Paul on Drugs : Apr 19, 2011
Drug War allows drug lords to make a lot more money

Ron Paul on Drugs : Apr 19, 2011
Someday we'll wake up and end the Second Prohibition

Joe Biden on Drugs : Oct 5, 2010
1990 crime bill: tougher penalties for drug offenders

Jill Stein on Drugs : Sep 29, 2010
Bring marijuana sales under a legal regulatory framework

It's time to get rid of the black market and bring marijuana sales under a legal regulatory framework. In this way, we can staunch the flow of money to illegal drug networks, generate new funds for our communities, improve public safety, and create new jobs in growing hemp for food and fiber.

As Governor I will appoint a Cannabis Reform Commission to investigate the best way to bring marijuana sales under the new regulatory framework.

Barack Obama on Drugs : Feb 2, 2008
Fight to rid our communities of meth

• Combat Methamphetamine: Meth use has increased 156% nationwide since 1996. Obama has a long record of fighting the meth epidemic. As President, he will continue the fight to rid our communities of meth and offer support to help addicts heal.

• Obama cosponsored legislation that became law to combat the scourge of methamphetamines.

Ron Paul on Drugs : Dec 23, 2007
War on drugs is out of control; revert control to states

A: Yeah. It’s sort of like alcohol. Alcohol’s a deadly drug, kills more people than anything else. And today the absurdity on this war on drugs has just been horrible. Now the federal government takes over and overrules states where state laws permit medicinal marijuana 1 for people dying of cancer. The federal government goes in and arrests these people, put them in prison with mandatory sentences. This war on drugs is totally out of control. If you want to regulate cigarettes and alcohol and drugs, it should be at the state level. That’s where I stand on it. The federal government has no prerogatives on this.

Q: But you would decriminalize it?

A: I would, at the federal level. I don’t have control over the states. And that’s why the Constitution’s there.

Joe Biden on Drugs : Nov 11, 2007
Took lead on drug policy & narcotics control

Ron Paul on Drugs : Sep 27, 2007
Inner-city minorities are punished unfairly in war on drugs

A: A system designed to protect individual liberty will have no punishments for any group and no privileges. Today, I think inner-city folks and minorities are punished unfairly in the war on drugs. For instance, Blacks make up 14% of those who use drugs, yet 36 percent of those arrested are Blacks and it ends up that 63% of those who finally end up in prison are Blacks. This has to change. We don’t have to have more courts and more prisons. We need to repeal the whole war on drugs. It isn’t working. We have already spent over $400 billion since the early 1970s, and it is wasted money. Prohibition didn’t work. Prohibition on drugs doesn’t work. So we need to come to our senses. And, absolutely, it’s a disease. We don’t treat alcoholics like this. This is a disease, and we should orient ourselves to this. That is one way you could have equal justice under the law.

Ron Paul on Drugs : Sep 17, 2007
$500B on War on Drugs since 1970s has been a total failure

What it does, it removes the ability to states to do their things, and also introduces the idea that it’s the federal government that will get to decide whether we get to take vitamins, and alternative medical care, or whatever. Most of our history, believe it or not, had no drug laws. Prohibition has been an absolute failure for alcohol. Drug addiction is a medical problem. It’s not a problem of the law.

Barack Obama on Drugs : Aug 14, 2007
Experimented with cocaine but turned down heroin

His grandmother recalled that she and he husband discussed Barry’s declining grades and grew concerned about his possible drug use and overall lack of direction. Obama, however, questioned his elderly grandmother’s memory, [claiming it] was a very transitory period in his life.

Ron Paul on Drugs : Jan 22, 2007
Legalize industrial hemp

Sarah Palin on Drugs : Aug 6, 2006
Opposes legalizing marijuana, but meth is greater threat

Palin doesn’t support legalizing marijuana, worrying about the message it would send to her four kids. But when it comes to cracking down on drugs, she says methamphetamines are the greater threat and should have a higher priority.

Sarah Palin on Drugs : Aug 6, 2006
Smoked marijuana when it was legal under Alaska law

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Oct 14, 2002
Other governors privately support ending drug war

Ron Paul on Drugs : Oct 25, 2001
Drug War fosters violence at home & breeds resentment abroad

The drug war encourages violence. Government violence against nonviolent users is notorious and has led to the unnecessary prison overpopulation. Innocent taxpayers are forced to pay for all this so-called justice. Our drug eradication project (using spraying) around the world, from Colombia to Afghanistan, breeds resentment because normal crops and good land can be severely damaged. Local populations perceive that the efforts and the profiteering remain somehow beneficial to our own agenda in these various countries.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Apr 9, 2001
War on Drugs is a miserable failure; $6M for treatment

Last month, the New Mexico legislature approved five drug bills proposed by Republican Gov. Gary Johnson, an ardent supporter of decriminalizing drugs. Included in the package are measures that will allocate $6 million to expand treatment services, legal protections for syringe sales, and restoring voting rights for felons who have served their time. “The war on drugs is a miserable failure,” Johnson said. “50% of the money for prisons and courts is spent on drugs. What we’re doing isn’t working.”

Gary Johnson on Crime : Jan 1, 2001
Half of crime is drug-related; legalizing drugs cuts crime

A: Kids who have been surveyed say it's easier to get illegal drugs than beer. The evidence shows that more people won't do drugs if they're legal. Holland, where marijuana is decriminalized and controlled, has 60% of the drug use--both hard drugs and marijuana--the US has. They have a quarter the crime rate, a quarter the homicide rate, a quarter the violent crime rate and a tenth the incarceration rate. It suggests that more people don't do drugs because they're legal. But let's just say that the number of users would go up: I still would say it was worthwhile. Look at the trade-off.

Q: What trade-off?

Half of all crime is drug-related. Half. Half of what we spend--on law enforcement, on the courts, on prisons--is drug-related. If we legalized drugs, we would destroy the environment that allows and even encourages all those crimes.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Jan 1, 2001
Drug use is up despite $30B spending on War on Drugs

A: It is the biggest issue in the country, and it's not being addressed.

Q: It is supposedly being addressed by the long-fought war on drugs.

A: The war on drugs is a mindboggling failure.

Q: Some statistics suggest that drug use is down.

A: That's absolute baloney. I just don't buy it. In one survey people were asked if they did drugs. First, they were asked in the Seventies. I can imagine people responding, "Well, sure, doesn't everybody?" Today, they would likely say "No way" before hanging up. It's a different time. But if we have reduced drug use by half--some claim it has gone down from 26 million to 13 million users--where are the corresponding dollar savings? We have gone from spending federally $1.8 billion to spending $30-plus billion--plus the cost of incarceration--and haven't dented the problem. As we approach zero users, are we going to be at $400 billion? Come on.

Gary Johnson on Drugs : Jan 1, 2001
Allow medical marijuana and needle exchanges

A: Of course I think it should be allowed.

Q: Yet your home state doesn't allow it.

A: It's not likely to happen. Now, in particular, there is a backlash against anything drug-related in the state. It's a backlash against me.

Q: Is your campaign actually hurting your cause?

A: Not for a second.

Q: But people might feel that something as innocuous as medical marijuana or a needle exchange program is just the beginning in their governor's agenda to legalize every drug.

A: Well, my goal is for a more rational drug policy. There's no question that I've moved the needle. I've moved the needle nationally. I've moved it in the direction it needs to go. It's a start, but there need to be 3000 other people espousing the same ideas. These other programs--needle exchange, medical marijuana--are important, but they don't address the great ills caused by prohibition.

Hillary Clinton on Drugs : Oct 8, 2000
Address drug problem with treatment and special drug courts

CLINTON: 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.

LAZIO: The truth is that under the Clinton administration, there has been a dramatic and troubling increase in drug abuse by our children. And that has not been addressed. I crossed party lines in 1994 and built a coalition of Republicans that passed the crime bill. If it were not for that, we would not have drug courts right now. We would not have community policing. We need to have somebody in Washington who has the ability to get the job done.

Hillary Clinton on Drugs : Sep 25, 1996
Involved parents most influential in reducing teen drug use

One reason my husband is adamant about curbing smoking is the fact that he learned firsthand in his own family, about the slippery slope that begins with the use of one addictive substance and leads to other destructive behaviors.

The characteristics that keep kids from using drugs are hard to quantify but not to understand. Children who truly grasp tha they have a choice to make in the matter are more likely to make a responsible one. So are children with high self-esteem. Most influential of all is the optimism & awareness that comes from knowing their parents are interested & involved in their lives.