The Huffington Post: on Drugs

Chris Dodd: Allow medical marijuana; and allow decriminalization too

A: Certainly with medical use of marijuana, it ought to be allowed. And many states allow that today. I’ve strongly advocated that these states not be biased or prejudiced because they allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. And again, on allowing decriminalization, I strongly advocate as well. We’re cluttering up our prisons, frankly, when we draw distinctions.

Chris Dodd: Decriminalize marijuana but don’t legalize it

Cory Booker: The war on drugs has failed; support medical marijuana

The Democrat wrote during the Reddit "ask me anything" chat: "The so called War on Drugs has not succeeded in making significant reductions in drug use, drug arrests or violence. We are pouring huge amounts of our public resources into this current effort that are bleeding our public treasury and unnecessarily undermining human potential."

Booker then called drug arrests a "game": "My police in Newark are involved in an almost ridiculous game of arresting the same people over and over again and when you talk to these men they have little belief that there is help or hope for them to break out of this cycle," he wrote.

Booker has said he supports medical marijuana, and outlined programs he has implemented to lower drug arrests: reentry, court reform, jobs, treatment and legal aid.

Darrell Castle: Advocate of decriminalizing possession

A: The Constitution party's official position is we don't believe in legalizing drugs. But me personally, I am an advocate of decriminalizing possession. I think it's a liberty issue and a moral issue. We should not be putting people in prison for possessing these things. There are other ways of handling it and it's causing the whole war on drugs to be a disaster.

James Webb: Recommend drug policy to deal with growth of incarceration

What about legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana? Webb paused. "I think they should do a very careful examination of all aspects of drug policy. I've done a couple of very extensive hearings on this, so we'll wait to see what they say about that," he said. So it's on the table? Webb flashed a wry grin, laughing mischievously. The last government study group to look at drug policy, the 1972 Shafer Commission, recommended that Pres. Nixon decriminalize marijuana. He didn't. This commission will have a broader mandate, said Webb.

Webb cited "the exponential growth of incarceration since 1980," saying that "a huge percentage of that growth has been nonviolent crimes associated with drugs."

Marco Rubio: Enforce federal law even in states with legal pot

Rubio, however, has previously left the door open on medical pot, which will come up for a vote in his home state this November. "You hear compelling stories of people who say the use of medical marijuana provides relief for the thing they are suffering," Rubio said in a January interview. "So I'd like to learn more about that aspect of it, the science of it."

Marco Rubio: No responsible way to recreationally use marijuana

In an interview, Rubio was asked whether he had ever smoked pot: "Here's the problem with that question in American politics: If you say that you did and suddenly there are people out there saying 'Well, it's not a big deal. Look at all these successful people who did it,'" Rubio said. "I don't want my kids to smoke marijuana. And I don't want other people's kids to smoke marijuana. I don't believe there's a responsible way to recreationally use marijuana."

He continued: "On the other side of it, if you tell people you didn't they won't believe you. The bottom line is, I don't think people should smoke marijuana." The senator has previously dodged the pot question, saying his own experience is "irrelevant" to drug policy.