Reuters: on Drugs

Donald Trump: Execute drug dealers to fight opioid epidemic

Trump unveiled an anti-opioid abuse plan, including his death penalty recommendation, new funding for other initiatives and stiffer sentencing laws for drug dealers. He said the US must "get tough" on opioids. "And that toughness includes the death penalty," he said. Neither Trump nor the White House gave further details as to when it would be appropriate to seek the death penalty.

Trump said that he was working with Congress to find $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid crisis. The plan will also seek to cut opioid prescriptions by a third over 3 years by changing federal programs, he said.

Addiction to opioids--mainly prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl--is a growing problem, especially in rural areas. 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016.

Jeb Bush: No medical marijuana; it's just a guise toward legalization

Bush issued a statement saying the legalization of medical marijuana would hurt the state's family-friendly reputation: "Florida leaders and citizens have worked for years to make the Sunshine State a world-class location to start or run a business, a family-friendly destination for tourism and a desirable place to raise a family or retire," Bush said. "Allowing large-scale, marijuana operations to take root across Florida, under the guise of using it for medicinal purposes, runs counter to all of these efforts," he added. "I strongly urge Floridians to vote against Amendment 2 this November," he said.

20 states and the District of Columbia have some form of laws that permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, though they vary widely.

Rick Scott: Legalized "Charlotte's Web" low-THC medical marijuana

Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a law in June allowing the limited use of a special non-euphoric strain of marijuana, known as Charlotte's Web, to treat state residents with epilepsy, cancer and afflictions causing "seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms."

The amendment, if approved by voters, would allow marijuana to be more broadly prescribed by doctors to treat a range of debilitating conditions.

Charlotte's Web is an oil extract not for smoking and is specially cultivated to be very low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the element that gets users high.

Joe Biden: Pardon people in federal jail for smoking marijuana

PROMISE PARTIALLY KEPT: (CNN, 10/6/22): Biden will pardon all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession [because such offenses] "incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit," Biden said. "Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment. Black & brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates." He will also encourage governors to take similar steps to pardon state simple marijuana possession charges, and will "expeditiously" review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.