Where We Go From Here, by Bernie Sanders: on Drugs


Bernie Sanders: Why is marijuana treated legally equal to heroin?

After almost fifty years of the war on drugs, we can conclude that this was has been a dismal failure and, as in many other wars, countless lives have been destroyed. In 2018, the Controlled Substances Act continues to treat both marijuana and heroin equally as Schedule 1 substances. You may like marijuana or you may not, but very few informed people believe that marijuana should be treated similarly to a killer drug like heroin.

And yet, in 2016, there were approximately 587,000 arrests for marijuana--roughly one per minute.

Many states and cities are taking action to undo the damage caused by the war on drugs. More and more states are moving to decriminalize or legalize the possession of marijuana, and some have passed legislation to expunge prior misdemeanor convictions. The prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s was a failed policy. The prohibition of marijuana has also failed.

Addiction is not a crime. It is an illnesses, and should be treated as such.

Source: Where We Go From Here, by Bernie Sanders, p.196-7 May 4, 2018

  • The above quotations are from Where We Go From Here
    Two Years in the Resistance,
    by Bernie Sanders    .
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Drugs.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Bernie Sanders on Drugs.
2020 Presidential contenders on Drugs:
  Republicans:
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(IN)
Pres.Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Bill Weld(MA) 		Democrats:
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
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Page last updated: Apr 10, 2019