Weed Watch: Democrats on drugs, part II

[JI7]

dennis kucinich did the best with an A+, but my guy john kerry did pretty good with an A-. the rest are also graded below.

<On Jan. 6, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project issued its final report cards for each of the major presidential candidates, grading them based on their support for medical marijuana. In just eight months of campaigning and lobbying the candidates, the MPP reports success in persuading six of the nine major candidates to adopt various positive positions on medical marijuana. Topping the list is Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who earned an A+. The MPP notes that Kucinich told the San Francisco Chronicle that he supports medical marijuana "without reservation" and that as president he would be willing to sign an executive order permitting its use. Also at the top of the class: former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, who earned an A and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, with an A-. Both pledged to end Drug Enforcement Administration-led raids on medical marijuana patients, as did retired Gen. Wesley Clark, whom the MPP awarded a B+. The Rev. Al Sharpton earned a B.

Conversely, the current Dem front-runner, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, failed the MPP's exam, earning a D- for his wishy-washy stance on medical pot. During a town hall meeting, Dean told the MPP that he doesn't believe in putting sick people in prison for using medical marijuana -- "I don't believe in what Ashcroft's doing about medical -- putting people in prison who are, who have AIDS," he said. But Dean, a physician, still doesn't support medical pot, for reasons that aren't exactly clear: "I stopped a medical marijuana bill in my Legislature," when he was governor, he said. "Because I'm a doctor, I think substances taken into your body have to be treated the same if they are meant to be medicines, no matter what they are." And, the MPP reports, Dean has called for a mere one-year moratorium on federal raids on medical marijuana users -- why, and to what end, are completely unclear.

Still, for all his sponginess, Dean fared better than either President Bush or the other three Democratic candidates -- North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. Each earned big fat F grades from the MPP for failing to call for an end to the federal raids. For more on the report cards and candidates' positions on pot, check out www.granitestaters.com and www.mpp.org. >

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-01-09/pols_naked9.html

[Dogmudgeon]

1. D- ?

He wants a moratorium on dope busts, he wants pot to be treated medically, not legally, and he opposes Ashcroft's anti-drug jihad.

I can understand not liking the guy, or supporting another candidate, but this isn't wishy-washy and deserves at least a B.

Fact is, just about any improvement in the situation should get an A, no matter who proposes it.

--bkl

[JI7]

2. kucinich got an A+

i wonder if the ratings were based on a curve. with whoever had the best stand getting the A+ and then rating the rest based on that.

[sandnsea]

8. Says he's against it

He stopped a medical marijuana bill. What more do you want? My own doctor prescribes marijuana all the time. Dean seems to be kind of rigid actually. He wouldn't even support methadone treatment in prison. Adament about keeping the gamblers out of Vermont. I don't quite know what his deal is about all of this, but one anal retentive Ashcroft per decade is enough.

[Terwilliger]

9. yes, a D-

did you read the article?

[JI7]

13. you think dean should get an A

?

[Virgil]

3. No. This is serious and correct grading.

Kucinich said that upon taking office, he would immediately sign an executive order ending any raids on the compassion clubs. He totally supports medical marijuana and is for regulating cannabis as a legal product in the fashion of alcohol and tobacco.

Dean gives the same we must test it for a year and then maybe decide. Do people not know that cannabis has been tested by millions of people and even by GW Pharmaceutical in the UK that was to have introduced cannabis extracts in December but somehow mysteriously had the government delay there extracts after almost 5 years of development. It should have been approved for use for MS with other uses being approved as research moves through the pipeline. Dean is a doctor and should know the situation with MMJ. Dean is giving a political answer that hides his distaste for MMJ and as governor opposed the MMJ bill last year that would have passed had he supported it. The Vermont studies for the MMJ bill clearly stated that the federal classification of cannabis as a Schedule 1 narcotic was in reality a misclassification. If it were even classified as a Schedule 2 narcotic and not even the Schedule 3 narcotic like Marinol which is the THC molecule made by synthetic means, then the government would have no authority to raid the clubs in the first place as the states would be within their rights. Of course in December the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says the states have some rights because the Commerce Clause cannot be used to extend federal authority into every product. It ruled on a specific issue concerning MMJ and the outside line has not yet been drawn on the states rights.

Smoking cannabis is never going to be accepted as a delivery system for MMJ by American physicians. There will always be legitimate reasons to block the use of smoked marijuana in aid to any illness. Of course it can be eaten or vaporized. If the cannabinoids reach about 305 degrees they will evaporate without combustion and avoid the particle inhalation that is undesirable with burning. There is the process of making hash oil that can easily be done with butane or the extracts can be made easily with grain alcohol acting as a solvent like in the GW extracts.

This Austin Chronicle article also appears at http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18106.shtml if you would like to read the comments there.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

4. I ask the same question: Dean is a doctor, shouln't he know?

The ratings are correct.

TWL

[blm]

11. Sure he should know and probably does.

But he's always been a corporatist looking out for business profits. The pharma corps are VERY influential in the debate AGAINST medical marijuana.

[JI7]

14. interesting

i wonder what he would say if he is asked something like , "as a doctor, what is your position on marijuana"?

[ThirdWheelLegend]

15. don't go there..

you wouldn't want to suggest pandering would you?

;-)

TWL

[mopinko]

10. ha, and people say howard is unelectable!

[JI7]

5. if legalized

i think if marijuana is legalized, people will see the benefits, especially the medical benefits of it and be resistant to making it illegal again.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

6. true

People are being disinformed by the millions of dollars spent in the war on drugs. It's propaganda plain and simple.

TWL

on edit: I said millions, but isn't it more like billions?

[blm]

7. You're right. The corporatist mindset

is not helpful to this debate.

Great for my Special Ks, Kucinich and Kerry.

[JI7]

12. yes, it's really disgusting

many politicians stands are based on them doing work on behalf of the large corporations who don't want marijuana legalized, or even available with limits such as for dying patients in pain.

[JI7]

16. well

the article about kerry calling for no prosecution where it's legalized helps to see his good grade here.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

17. Good for Kerry...

Another reason why he and Sharpton are holding second place for me.


TWL