Warren has a plan to legalize weed nationwide. What about the other 2020 candidates?
As Democrats vying for their party’s nomination for president get ready for Super Tuesday on March 3 — when 14 states and more than a third of all delegates are up for grabs — Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a plan for federal marijuana legalization.
Warren, who represents Massachusetts, said that she would use executive authority to take marijuana off the list of illegal drugs if Congress won’t act to make pot legal outright.
States have a patchwork of laws around marijuana, with some form of legal use allowed in 33 states and the District of Columbia, according to Governing magazine. Recreational marijuana use is legal in 11 states, the site reports.
Here’s where the top-polling candidates in the Democratic primary stand on legalizing marijuana, listed in alphabetical order:
Joe Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden has long opposed federal marijuana legalization, labeling it a “gateway drug” earlier in the primary season, CNN reports.
At a campaign stop in New Hampshire before that state’s primary, Biden had a different take: “I think it is at the point where it has to be, basically, legalized,” according to Politico.
Biden’s campaign said his position hasn’t changed and that he still wants more research on possible negative side effects of marijuana, Politico reports. The campaign said he supports “letting states set their own policies regarding legalization of recreational marijuana while further effort is made to study the effects of cannabis use,” according to Politico.
His campaign did say he supports decriminalizing marijuana, expunging some convictions and legalizing medical marijuana, Politico reported.
Michael Bloomberg
A recent statement from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign says legalization of marijuana should be left to the states, Roll Call reports
“Mike’s plan will decriminalize possession and use of marijuana nationwide, commute any existing sentences and expunge any records,” the campaign said.
Erik Altieri, head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said, “There’s a lot of interesting word choice here and not a lot of concrete policy,” according to Roll Call.
Pete Buttigieg
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg told the Associated Press last year that he supports legalizing pot and he’s used marijuana “a handful of times a long time ago.”
Buttigieg’s campaign website says he would “eliminate incarceration for drug possession, reduce sentences for other drug offenses and apply these reductions retroactively, legalize marijuana, and expunge past convictions.”
Amy Klobuchar
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she supports legalizing marijuana in a statement last year. “I support the legalization of marijuana and believe that states should have the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their borders,” she said, CNN reports.
Bernie Sanders
Speaking at a rally in Austin, Texas, Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “On my first day in office, through an executive order, we will legalize marijuana in every state in this country, and we will expunge the records of those arrested for it,” KXAN reports.
In his platform on criminal justice, the Sanders campaign said the Vermont senator wants to “transform the way we police communities by ending the War on Drugs by legalizing marijuana and expunging past convictions.”
“When we talk about what we have got to do as a people, we have got to end a broken and racist criminal justice system,” Sanders said Sunday, according to KXAN.
Elizabeth Warren
Warren released her proposal to legalize marijuana over the weekend.
“I’ve got a plan to legalize marijuana, rebuild communities devastated by failed anti-marijuana policies, and ensure that those communities are equally able to participate in the budding cannabis industry,” the Massachusetts senator said on Twitter.
In her plan, she said she would use executive authority to take weed off the list of illegal drugs if Congress could not agree on a new law to make marijuana legal. She said she would also push to expunge federal convictions for marijuana and ask states to do the same.
She said medical marijuana should also be available through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I believe the VA should proactively engage in researching medical cannabis, including for veterans who suffer from conditions including chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, because we need to pursue all evidence-based opportunities for treatment and response,” Warren said.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Warren has a plan to legalize weed nationwide. What about the other 2020 candidates?."
