Democrats against the "war on drugs"?

I need a little help debating someone on another board.

Are there some prominent Dems that I can quote as being on record against this current "war on drugs"?

Thanks

the so-called 'war on terror', because it's been spun that they'd be 'soft' otherwise.

The little brother to WoT, the WoD is over 20 years old now, and has succeeded only in ruining or taking the lives of people who might have otherwise been productive members of society. It has created a new prohibition that has done nothing to end drug use (which is impossible, given that mammals -- and humans in particular -- are hard-wired with an innate desire to alter their reality).

The so-called War on Drugs was nothing more than a test campaign for it's larger evil brother: the so-called War on Terror.

I think the comic depicted the BC gang inventing some sort of hair tonic that the Federal government declared illegal for one reason or another, lumping it into the "War on Drugs" and threatening to take it down.

One strip that I especially remember is one that showed this big, macho, intimidating DEA speedboat tearing through the seas, staffed by testosterone-fueled DEA Competent Men armed to the teeth - and the speedboat completely overlooked the little fishing boat that Opus was sitting it, putting merrily along the way while Opus dangled a fishing line in the water - attached to half a ton of the outlawed hair tonic, hidden under the sea.

I loved it.

We have Marines invading Columbia?

If by war on drugs one means locking up non-violent drug users for years and years, yeah
I think most Dems believe this to be a bad (and expensive) policy.
I'm sure that there are many here that are in favor of legalizing the Maryjane... I'm OK with
that, though I'm not a big supporter. I don't view it as any worse than nicotine or alcohol.
But I don't think we should encourage the use of any of those drugs.
I haven't heard any Democrat in a national office (or major regional office) advocate the
legalizing of all drugs... but I suppose there might be a few.

is the press conference when they "bust" a drug dealer-you think the public would ask after so many perp walks why the problem isn't any better-the GOP also doesn't fund treatment programs properly for users

started it. The pious Jimmy Carter is the one who thought treatment was expensive and for sissies and the best way to fight a war was with the military (interdictment) and punishment.

the last 12 years the GOP has been in power in Congress. In the last 26 years the DEMS have controlled the Presidency 8 years and the GOP 18 years. What has been the policy in the last quarter century?
Carter didn't pass the federal sentencing guidelines either which impose long drug sentences
"The Guidelines are the product of the United States Sentencing Commission and are part of an overall federal sentencing reform package that took effect in the mid-1980s."wiki quote

Continued the bad policy begun by Carter and heartily approved of by Reagan and Poppy.

Attorney general, John Ashcroft is a firm believer of enforcement over treatment. In his clearest statement on drug policy, Ashcroft said: "A government which takes the resources that we would devote toward the interdiction of drugs and converts them to treatment resources ... is a government that accommodates us at our lowest and least."

While Governor of Missori, Ashcroft went so far as to ignore drug laws while in office. Investigative journalist Daniel Forbes reported that Ashcroft "agreed to look the other way" while state police seized assets of drug offenders for their agencies, when the Missouri Constitution requires drug forfeiture funds go to the state's school system.

Now Attorney General Gonzales said that a defendant in South Carolina had received "only" ten years in a case in which he faced over 27 years.

● The defendant in this case was arrested at age twenty in his home with a relatively small amount of cocaine and marijuana, as well as several firearms. He had had an exceedingly difficult upbringing, but had shown some ability to overcome it by obtaining a GED and working in a barbershop. The defendant did not face 27 years. By operation of the severe "Career Offender" guideline, his guideline sentence went from a minimum of 84 months to a minimum of 188 months, based on his conviction for failing to pull over when signaled by a police officer, a non-violent misdemeanor under South Carolina law, when he was seventeen years old. The judge imposed 120 months' incarceration, including a recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons' drug treatment program and education in a marketable skill, followed by six years' supervised release including drug treatment and drug testing.

in public when he knew the microphone was live was Gary Johnson, while he was still Governor of New Mexico.

He's a pubbie, western style.

If he ever ran for anything else, I might be tempted to vote for him. While I didn't agree with everything he did in office, he was a decent executive, on the whole. I can take a mixed bag.

Alas, since he's been out of office, he's grown long hair and concentrated on triathlons and balloon races.

On the outside it looks like a stupid policy that's going nowhere, but it does keep the majority of the money from the sales of contraband in the "right" hands.

I'll believe they actually want to do something about the destruction hard drugs has done to parts of society when they start opening up treatment clinics nationwide, and most especially when we see suited men that look more like bankers doing the perp walk for importing the stuff. I've never seen a single bust of more than a mid-level distributor... it's kind of like the war on terror. Stir up a bunch of $h^+, punish a lot of mostly poor people, but do nothing to address the real issues, and leave all the doors wide open.

Poor People mostly, People of Color, mostly. Disproportionate arrest statistics and disproportionate sentencing guidelines keep most wealthy/white drug users at their corporate desks and entertainment jobs, while menial workers, the unemployed, and anyone using drugs while Black/Hispanic all get the slammer. Oh, and they can get more dangerous drugs IN Prison. There are more people in jail for marijuana than for violent crimes, and for longer sentences in many cases: a marijuana grower could get life without parole, and someone convicted of manslaughter or second-degree murder would see daylight again after his sentence was served.

And it's a War that we've been waging for two decades without success, much like other metaphorical "wars" declared by our government. The War on Poverty fizzled out without major success; we still have a huge problem with Poverty in this country, and the War on Drugs hasn't done much except put hundreds of thousands of people in prisons for minor offenses while the traffickers go merrily on. Remember the War on Cancer? No? Probably because it disappeared so quickly, while cancer has not (of course, there have been major advances in diagnosis and treatment, but those are the result of pure research, not "war".) Recall the War on AIDS? Hmmm....

As George Carlin says: "We like War; we're a warlike people."
Ugh.

Prominent Dems to cite? I don't know any who've come out publicly against this metaphorical War with all-too real consequences.

Not very prominent and not even a Dem but very much against "the war on drugs". Anything that is good for Republicans is not something I am for. It is bad for America. Drugs should be a medical problem if a problem at all and certainly not a criminal one. Actions sometimes taken by addicts should be prosecuted, like stealing and harming others but the act of taking drugs should not be illegal. It is illegal so a large portion of America's lower classes can be arrested and tried on a felony charge and have their voting rights forever suspended. It is so that a large portion of America can be kept docile and intimidated and not marching in the streets. Drugs are very important to the GOP and especially for the revenues they produce for them.

of the war on drugs. On the Republican side former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and Congressman Ron Paul have also spoke out strongly. The War on Drugs has never really been a partisan issue, but unfortunately most politicians of both parties are way behind the public on this one.

More people were arrested under Clinton for non-violent drug offenses than either Reagan or Poppy Bush, and that is quite simply embarrassing.