John Edwards And Medical Marijuana

I was just sitting here in the middle of the night, and tuned to C-SPAN, and John Edwards was campaigning in New Hampshire. In a meet and greet session, a young, well-groomed fellow, an advocate for medical marijuana, asked John Edwards about the issue. Edwards seemed a little evasive and even passive-aggressive toward the young man.

Edwards has been my favorite candidate so far in this early stage of the campaign, but I found his attitude regarding this issue to be a total turn-off. Does anyone know more about John Edwards' views about medical marijuana, and more widely about his views on the War On Drugs?

I'm starting to feel very disillusioned about any hopes for the future of the country, or even for the Democratic party. If the guy that I thought was the best presidential candidate that we had to offer can't even make a clear, unequivocal statement in support of sick people getting the medicine that they need, and mumbles on some bullshit about the FDA, I'm starting to believe that it is too late to take the country back from the arms dealers and pharmaceutical companies, and the peddlers of hate and vice.

Did anyone here see the snippet that I'm commenting on?

I'm not going to revoke my support for Edwards based on this little snippet. I don't even claim to have heard perfectly every word of the exchange. (C-SPAN production values, and all, and maybe I misunderstood.)

But damn it, I'm fast sinking into depression with regards to any hope of a real, competitive progressive leader emerging with backbone intact.

Gov. Bill Richardson recently signed into law the Medical Marijuana bill that his state legislature passed.

I'm still hoping Gore will run, but I haven't decided who I'll vote for if he doesn't.

Kucinich is the other candidate and he's not taking corporate monies nor does he believe there is such a thing as "clean coal."

:shrug:

The Ohio Democrat's forthright position on medical marijuana contrasted vividly with the fence-straddling of another Democratic presidential contender visiting San Francisco this week, North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Pressed by reporters after a speech in which he failed to mention the topic, he called for further study. "I wouldn't change the (marijuana) law now, but I would set up a committee to see if pain relief is different with marijuana," Edwards said. In the meantime, he told reporters, medical marijuana users and providers should expect arrests. "It's the job of the Justice Department to enforce the law as it presently exists," said Edwards

Maybe his position has changed. Would be good to get an update, but he doesn't address this on his site.

Manchester, New Hampshire — At a town hall meeting hosted by his campaign yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) denied knowledge of ongoing Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) raids in states that have reduced or eliminated penalties for seriously ill people who use medical marijuana, despite his previously being quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as being in favor of the DEA raids in California. The meeting was televised on C-SPAN.

Responding to questions from Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana on July 7, 2003 on C-SPAN, Edwards reiterated his intention to set up a commission to study the therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana. When asked if he would jail seriously ill patients while his commission studies medical marijuana, Edwards responded "what'd you just say, there are raids?" However, when asked a week later on July 15, 2003 whether he would continue the current policy of jailing sick patients, he responded "the government has a responsibility to enforce the laws," echoing a comment he made six weeks earlier.

On May 29, 2003, Edwards was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, as saying,.....) "It's the job of the Justice Department to enforce the law as it presently exists."

http://www.mpp.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=glKZLeMQIsG&b=1173733&ct=1973447

Even here in Alabama, I recall seeing a poll a couple of years ago where almost eighty percent of voters were in favor of legalizing medical marijuana.

:shrug:

You'd think, though, with his wife facing a serious illness, that he'd at least be open to discussing the subject. Heck, she could find herself in a situation where the treatment was useful for her.

Maybe your best bet is to flat-out ASK his campaign about it. Ask if he's made any statements, or if he has a position on it...and then, if he does, perhaps you could post it here so we can add it to the "issues" pile!

Beats sinking into depression, anyway. You might have misheard entirely--find out, and spare yourself some angst!

"Maryjane" that it is like a giant rock that will take a lot of people with sledgehammers chipping away at it for us to see any results, it will someday be chipped away but it will take time

Back when Edwards advocated arrest for cancer and AIDS sufferers who used medical marijuana and his campaign called police on protesters. I am sure you have nothing to worry about this time with the new version of your candidate. No worries at all that Edwards' position will have changed for this campaign in which he is the progressive and not the centrist. Anyways, nobody here will want to think about it, because that was 2004 and this is now.

Woah!!!! THIS is new information. You need to post this separately and provide a link.

On edit: I just went to his political website and did a search for "medical marijuana." No results.

To tell you the truth, it never even occurred to me that C-SPAN might be showing a campaign event from the last cycle.

It is a harmless beneficial drug, which may be why it is still illegal.
Tobacco kills: 435,000/year
Alcohol kills: 135,000/year
Both legal

Marijuana kills: 0/ever
Illegal

WTF?

That, alone, would probably solve the prison over-crowding problem.

it was you Mother or sister or brother who was suffering from Cancer or Aids or MS.In fact you would be outraged at the flat out lies and misinformation that is continually shoveled at us by a Government that doesn't give a fat crap about you.

I had read (don't ask for a link..can't remember where I read it) that Edwards doesn't support MMJ.In this day and age,the fact that a candidate won't take a few minutes to look at all the information about MMJ b4 he makes some bs statement about it,doesn't deserve my support.The mere fact that he doesn't support it,tells me he doesn't care about sick people..or the truth.

Now,if you were to limit the price of a haircut to $200 (or say that a haircut was harmful and a gateway drug),he have a hissy fit.


you might have guessed that I don't much support him.

That's not a treatment option she would consider. I would, she simply would not. Too old school for that.

seems to be a small, closed circle.

MMJ is a good treatment for multiple illnesses. It helps with a variety of symptoms. It is no worse than some of the other drugs the pharmacy companies push on us and is more organic. One of the big problems with drugs and teens now a days is Rx drug abuse. They don't have to buy drugs on the street, they get them out of their parents drug cabinet. Big Pharma keeps the on going "moral and drug abuse" arguments going for MMJ because its CHEAP, and easy to grow. For example, there is a drug for appetite stimulation, Megaise(sp), it is very expensive. The big drug companies make a lot of money of of this drug. MMJ does the same thing or practically the same thing and is much cheaper. By the way, the moral and drug abuse arguments that are used against MMJ could also apply to alcohol and tobacco. That tells you no one is really interested in the good of the people. PS. I have never used marijuana in any form. I'm just and advocate for people to get what works for them and makes them as comfortable as possible whether they are terminal and need the drug for pain or undergoing CA treatment and need the drug to feel better. Elizabeth Edwards might have been able to go through chemo more comfortably with MMJ than she did without it.

But I don't think people that need it should be put in jail for using it.

I'm not gay and I'm not black and I'm not a woman, but I believe in equal rights for gays and blacks and women.

I guess I'm just not self-centered enough.

:shrug:

"In 2005, 42.6 percent of the 1,846,351 total arrests for drug
abuse violations in the US were for marijuana -- a total of 786,545.
Of those, 696,074 people were arrested for possession alone. By
contrast in 2000, a total of 734,497 Americans were arrested for
marijuana offenses, of which 646,042 were for possession alone."

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.txt

It is sickening to me that it's still considered controversial to allow a patient to take medicine prescribed by his or her doctor.

But to pretend marijuana isn't a destructive force in many lives is burying one's head in the sand.

And here I've been smoking for 40 years now and have managed to do everything I set out to do and much much more. I think it is not us mj smokers who have their head in the sand, my friend.

Another poster upthread gave some pretty startling statistics about the destruction caused by legal drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, vs. destruction caused by marijuana. You might want to peruse that.

Please, dear, you're on DU. You need to educate yourself before sending out posts like this.