Reefer madness and the election

For the first time since 1988, both major party’s nominees — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump — say that they have never smoked or experimented with marijuana (without inhaling).

President Obama has been open about having used marijuana and other drugs in his youth, yet his administration has taken insufficient steps to inject some sanity into the federal government’s approach to marijuana policy.

In 2008, the Obama campaign talked about keeping federal prosecutors from going after medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical use such as California.

To the contrary, in his first term especially, Obama’s Department of Justice was merciless on medical marijuana providers, as well as users.

Drug Enforcement Administration acting head Chuck Rosenberg explained in a letter that the administration will expand research into marijuana’s medicinal benefits, but marijuana will remain a Schedule I drug because it “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment” in the United States, is not safe for use under medical supervision and has a high potential abuse.

The harm from marijuana is less dramatic, but real; chronic usage among teens and young adults can reduce the chances that they will marry, have children or graduate from college. “It is best not to think of drug scheduling as an escalating ‘danger’ scale,” Rosenberg wrote, and better to focus on medical and scientific evidence.

Californians legalized medical marijuana in 1996.

[...] many of us have seen friends with cancer overcome nausea and diminished appetite because they had access to marijuana.

Three years ago, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on marijuana’s efficacy in controlling neuropathic pain for some patients and helping children who suffered from constant seizures.

If Washington politicians truly cared about helping people in need, then the Democrat in the White House and the Republicans in Congress would have enacted legislation like the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act right then and there.

Democrat Hillary Clinton opposes marijuana decriminalization but has said that, if elected, she would downgrade marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule II drug to remove barriers to medical research.