Drugs/Therapy

What Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Say About The New Marijuana Policy

By Brian McNeill | Update Date: Apr 23, 2016 07:34 AM EDT

Presidential candidates will at some point have to address the issue on marijuana use with most of them seemingly shying away from the topic at least for now.

Marijuana is something that has been overlooked by many, including media. This is despite the fact that the issue is likely to be controversial especially considering many states will eventually have recreational legalization ballots to vote on it.

A look at the websites of the candidates hardly shows anything tied up with marijuana use which could hint at most applying a wait-and-see approach at least for now. Being a sensitive issue to tackle, such is seen as a big mistake with many believing that it is an important issue that should be tackled especially during the campaign period.

Marijuana use is likely to be a key issue for the next president but from the looks of it, whoever wins it in the end will likely act on it when he or she is there.

While most seem to be aware and plan to tackle the ‘War on Drugs’, a look at their websites seem to focus more on the serious drugs such as powder and crack cocaine.

On the part of Hillary Clinton, a look at her site shows how she plans to address the drug issue though it mostly covers non-marijuana related ones. There are three key points related to marijuana, namely:

  • Focus federal enforcement resources on violent crime, not simple marijuana possession.
  • Allowing states that have enacted marijuana laws to act as laboratories of democracy
  • Rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance with reference supporting medical marijuana for advanced research to health.


For her part, Clinton’s approach is seen as an incremental one and not pretty different from the current policies that were put in place by current president Barack Obama. From the looks of it, she will cross the bridge when she gets there, opting to see what individual states will do.

Donald Trump’s stance is not that different, seen as a safe route and moving in the opposite direction. Such comes a bit of a surprise considering he was in favor of legalizing all drugs back in the 90s. But now, he takes a different stand, opposing marijuana though it remains to be seen if medical marijuana is included in all that.

At some point, the topic will be discussed. Seeing almost similar stances from Clinton and Trump, it will be interesting if one or both of them will offer a different stance.

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