Reply #47: Since you asked. . . KUCINICH has a better plan about this: [View All]

[DemBones DemBones]

"Most Americans believe that medical marijuana should be available to help relieve the suffering of seriously ill patients, and eight states have passed laws to allow it. But the Bush administration has harassed medical marijuana patients in an effort to assert federal authority. This is another aspect of the drug war that should be ended."

:kick:

If the FDA studies and approves marijuana for medical use, as Dean seems to want, it will mean that the pharmaceutical companies take over production, charging exorbitant prices to consumers. (Monsanto will come up with a genetically modified marijuana that they can patent and laws will probably prohibit the sale of any non-GM marijuana, guaranteeing high prices. Non-GM marijuana will be characterized as "unsafe.") Physicians will be strongly encouraged to prescribe it for as many patients as possible (to increase profits for the drug companies) but there will also be pressure to prescribe the expensive painkillers now being widely prescribed. Take more drugs, pay more for your drugs.

(Edit: Just to be clear, this paragraph -- between the kicking donkeys -- is my own opinion. Dennis Kucinich's opinions are in the other paragraphs, and are mostly direct quotes, enclosed in quotation marks. DB DB)

:kick:

About the drug war as a whole, Kucinich says:

"A safe, free and just America is undermined, not bolstered, by the costly and ineffective War on Drugs. While well-intentioned, this misguided policy -- which emphasizes criminalization over treatment -- has led to increased violent crime, misdirected resources of law enforcement and restricted Constitutional liberties."

He points out that the drug war "benefits only the prison-industrial complex," is racist , and, despite billions spent on it each year, addiction is up. He suggests that addiction should be treated, not criminalized.