Article: Rand Paul on Legalizing Drugs: ‘I Would Agree’
http://marijuana.com/news/2014/10/rand-paul-on-legalizing-drugs-i-would-agree/
http://marijuana.com/news/2014/10/rand-paul-on-legalizing-drugs-i-would-agree/
Sen. Rand Paul “would agree” with legalizing marijuana and other drugs, and investing the resulting savings into funding Social Security. At least that’s what he said during a television appearance in June of 2000, years before he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
During a broadcast of Kentucky Tonight, caller Will McGinnis said the proposal would “end the funding problems of Social Security.”
In response, Paul pointed out that drug policy and Social Security are “separate issues,” but added, “I would agree with him. The war on drugs is an abysmal failure and a waste of money.”
The Kentucky Republican continued, “We ought to just end the war on drugs and make it a much more local situation, community oriented.”
“There’s probably a lot of savings in that,” Paul concluded.
While Paul has partnered with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) in a bipartisan effort to scale back the federal war on drugs by letting states set their own marijuana policies without interference, and has sponsored several other criminal justice reform initiatives, he has not in recent years endorsed the outright legalization of marijuana, let alone other drugs.
While shying away from the legalization question, Paul has sought to frame his work on drug policy reform in terms of states’ rights and reducing overincarceration.
“The main thing I’ve said is not to legalize [drugs],” Paul said in a March 2013 interview, “but not to incarcerate people for extended periods of time.”
It is unclear if Paul stands by the 2000 comments, which were unearthed by reporter Ryan Lizza for a lengthy New Yorker profile.
The senator’s office did not immediately respond to Marijuana.com’s request for comment. This story will be updated as appropriate.