Clark may consider legalizing marijuana for pain...

[Bread and Circus]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_Arkansas.php?storyid=43705

excerpt --

Clark lets positions be known
BY PAUL BARTON

Posted on Monday, October 6, 2003

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock said Sunday it is time to reopen the cases of death-row inmates across the country and use new technologies to help determine whether the convictions were just.

Clark made the comment while engaging in questions and answers with a crowd of more than 350 at Philander Smith College, a historically black school in Little Rock.

The hour-long session prompted Clark, one of the newest Democrats in the 2004 race for the White House, to express views on at least a few social and foreign policy issues that are not standard parts of his campaign speeches.

Clark will hold a similar session tonight with voters in Iowa, site of Democratic Party caucuses on Jan. 19, a key step on the road to the nomination.

End Excerpt ---


There is a great one liner about Bush, read the link.

EDITED BY ADMIN FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS

[michaud]

1. well i for one am attracked to his positions as quoted above

i think that the whole entire criminal justice system should be overhauled. i think that the war on drugs is a failure. i think that white collar criminals are the ones taking everyone for a ride with thier high priced lawyers (ie Enron).

i'll just say that I hope the best man wins and it wouldn't hurt in the least bit for a Dean/Clark ticket to materialize and soon.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi michaud!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Bertrand]

2. The most important paragraph, i think

But now that we’re in Iraq, "We need to make the best of it." No quick exit strategy is available, he said. But Clark said the United States should turn over all political and economic issues there to the United Nations while keeping Americans in charge of necessary military forces.

What a NeoCon

[michaud]

3. clark neocon??

i dont think so.......he was an FOB and so was Dean for that matter.

second it is reasonable to say that it's not gonna be easy...considering Bush's handling of the policy in the first place and third we cannot leave those people starving it would be immoral.

I opposed the war but I do not necessarily oppose the reconstruction.

Just curious about how Bush wants to spend $87 billion of my money!!

And my opinion is not neo-conservative.

[Bertrand]

4. Hi michaud

I was kidding since his proposal was the opposite of the foreign policy ideas of neoconservativism.

[michaud]

10. OK

i just dont want to bashing of the candidates.......like bill clinton said this is the strongest field he has seen in decades.

but i might add that i do not agree with everything my candidate says either.

[even]

13. Be very careful.

The G/D forum lost its sense of humor oh maybe a month ago.

[RandomUser]

25. LOL

That statement probably has a bit more truth than we'd like to admit :)

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

42. a month ago?

you must be new here :)

[Kahuna]

17. Ohhhhhhhhhhh! Let a person know when you're..

being facetious. What you may think should be an obvious quip, will go over the heads of many.... Myself included. ;)

[Bertrand]

20. Sorry about that

:)

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. Ha! Went over my head too.

:silly:

[Catch22Dem]

5. DELETED

Sorry, Bertrand...I get it now. I got all defensive and immediately deleted it. :( I'm hoping you never even saw it because I'm all embarassed now.

[wyldwolf]

6. OH! I get it!

After the US bombed Iraq to hell, our next president should just bail, and say "You're on your own, kid!"

on edit: AH! you were kidding!

Interesting to note, though, how many on DU would still agree with your statement and take it seriously!

[Flying_Pig]

8. I disagree. His position is one of common sense. Though I would

feel happier if we pulled out of Iraq, a.s.a.p., I have come to realize that the political realities of such a move are not practical. Even Kerry and Dean agree with this. Are they neocons too?

Notice, Clark said he wanted to turn over all political and economic controls to the U.N. That means that the U.S. would be little more than a peacekeeping force, while Iraq restructured its government and economy. This is what would have been done had the U.S. had the U.N. on board in the first place. For the U.S. just to hightail it out of there, would send a bad message to other countries. Two wrongs, don't make a right, in this case.

[DemBones DemBones]

15. Kucinich says "UN in, US out." That's "far leftist" Dennis Kucinich,

mind you, saying we get out ASAP but we don't leave Iraq in chaos with no one working for order.

[DemBones DemBones]

16. Kucinich says "UN in, US out." That's "far leftist" Dennis Kucinich,

mind you, saying we get out ASAP but we don't leave Iraq in chaos with no one working for order.

[SWPAdem]

26. Bullshit!

When did the Neocons ever support any type of UN involvement? They despise the UN.

On edit: Just caught the sarcasm.......sorry

[DemBones DemBones]

7. Kucinich supports medical use of marijuana, and would also

end the "War on Drugs," supporting treatment for those who abuse drugs, rather than punishment.

Kucinich also opposes capital punishment, without exceptions.

Kucinich is often accused of being "too far left" but I think a majority of the American people will agree with and support his positions.

I'm glad Clark is expressing "far left" sentiments. I disagree compleely with Dean's position that we must have the FDA study medical use of marijuana before we can allow its use. Clark apparently favors capital punishment only for a few cases involving large-scale crimes, (e.g. Usama bin Laden), which improves on Dean's endorsement of it for child killers and cop killers as well as terrorists.

We need to know where each candidate stands on issues so we can make comparisons and informed decisions.

Politics is still about issues.

[wyldwolf]

9. DemBones DemBones, you would be amazed at the number of people...

...I meet while I'm out with the Dem party in my area who list their first and second choices as either Clark Kucinich or Kucinich Clark.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. That's good to hear, especially considering the

media's record of ignoring Kucinich.

[even]

19. It might be just the thing.

DK is a real pitbull. Whatever,its all very good. 10 Dems say ,NO MORE Bush! What is Karl to do? There is not enough slime for them all.
Democrats are the best.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

31. That's me, Kucinich first, I'll hold my nose for Clark

Since I'm being pragmatic by being a Democrat in the first place, it just makes sense. Kucinich being the one I agree with the most, and Clark being a mostly acceptable alternative to Bush. Right now, Kucinich has my vote, but if he drops out Gephardt, Clark, or possibly Edwards will be second place.

[sweetheart]

28. kucinich rocks

clark is cool too... an end to being a disenfranchised "criminal" "enemy" "scourge" "lowlife" "stoner" "druggie"... boy have i had enough. I support both these guys... they are real. The other guys are fakers and not liberals.

[Mairead]

32. hmmm...

(this isn't really directed at you, DB, I just couldn't find a better place to hook it in)

On other hot-button issues, Clark said he doesn’t condone widespread use of marijuana but would consider allowing it for pain relief. "We need to look at that and make some allowances one way or another," the candidate said of so-called medicinal marijuana usage.

Still sounds like a drug warrior, to me. Imagine if he proposed making, say, aspirin illegal because he doesn't 'condone widespread use' of it (there are people who don't), but he'd 'consider' allowing it for post-trauma pain.

Mj is rarely used for 'pain relief' as such. For nausea, for spasticity, for anorexia, and for other things...but not usually for pain qua pain. (edit) You might toke up after cutting your knee open in a fall, but it would be for the calming effects, not pain relief--for that part you'd do aspirin.

[SWPAdem]

33. Picky, picky, picky

"On other hot-button issues, Clark said he doesn’t condone widespread use of marijuana but would consider allowing it for pain relief. "We need to look at that and make some allowances one way or another," the candidate said of so-called medicinal marijuana usage."


Yeah, sounds like the very first thing that he plans to do is round up all the potheads and execute them.

[sweetheart]

36. that's true

maybe clark is a closet-clinton sellout on the drugs war. You're right that the language is still in tune with imprisoning cannabis users and branding their record... like ol' "imprison cheech & chong" asscrack.

I'm kucinich first, and like the other poster, hold my nose for clark.

[Bread and Circus]

11. Fellow Clark bars, keep this Kicked

:kick:

The more people hear Clark on specific hot-button
issues, the more we can dispell the myth that he
is PNAC or Rove's Robot.

[wyldwolf]

14. Clark and Kucinich agree on this, too!

HEADLINE: U.S. must rebuild Iraq, Kucinich says
BYLINE: By DEBORAH BAKER, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: SANTA FE

BODY: The United States must rebuild Iraq but should make way in the
meantime for United Nations peacekeeping forces, Democratic
presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said.

...the U.S. must not turn its back on war-torn Iraq, he also said.

"This administration broke it, and they bought it. And now we have an obligation to make the people there whole. We can't walk away from it," he said.

http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20030630/016968.html

[DemExpat]

21. Another reason to back Wesley Clark....

I'm always pleasantly surprised, thrilled, actually, :-) when I see him unfolding exactly in the manner I had hoped for.

May this keep up!!!!!

:kick:

DemEx

[deaniebopper]

22. So he's a war criminal AND a pothead?

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RandomUser]

38. How would advocating medical marijuana

make him a pothead? Medical marijuana is used for easing pain. That doesn't mean that Clark has a drug habit. Think your logic through, please.

[gully]

39. OK, I gotta laugh at that one...

;)

[imhotep]

23. He will change what Clinton changed

absolutely nothing.

[bitchkitty]

24. That's nice to know -

although medical marijuana is not one of my issues, even though I am on the OMMP program here and at the moment am sampling the clippings from one of my girls.

If I wasn't flexible as far as issues go, I would have registered Green a long time ago. I'm still with the Dems in spite of the insistence from most of them on continuing the War on Some Drugs - I've given up on this issue, I think. It's much too huge a cash cow for any Administration, Dem or Repub, to let go of.

[RandomUser]

37. Same with me

Not one of my major issues, but his stance sounds reasonable.

[w4rma]

27. Clark is following Dean's lead, again, I see. Great!

…
KING: Santa Cruz, California, hello.

CALLER: Hi Governor Dean. My question to you is, given your medical background and your view on states rights, in your opinion, what should the federal government do about medical marijuana?

DEAN: I don't think they should throw people in jail in California, but I think do think -- here's what I think. I think the process by which medical marijuana is being legalized is the wrong process. I don't like it when politicians interfere in medicine. It's why I am very pro-choice. Because I don't think that is the government's business. So what I will do as president is, I will acquire the FDA within first 12 months to evaluate marijuana and see if it is, in fact, a decent medicine or not. If it is, for what purposes -- for certain purposes, and I suspect it will be for cancer patients and HIV/AIDS patients. And it should be allowed for that. But I suspect it will not be allowed for things like glaucoma. But we have to do the FDA studies. I think marijuana should be treated like every other drug in the process and there shouldn't be a special process which is based on politics to legalize it.
…
http://www.cnn.tv/TRANSCRIPTS/0308/04/lkl.00.html

Anyway since there seems to be some confusion over Deans stance on medicinal marijuana I thought you folks might to see a post made by the Doc himself in answer to an 18 year olds query on the subject.

"Jeremy(from previous thread). I'm impressed that an 18 year old would spend time on a political blog site. Here is a short summary of my drug policy. 1) drug abuse ought to be treated as a public health problem not a judicial problem. I do not favor legalization because we already have enough problems with the two drugs that are legal, alcohol and tobacco. I also believe that if people are dealing heroin to kids or shooting people that jail is more than appropriate. But if your "crime", is being a substance abuser you belong in rehab, not jail. 2)I will order the FDA to study marijuana to see what medicinal effects it may have. I do not think marijuana should have a process different than every other drug to evaluate whether or not it has medical value. Based on the studies I have read, my guess is that the FDA may find that is useful in patients with HIV/Aids, and various forms of cancer, but not for such things as treating glaucoma, where there are other drugs available, and where the risks outway the benefits. I';m on the way back from New York, so i got to read alot of the blogging that went on today. You folks are terrific!! Thank you for an incredible day, and an incredible quarter. Howard Dean

Posted by howard dean at July 1, 2003 12:42 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1784&mesg_id=1784&page=

[Mairead]

34. Bet you can't get him to explain why mj should be illegal but

St. John's Wort, aspirin, datura, kava kava, foxglove, etc. shouldn't.

[gully]

41. Because you don't smoke em man... Good point though?

hmmmm...

[Rex]

29. Well, since the economy is causing me pain & hardship

like, don't bogart the bong! Pass some good news my way! ;)

[gully]

40. How do you feel about this doc? I know yesterday you expressed concerns

about legalizing maryjane bc of all the side effects?