What Republican Presidential Candidates Say About Legalizing Marijuana (SLIDESHOW)

WASHINGTON -- Fifty percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, according to a recently released Gallup poll. That number, up from just 36 percent in 2006, marks a record high and could have significant implications for candidates on the campaign trail, advocates say.

Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson has already come out in favor of legalizing marijuana, announcing on Wednesday that he would even consider issuing a full presidential pardon for anyone serving a prison sentence for a nonviolent marijuana crime. Such pardons are part of what he envisions as a broader "rational drug policy."

"Pot smokers may be the largest untapped voting bloc in the country," he said in an interview with Outside Magazine. "A hundred million Americans have smoked marijuana. You think they want to be considered criminals?"

Though Johnson has been excluded from recent GOP debates and polls show he garners less than 1 percent of the national vote, recent surveys suggest that, if current trends persist, legalization of marijuana could indeed become a hot-button topic by election 2016.

Support for legalization is as high as 62 percent among Americans under the age of 30, and Gallup has found that Americans are especially likely to favor legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. According to a Gallup survey last year, 70 percent favored making it legal for doctors to prescribe marijuana to reduce pain and suffering.

What's more, Republicans could exploit pot advocates' anger at President Barack Obama, who as a candidate promised to maintain a hands-off approach toward pot clinics adhering to state law. At a 2007 town hall meeting in Manchester, N.H., Obama said raiding patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes "makes no sense." At another town hall in Nashua, N.H., he said the Justice Department prosecuting medical marijuana users was "not a good use of our resources." Yet the number of Justice Department raids on marijuana dispensaries has continued to rise.

"The fact that presidential candidates are now actively pointing out the need to end marijuana prohibition, combined with the new Gallup poll showing that more Americans support legalization than oppose it, shows that the time for reform has arrived," said Tom Angell, spokesman for the legalization advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, in an email to HuffPost.

With so many Americans in support of legalization, how long can the rest of the Republican presidential field stay silent on the issue? HuffPost has compiled a slideshow highlighting GOP candidates' positions.

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Comments

[Allison Wunderland]

10:58 PM on 11/28/2011

"Legalize Pot" is the number one topic on the White House [outreach] web site.

[Rational Voice]

06:35 PM on 12/05/2011

... And it has been every single time the administration has asked the public what they think. Often it is the top 10 ... I don't mean IN the top 10 -- I mean ALL of the top 10. In one case it was about the top 200!!

It's clearly what the people want ... and Uncle Sam ain't hearing any of it. He's very committed to the wishes of his corporate masters -- to the point of blindness. Just recently Obama said re-legalizing hemp and creating a new $77 Billion dollar industry "Would not help the economy"... Seriously, what planet are these people on? Cash money is one of the most addictive drugs out there, and Uncle Sam is hooked line and sinker.

[carl b tolken]

10:57 PM on 11/21/2011

i think its stupid how poeple cant see the benifets of Legalizing Marijuana!! It could produce enough revenue to pull this county out of this resseion.... Afrter all alchiol is more likely to become abuse than marijuna could ever be!!! I grew up in a abuseive alcholic house hold with two drunks as parents.....and right around the age of sixteen i left that envioment and moved in with my aunty (who smoked pot)... my life turned around in a month my grade when up and i graduated high school. If i haddent moved i would have never made it though school. i since have smoked pot on my own n ive alsio drank and trust me alchol impairs the body more than pot ever could!!!!! I say Legalizing Marijuana or ban the use of achol again!! hit the 75 percent that drink till they fall down!! after all alochol is leagle and millions of poeople die either from it or cuse of it (DWI`s) WFT america!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Allison Wunderland]

10:59 PM on 11/28/2011

Get yourself a spell-checker, eh pal?

[Chuck Shafer]

11:49 AM on 10/25/2011

I have a niece who suffers from a nerve disease that from time to time shuts of her autonomic bodily functions. When this happens, she can become unconscious. She has suffered falls, etc. The doctors' advice? Take a boatload of pain pills (oxycodone, etc). She tried that, but found that she could not maintain her ability to work while using them (she is a graphics designer). Then Michigan legalized marijuana. She approached her doctor (U. of MI) and asked to try it for her situation. The doctor became irate and said he never would authorize it (great, something that might help--I wonder how many perks he is receiving from big pharma). So my niece went to a different doctor who did. My niece began using medical marijuana through a vaporizer. She reports that when she feels her symptoms coming on, she has some, and it helps to calm the nerves without making her "high" (she said it is hard to explain, but it suppresses the symptoms) so that she can continue her employment.

I am all for medical marijuana. At least!

BTW: my niece is 27 years old.

[imax5]

11:11 AM on 10/25/2011

First of all why not legalize marijuana ? Why not get something in taxes?Legal or not it will continue to be used.This is a fact,that can not be denied,for several generations smoking pot has been going on,and I think legalizing the stuff will help us get out of some of the debt we are in.The idea no one is publically supporting this besides Ron Paul ,is assinine,if I were a betting person I would wager some of the candidates have used(maybe still do).Legalizing is overdue!

[Mike Parent]

10:24 AM on 10/24/2011

Re the Drug War and Marijuana Prohibition: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill
The Genie is out of the bottle, Prohibitionists. The Internet has foiled your time worn tactics. Your lies can no longer endure. NOW, you'll actually have to prove what you say. No easy task, when you're lying!
Dems and Reps, different pages from the same bad book!
LEAP.cc

[LaoShur]

03:25 AM on 10/24/2011

Legalizing pot will will cost Americans jobs!! Just think of all those prison guards, DEA agents, FBI, state and local police, D.As, talk radio hosts and FOX NEWZ commentators that will be out of work!! Not to mention it will INCREASE illegals from Mexico because they will have their police officers out of work as well!! Putting Americans in prison creates jobs!!

[Polyphonic79]

07:28 PM on 10/29/2011

That is one of the most ignorant comments I have ever seen. You want to keep it a crime so we can keep people in prison so the prison guards have jobs? Are you serious or are you just trying to think of the dumbest thing possible and post it on the Internet?

[carl b tolken]

11:09 PM on 11/21/2011

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!! put the drunks in jail after all i want any one pulled over with a dwi to spent six months in jaill from the moment they get pulled over then a month and a half in treatment..... ITs time tp put the shoe on the other foot for a change!!!!!!!

[maxwelldog]

08:21 PM on 10/23/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Z7nkYkagk

Hmmm
Legalizing marijuana means we could be more competitive in the world markets, create hundreds of thousand of jobs in design, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, and energy industries.
Cures cancer (according to UCLA, Harvard, University of Colorado, and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry) without getting a person high. When used in conjunction with smoking it, calms the tremors of CP and MS patients, and improves Alzheimer patients' memories.

[LaoShur]

03:43 AM on 10/24/2011

Not to mention boosting the revenue of the junk food industry!!

[maxwelldog]

08:24 PM on 10/24/2011

Setting up small growing closets for folk who live in apartments and those who live in otherwise inhospitable (desert, extreme Ph lands) areas, and those who want to grow it specifically for medical reasons.

'Course, don't bother with kelloggs, but yeah. Investing in "snack foods" might be worthwhile when it becomes legal.

I personally plan on making my own cancer cure and my own canvas for painting on.
Of course, I can't afford a Mercedes Benz or Lexus, however, as it also makes lightweight car bodies (more durable than steel) which is what MOTIVE auto manufacturers use to make their hybrid and electric cars.

[carl b tolken]

11:13 PM on 11/21/2011

ur stupid!WTF

[mmkay]

08:20 PM on 10/23/2011

There should be some sort of discouraging policy about close up shots of pol with open pie holes. Just saying.

[Deep Thinking Man]

04:04 PM on 10/23/2011

http://washington-drug-defense.com/REEFER_MADNESS

just had to give you one more !!!!!

[Deep Thinking Man]

04:01 PM on 10/23/2011

http://dscriber.com/greenzone/marijuana-advocates-meet-your-enemy-harry-j-anslinger

http://www.reefermadness.org/propaganda/essay2.html

http://www.reefermadnessteachingmuseum.org/ReeferMadness/gorefiles2.htm

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quotes_by/harry+j.+anslinger

http://www.reefermadness.org/propaganda/essay.html

http://www.ephidrina.org/cannabis/taxact.html

http://www.mahalo.com/answers/why-are-henry-j-anslinger-lammont-dupont-and-william-randolph-hearst-so-hated-in-some-circles-in-america-for-what-they-did-in-the-1930s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_marijuana_in_the_United_States

wanna read some CRAP ????...i've got a bunch more of these ignorant links, and here are but a few.

[Mike Parent]

08:58 AM on 10/24/2011

Not fair! You're using the old "facts, truth and common sense ploy." How are prohibitionists supposed to deal with that?;-)

[Captain Hindsight]

01:47 PM on 10/23/2011

There are many LEOs that would support legalization. Smoking is less of a public safety hazard than drinking but one has already been lobbied into legality despite its obvious societal damage. The same can be said for tobacco.
Most of the problems on the Mexican border are related to weed as it is the primary source of income for the cartels to fund their other drug smuggling.
Make it legal, rob the cartels of their income and border violence, prison overcrowding and wasted taxpayer money on interdiction will go away.
It will also stop the pollution in State parks by eliminating illegal growing in the US to avoid the need for border crossing with it.
They burn almost enough every year to support the needs of almost all of the casual users. It makes sense but since so many people in local, state and federal government jobs are making so much money off of it it will never be recognized as a useful substance.

[333Cathy]

01:41 PM on 10/23/2011

I'll tell you what I think about people who are against making pot legal. These are the same people who are usually the right winger churchers.

These people take their kids to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. They have at home bible studies and pray before meals.

They spend an inordinate amount time brain washing their children, but that's not good enough for them. They want us to pass laws that help brain wash their children.

NO THANKS. It's time we got this out of the way.

I'm tired of this. If you don't want your kids smoking pot, cool, but don't think you have the right to make the rest of us live by YOUR ideas of right and wrong. For the church has more than proved that its ideas of right and wrong are..

TWISTED.

[Deep Thinking Man]

02:05 PM on 10/23/2011

well said Cathy...we just fanned each other, or i'd do it !!!!!...please don't take this as an insult, but i think that i love you now !!!!!!!

[333Cathy]

02:15 PM on 10/23/2011

I love you, too!!

I was just thinking more on this. They blame society when they can't brainwash their children enough. They always do this! They never realize that their children grow up and refuse to believe their lies and propaganda.

It's the children who were able to escape it! Bless their hearts and may more of them do so.

[Deep Thinking Man]

02:41 PM on 10/23/2011

Cathy...i must agree with you on everything you've said !!!!!!

[Deep Thinking Man]

12:26 PM on 10/23/2011

i don't know how many here are smokers, and it doesn't matter because we're ENTITLED !!!!!...i have a link to post...please read and understand it because it's very informative !!!!!!

http://fija.org/

[Au Fait]

11:38 AM on 10/23/2011

For the moment, I think a reasonable step would be to at least decriminalize marijuana. Although I am in favor of outright legalization, the potential for big pharma to monopolize the industry looms too large without adequate regulatory legislation already in place.

[PDinCA]

12:20 PM on 10/23/2011

As long as it's legal to grow your own, big pharma will have healthy competition.

[Ben Black]

11:35 AM on 10/23/2011

The current Gallup poll, ~50% of Americans are for its legalization-
-leaves out the % that has been SILENT as a result of it being vilified and stigmatic.
-it also leaves out those incarcerated for it

You also have groups like this:
http://www.cmanet.org/files/pdf/news/cma-cannabis-tac-white-paper-101411.pdf

[Mike Parent]

09:12 AM on 10/24/2011

Imagine how it would have polled if the govt hadn't spent billions over the last 40 years spewing out disinformation and lies. Truth be told, the Internet has let the TRUTH Genie out of the bottle. Prohibitionists can't just say something and not have it refuted.
Dems and Reps, different pages from the same bad book!
LEAP.cc