Clinton Campaign's "Drug Baiting" Shows She is on the Wrong Side of Both Wars

Every presidential election year there is a news cycle about candidates' drug use. The "I did not inhale" statement by then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton was one of the most humorous and pitiful "admissions" that still makes the eyes roll. Another pathetic example of hypocrisy came from George W. Bush. "Mr. Straight Shooter" still refuses to answer questions about his "youthful indiscretions," and the record has been expunged. In this context, Sen. Barack Obama's honesty on this topic was so refreshing. In his book, Dreams from My Father, Obama openly admits to not only smoking marijuana but trying cocaine. We also have read about Obama's current struggles over giving up cigarettes.

Why should any of us be surprised that any politician, whether it be Sen. Obama, former Vice President Gore, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, has tried (and maybe even enjoyed) marijuana or other drugs. Remember, despite 40 years of attempting to make a "Drug-Free America," half of all high school students have tried marijuana before they graduate from high school.

Tens of millions of Americans still use drugs (alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, Viagra, cocaine, caffeine, prescription drugs) both for pleasure and to soothe pain. The fact that Obama used drugs in his youth only humanizes him. I believe that it will backfire for Hillary and her campaign to try to "Willie Horton" Obama on the drug question. Hillary is still facing anger from voters for her cynical support of Bush's devastating war in Iraq. Far from showing leadership, Hillary has constantly been behind the curve and public sentiment regarding the war in Iraq. And now Hillary is showing that she is behind the curve when it comes to the other war: the war on drugs.

Not only is her campaign trying to take down Obama with drug baiting, she is also backwards when it comes to our racist drug laws. Federal mandatory minimums enacted by Congress in the 1980s punished sellers of crack cocaine 100 times more severely than those convicted of powder-cocaine offenses. Five grams of crack means an automatic five years in jail. It takes up to 500 grams of powdered cocaine for the same punishment. This has not led to less drug use but, instead, a prison system that mass incarcerates African Americans and Latinos. While drug abuse doesn't discriminate, our drug policies do. Despite equal drug use among blacks and whites, blacks go to jail on drug charges at 13 times the rate of whites. Hillary Clinton is the only major Democratic presidential candidate who did not support the Sentencing Commission's unanimous vote this week to apply recent sentencing reductions for crack-cocaine offenses retroactively.

The war in Iraq and the war on drugs are two unwinnable wars that have caused unimaginable suffering and death. The country is looking for leadership and for exit strategies that will allow us to heal from these catastrophes. Hillary has decided to put her chips on the Bush Administration's fearmongoring. Hillary is tone deaf and living in the past. In upcoming elections it is going to be "drug baiting" and support of inhumane and racist laws that will cost more votes than having tried marijuana when you were young.

Tony Newman is director of media relations for the Drug Policy Alliance Network.

Comments

[BionicWoman]

I don't understand something: why do we have to have the leader of our country - the leader of the free world - who has had a drug problem? What is wrong with being fine, upstanding and law-abiding?

Not everyone learns by mistakes, some can figure out the right things to do. Anyone who thinks its okay to have a past drug problem, I guess thinks it okay to have a past drinking problem.

Well, you can have more Bush-type judgments but don't force them on those of us who want someone fine and upstanding for president.

[hopeless277]

Amen! Are there any stats on how many people have murdered other people while high on pot as opposed to drunk on beer? And yet beer is promoted to children at ballparks, stadiums, tv commercials, billboards, magazines, newspapers, and by every major sports star available. Alcohol is addictive. Pot is not. It's insane. I say legalize all drugs, control and tax them. Put the violent pushers out of business. But of course in the bizzaro land of the 'free', money talks and everything else walks. As long as the liquor industry controls the congress(along with every other major industry in America) we will continue to incarcerate potheads and let multiple DUI felons back on the roads. Total insanity.

[Countess]

Mrs. Clinton has apologized personally to Obama for the drug smear but she should be apologizing for her votes supporting Bush's positions. She has consistenly taken the GOP side with her votes which is perhaps why she insists that she is the best to beat them by joining them.

[ConnieInCleveland]

The only good thing about what Hillary and her campaign say is, they are providing insight to how she plans to lead as a warmonger. Americans need to recover, not generate more casualties. We can't afford more casualties, we can't take care of the ones we have already created. How many broken families can America handle? The drug war is a war on American soil. The term Drug Czar was used by Bush Sr., Czar is not a term that should be associated with American leadership. Providing money for the prisons should not be a goal of our future president. America needs to recover!

[dtd]

It should also be noted that she is continuing her husband's shameful legacy of not ending this racist drug policy b/c in 1995 he vetoed his sentencing commission's recommendation to end the disparity for the same reason she states today: fear of White suburban backlash. By not supporting retroactivity that now even the Bush Administration supports and sending a not so subtle message to Democrats that Senator Obama can not be trusted with the nomination because he would be too easily painted as a Black drug dealer, she's pandering to racist fears. What's worse, a racist or someone willing to use racism to their advantage?