SendTheRightMessage.org Anti-Prohibitionist Presidential Candidates Report Card / End War on Drugs

The Anti-Prohibitionist Candidate Report Card grades presidential candidates based on holistic evaluations of their drug and marijuana policy positions. These evaluations are based primarily upon candidates' public statements and voting records.

With 2.3 million people now in prison (up from less than 200,000 in 1970), it's past time to abandon the fantasy that arrests and incarcerations will ever solve our nation's drug problems. Instead, our current approach needlessly wastes billions of dollars and exacerbates many of America's existing social problems.

At SendTheRightMessage.com, we realize drug policy may not be the single most important issue in this election, but we believe it is among the most important issues, and we appreciate all the voters and candidates who have taken time to reconsider our nation's failed "War on Drugs."

Here is how we view the Republican candidates:

Candidate	Grade	More info
Ron Paul	A+	Texas Congressman Ron Paul has won ten elections in conservative congressional districts, amazing considering he is a staunch anti-prohibitionist. "The Drug Prohibition program that's going on now is every bit as bad if not worse than what happened with the prohibition of alcohol," he told us in August. When we caught up with Paul in October, he told us his anti-prohibitionism hasn't hurt him on the campaign trial. "I think people are way ahead of the government and politicians," he explained.
Candidate	Grade	More info
Tom Tancredo	C	Colorado Congressman Tancredo takes an honest position that anti-prohibitionists should applaud. Although he does not advocate changing drug laws and says he voted against medical marijuana in the Colorado legislature, he insists that the federal government's role in drug enforcement is strictly limited by the Constitution. He told us that even if a state chooses to end Marijuana Prohibition entirely, as Nevada nearly did in 2006, he would respect that state's right to do so. We appreciated the intellectually honest answer from Tancredo.
Candidate	Grade	More info
John McCain	D-	Arizona Senator John McCain, a staunch prohibitionist, was surprised to have been questioned by an active duty New Hampshire police officer in November. When the officer, a speaker with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, told McCain the War on Drugs was a failure, McCain said he'd support a very small increment of reform. "I will agree with you to this extent, that too often we put first-time drug users in prison," he said. But what will he do to end the unconstitutional raids against medical marijuana patients? He told us: "Nothing."
Candidate	Grade	More info
Rudy Giuliani	F	Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, in a 1994 speech, waxed philosophical about his concept of freedom: "Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do." Giuliani served as lead counsel for the makers of Oxycontin, who lied to the government and the people about the drug's addictive qualities, but he told us in November that the FDA and his wife (a nurse) have assured him marijuana can't be medicine.
Candidate	Grade	More info
Mitt Romney	F	Unlike Paul and Tancredo, former Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney refuses to acknowledge constitutional limits constraining the federal War on Drugs. When asked how he'd respond if a state like Nevada (44% in 2006) voted to end Marijuana Prohibition, he evaded the question and instead went off on into a confused rant about holding the line against medical marijuana. At a previous event, Romney cited the $700M being spent to eradicate crops in Colombia as a sign of "progress" in the War on Drugs, saying what we need domestically is another "campaign as effective as 'Just Say No' was. Ugh.
Candidate	Grade	More info
Mike Huckabee	F	Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee talks a great game on states' rights and the 10th Amendment, but when a state chooses a policy he doesn't like such as medical marijuana, all bets are off. When we met with Huckabee in August, he gave us quite a speech on the virtues of decentralizing power and lettting states be "laboratories of good government," but when asked if he'd end the federal raids in states which have chosen to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest, he said the issue wasn't important.
Candidate	Grade	More info
Fred Thompson	F	Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson entered the race late and has thus far eluded the necessity of defining himself on drug and marijuana policy. However, it has been reported that Thompson ran for senate on a staunchly prohibitionist platform in 1994, so we'll start him off with an F and change it if he shows he has evolved.
Candidate	Grade	More info
Duncan Hunter	F	California Congressman Duncan Hunter seems to approve of wars in general, and the "War on Drugs" is certainly no exception.