MPP issues final grades to presidential candidates

Key West

New Member
When we launched this campaign in April 2003, we underestimated the
amount of attention and credibility our campaign would be able to
garner in just eight months. Incredibly, MPP has persuaded six of the
nine candidates to adopt positive positions on medical marijuana, to
varying degrees.

A+ - Dennis Kucinich: On May 29, Kucinich was quoted in the San
Francisco Chronicle as supporting medical marijuana "without
reservation" and indicated that as president he would be
willing to sign an executive order permitting its use.

A - Carol Moseley Braun: When asked at a campaign stop in Durham on
November 3 if she would sign legislation allowing seriously ill
people to use medical marijuana with their doctors' approval,
Moseley Braun responded, "Yes ... You don't have to record me,
I'm already on record on this."

A- - John Kerry: During a town hall meeting in Henniker on Sept. 20,
an MPP staffer asked Kerry, "Would you stop the raids, as
president?" Kerry responded by saying simply, "Yes."

B+ - Wesley Clark: During a November 13 town hall meeting in
Portsmouth, a volunteer for MPP's campaign asked Clark if, as
president, he would stop the DEA's raids on seriously ill
medical marijuana patients in the nine states that have removed
the threat of jail for medical marijuana patients. Clark
replied, "In a simple yes-or-no answer: Yes."

B - Al Sharpton: When an MPP volunteer asked Sharpton on December 9
if, as president, he would stop the DEA's raids on medical
marijuana patients, he replied, "I think that medical marijuana
patients should not be arrested for using medical marijuana. I
think that's something that I wouldn't do."

D- - Howard Dean: At a town hall meeting in Hampton on November 13,
an MPP volunteer asked Dean if he would promise to permanently
stop raids on medical marijuana patients in the states that
have reduced or eliminated criminal penalties for the medicinal
use of marijuana. Dean responded, "I don't believe in what
Ashcroft's doing about medical -- putting people in prison who
are, who have AIDS. Let me tell you what we have to do on
medical marijuana. I stopped a medical marijuana bill in my
legislature, and I'll tell you why. Because I'm a doctor, I
think substances taken into your body have to be treated the
same if they're meant to be medicines, no matter what they are.
And I don't like people -- for the same reason I'm pro-choice
-- I don't like people who are not in a position to make
decisions about people's lives, like politicians particularly
... In the meantime, you know, I'm not in favor of legalizing
marijuana -- I mean, maybe for medicinal use ... And so I'm not
in favor of the kinds of raids that John Ashcroft is doing in
those states where people have decided that medical marijuana
is okay. I don't agree with the way it came about from a
political process, but I'm not in favor of locking people up
for medical marijuana like John Ashcroft is doing." Dean has
called for a one-year moratorium on the DEA's raids; the notion
of restarting the raids after one year, in combination with his
actions as governor, have earned him a D- grade.

F - George Bush, John Edwards, Richard Gephardt, and Joe Lieberman:
We tried our best, but Edwards, Gephardt, and Lieberman simply
would not pledge to end the DEA's raids on patients. Edwards is
particularly hypocritical, given that he admitted to having
smoked marijuana recreationally.

Information taken from email:
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
 
From the way it looks right now....Bush will continue to be president.
 
Everyone needs to pass this around as much as possible. Maybe we can help to derail Bush...........
 
what about John Edwards?
 
He is on there with a F- along with Bush and others who wont support medicinal Marijuana and wont say that he will stop the raids on medicinal users.
 
ya know, i hope bush wins again... even if i don't live in the states, i want to be above the country with a floundering economy (which'll go even further down once that whole temporary citizenship for migrant farmers from mexico comes fully into practice) and a man as a leader that has a history of abusing human rights, executing severely retarded people, MIA during his term in the Air national guard, several dui charges that were unanswered, corporate fraud/insider trading/embezzelment charges that were once again unanswered, and singlehandedly did the most damage to international socio-political stability than probably every despot in history.
 
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