In Short
Sen. Clinton has publicly promised to end the federal raids on state medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. Sen. Clinton also voted against an amendment in the U.S. Senate that was intended to undermine state medical marijuana laws.
What Sen. Clinton Has Done:
On April 19, 2007, Sen. Clinton voted against the Coburn amendment, which, if enacted, could put medical marijuana patients and caregivers at even greater risk than they already face and could be used by opponents to attempt to shut down state medical marijuana programs across the country.
What Sen. Clinton Has Said:
During a major policy address in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 29, 2007, Sen. Clinton was asked if she would continue President Bush’s policy of arresting sick and dying medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. Sen. Clinton responded: “Well, I will certainly look into it, I certainly will. There are a number of [medical marijuana] states, right?” When GSMM staff explained to her that 12 states currently have laws that protect medical marijuana patients and their caregivers, she responded, “I think that’s excessive, I agree.”
While meeting with members of the audience at a July 13 campaign rally held at Victory Park in Manchester, a GSMM volunteer told Sen. Clinton, “Twelve states allow medical marijuana but the Bush administration continues to raids patients,” to which she responded, “Yes, I know, it’s terrible.” When the volunteer asked, “Would you stop the federal raids?” Sen. Clinton responded, “Yes, I will.”
Sen. Hillary Clinton–Plymouth, NH town hall forum–Oct. 11, 2007
During the question and answer portion of an October 11 town hall forum at Plymouth State College in Plymouth, New Hampshire, a member of the audience asked Sen. Clinton, “I have a question about something that pains me deeply — medical marijuana?”
Sen. Clinton responded, “With respect to medical marijuana, you know I think that we have a lot of rhetoric and the federal government has been very intent upon trying to prevent states from being able to offer that as an option for people who are in pain. I think we should be doing medical research on this. We’ve ought to find what are the elements that claim to be existing in marijuana that might help people who are suffering from cancer, nausea-related treatments. We ought to find that out. I don’t think we should decriminalize it, but we ought to do research into what, if any, medical benefits it has. Remember, most painkillers come from poppies. We’ve had all kinds of drugs that have benefited Americans. So you know, we ought to be doing research. If there’s something that could be made available that would be legal, we should look to that because I think that there are a lot of people suffering from debilitating pain, from medical treatments, that they undergo, and there’s no reason they should suffer needlessly if we can have a legal, ethical framework to try to alleviate that pain.”