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Source: NORML Weekly News
Pub Date: Thursday, 07 December 2000
URL: www.norml.org
Contact: foundation@norml.org
President Clinton supports decriminalisation of cannabis
NORML Foundation
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
foundation@norml.org
December 7, 2000
President Clinton States Marijuana Should Be Decriminalized
Los Angeles, CA: This week, in an interview in Rolling Stone
magazine, President Bill Clinton says he believes people should
not be arrested for possessing marijuana.
The self-admitted one-time marijuana smoker, who claims he
did not inhale, told the magazine which hits newsstands on Friday,
"I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been
decriminalized in some places, and should be."
He added, "We really need a re-examination of our entire
policy on imprisonment. Some people deliberately hurt other people
and they ought to be in jail because they can't be trusted on the
streets. Some people do things that are so serious that they have
to be put in jail to discourage other people from doing similar
things. But a lot of people are in prison because they have drug
problems or alcohol problems and too many of them are getting out,
particularly out of state systems, without treatment, without
education skills, without serious efforts at job placement."
"President Clinton's incredibly belated support for
decriminalizing marijuana is a bittersweet moment for marijuana
law reform supporters," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation
Executive Director. "On one hand, no less than the president of
the United States supports NORML's long-held tenet that
responsible adult marijuana smokers shouldn't be arrested. On the
other hand, during Clinton's eight-year term in office, we
witnessed the largest number of marijuana arrests in our history -
over 4,175,357 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges between
1992-99. NORML hopes that President Clinton, like former President
Jimmy Carter, will commit his post-presidency to fighting for
great social justice causes - such as ending the war on marijuana
smokers."
St. Pierre continued, "I wonder if Clinton's wife, Senator-
elect Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), agrees with her husband's
newly stated position on marijuana?"
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre,
NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751.
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