Issue Position: Marijuana

Issue Position

The punishment needs to fit the crime…

There are two pieces to this argument -- 1) The burden that possession charges are creating on our criminal justice system and 2) The legalization or marijuana -medicinal or recreational. I have the following short answers for these two topics below.
In an effort to alleviate our criminal justice system from minor possession charges, I am willing to listen to both sides discuss the impacts of minor possession implications. I believe that we are overburdening our criminal justice system and in return we are raising costs associated with these possession charges to our tax payers.
Currently, I do not support the legalization of marijuana as it is still a Schedule 1 drug per the Drug Enforcement Agency. I am aware of of numerous studies that show its benefits as it relates to medicinal use and I would be willing to look more into this topic.
UPDATE: August 11, 2016 -- The FDA has determined that there is no scientific proof that marijuana is as effective as current medications which legally restricts the DEA from rescheduling the drug. At this point, I am in concurrence that we should continue to stay the course with the United States Federal government's decisions and keep marijuana illegal in our state.

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