As the 2016 presidential race heats up the candidates are increasingly talking about marijuana, with some proactively campaigning on pro-reform platforms and others only addressing the issue when asked by voters or journalists.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked on Monday night during an appearance in Iowa whether she would support or oppose legalization as president, and responded that she “would support states and localities that are experimenting with this.”

While Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has previously called states “the laboratories of democracy” and said, “I want to wait and see what the evidence is,” the new remarks, made during a question-and-answer session at Luther College, are the clearest indication yet that she would respect state marijuana laws if elected.

On Monday Clinton also criticized federal barriers to research on marijuana. There is “a lot of anecdotal evidence” that marijuana has medical benefits, she said, “but we have no [scientific]evidence because researchers can’t experiment with marijuana because it’s a controlled substance,” according to a rush transcript of the remarks obtained by Marijuana.com.

“We have people trying to help kids with cancer, we have people who deserve to have but we don’t know what interaction with other drugs, what right dosage are because can’t conduct research,” she said. “If we’re going to pass medical marijuana, we have to allow research and try to get real science.”

Other candidates are being more proactive about their views on marijuana.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, also a Democrat, is planning to hold what his campaign is calling a “Marijuana Legalization Listening Session” on Thursday at the Denver offices of a law firm that specializes in marijuana policy. “O’Malley will hear from policymakers, experts, business owners, and law enforcement about how Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana has been working …read more

Source:: Weed Feed