| HENNIKER, NH, - September 22 - Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) pledged an end to the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in states that have reduced or eliminated criminal penalties for medical uses of marijuana at a town hall meeting hosted by his campaign on Saturday.
During Sen. Kerry's town hall meeting at New England College, in Henniker, GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston asked Kerry, "Would you stop the raids, as president?" Kerry responded by saying, "Yes."
This came one day after fellow Democratic presidential candidate and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean pledged a moratorium on the Bush administration's raids on medical marijuana patients while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would study the drug, though he declined to say he would permanently end the policy of jailing medical marijuana patients.
After the Dean campaign forum, which took place Friday at Berlin's town hall, GSMM member Anthony Harp asked Dean his view about medical marijuana for seriously ill patients. Dean responded, "Medical marijuana should be up to the FDA. ... As president, I will require the FDA to do the studies and evaluate the existing studies within 12 months and then we'll see what they say and then we'll do whatever they say."
GSMM's Houston asked Dean, "During that study, governor, will you continue the current policy of raiding patients?" referring to the DEA's raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in states that have reduced or eliminated criminal penalties for medical uses of marijuana. Dean replied, "Will I do what [Attorney General] Ashcroft is doing? No, absolutely not." Houston then asked, "You would stop the raids?" Dean responded, "Yeah, I'm not going to do that, anyway."
When Houston persisted and asked the former governor if he would permanently put a stop to the raids, Dean replied, "Well, I don't want to say `permanent,' that sounds pretty definite. What I'm not going to do is what Ashcroft is doing."
While Dean has frequently encountered the same question from GSMM at campaign stops across New Hampshire, he never specifically addressed whether or not he would stop the DEA raids on medical marijuana patients.
"This is a large step in the right direction," said GSMM's Houston. "Senator Kerry would end the raids because he realizes it's wrong to arrest terminally ill patients who had the audacity to seek relief from their pain by adhering to state law. Governor Dean's call for a moratorium is a step forward, but he shouldn't need a study to know that it's wrong to arrest seriously ill people for simply trying to relieve their suffering."
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