Jill Stein And Gary Johnson: Better Candidates For Marijuana Legalization Than Hillary Clinton Or Donald Trump


In a presidential election featuring two candidates that have more haters than supporters, third-party candidates like Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party have a unique opportunity to have their voices heard. More and more voters are having trouble supporting Republican Party candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. And while Stein and Johnson have drastically different views on important issues like the environment and the economy, there’s one issue they appear to agree on: the legalization of marijuana. Whether seen as an issue of liberty or an issue of liberalism, both of the third-party candidates have favorable views on marijuana that both Clinton and Trump fail to recognize.

Jill Stein On Marijuana Legalization

In an email sent out by the Jill Stein For President campaign on September 23, the candidate gave a whole new meaning to “Green Party.” The message used strong language from the very beginning about the federal government’s handling of the drug that continues to be legalized at the state level for both medicinal and recreational purposes.

“Eighty years. That’s a long time. But that’s how long there has been a systematic brainwashing and misleading of Americans on the issue of marijuana legalization. For decades we’ve been told it’s a ‘gateway drug’ that leads the user into more and more dangerous, illicit substances. Multiple studies have shown that’s simply not true.”

Stein, and her vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka, continues to reiterate the point that marijuana is only dangerous when it’s illegal. When people are purchasing the drug illegally on the black market, both the product and the process are unregulated and unsafe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFw9xfAvENE

In the end, the email makes the claim that Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka are “the only candidates that stand with the American voter” when it comes to common sense marijuana legislation. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson would beg to differ.

Gary Johnson On Marijuana Legalization

Gary Johnson has never been secretive about supporting the legalization of marijuana. As previously reported by Inquisitr, Gary Johnson was the CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc. — a producer of high-quality, legal marijuana products — as recently as 2015. As a conservative, Johnson takes a stronger stance than most of the GOP candidates, who typically say the issue should be decided at the state level, since the federal war on drugs has been a complete failure. But the former governor of New Mexico believes that the drug should be legalized at the federal level.

However, as things currently stand, voters may not get a chance to hear Gary Johnson or Jill Stein talk about marijuana legalization — or anything else — alongside Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the debates. As a preview from MSNBC indicates, the only two candidates scheduled for the first presidential debate are Clinton and Trump.

Donald Trump On Marijuana Legalization

As previously reported by Inquisitr, Donald Trump tends to give a Libertarian-sounding response when asked about the legalization of marijuana, saying that it is an issue that should be decided by the states. The possibility of President Trump naming Chris Christie as his attorney general (which many believe he will since Christie is very loyal to Trump and was looked over as his choice for vice president) makes pro-marijuana advocates very nervous. And the Marijuana Policy Project rated Trump’s stance on marijuana legalization at a C+, lower than Johnson (A+), Jill Stein (A+), and Hillary Clinton (B+).


RELATED REPORTS BY THE INQUISITR


Hillary Clinton On Marijuana Legalization

Hillary has a generally optimistic view towards marijuana legalization, although her stance is more skeptical than Stein or Johnson. Not fully convinced of the benefits of medicinal marijuana or the social impact of legalized recreational marijuana, Clinton does support further cannabis research and views states like Colorado and Oregon as test cases for what marijuana legalization could look like at the federal level.

According to the most recent polling data available from Real Clear Politics, in a four-way race including the aforementioned candidates, Hillary Clinton (42.0 percent) leads Donald Trump (39.7 percent) by 2.3 percent, with Gary Johnson (8.5 percent) coming in third and Jill Stein (2.8 percent) coming in fourth.

[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images and Scott Olson/Getty Images]

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