Washington, DC: Senator Barack Obama’s campaign backed away from statements made last week affirming the Senator’s support for decriminalizing marijuana, after being confronted with inconsistencies in his past and present campaigns on the issue by the Washington Times.
A spokesman for Obama’s campaign blamed confusion over the meaning of decriminalization for the inconsistencies, and said that while Obama does not support decriminalization, “we are sending far too many first-time, nonviolent drug users to prison for very long periods of time, and that we should rethink those laws.”
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at: allen@norml.org. Full text of the Washington Times article can be found at: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080201/NATION/43529865/0/FRONTPAGE.