Jim Jeffords on Drugs Independent Jr Senator (VT, retiring 2006)

Decriminalize medical marijuana

Jeffords supports the following principles regarding illegal drugs:
• Expand federally sponsored drug education and drug treatment programs.
• Decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
• Increase border security to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.

Drug efforts in Colombia OK if joined with society-building

With the remarkable success of US Government antinarcotics programs in Peru and Bolivia, 80% of the heroin consumed in the US is now cultivated in Colombia. We have no choice now but to focus our antidrug efforts in Colombia. While I realize that we must bring pressure to bear on the drug cartels, [I am] very skeptical about the utility of the military response to social and political problems. My chief concerns with it have been the Colombian military campaign against narcotics cultivation, and the abysmal human rights record of paramilitary groups that have frequently been linked to the military forces. I am also concerned that we not get dragged into a major, longterm counterinsurgency effort.

Voted NO on increasing penalties for drug offenses.

Voted NO on spending international development funds on drug control.