What someone says before they know the national spotlight is on them is important.
I'll give you it wasn't, "Rah, rah, let's legalize it!" But it was a very reasoned approach. I'd recommend the article as a good read, overall.
http://time.com/13328/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-2016/ - March 2014
Relevant excerpts:
Q. Marijuana legalization in Vermont and indeed in the country is a trend. What do you make of it?
It is a trend, but I think it has a lot of political support from young people especially. It probably will continue to move forward. Colorado led the way. Other states I expect will follow. I have supported the increased use of marijuana for medical purposes, and I can tell you when I was Mayor of the City of Burlington, which includes the University of Vermont, I don’t recall that anybody was arrested for marijuana use. And I have real concerns about implications of the war on drugs that has. We have been engaged in for decades now with a huge cost and the destruction of a whole lot of lives of people who were never involved in any violent activities.
In Vermont right now we’re dealing with a very serious problem with heroin use and use of prescription drugs. We lost over 50 people as a result of overdoses of prescription drugs and heroin. So I am concerned about the overuse of dangerous drugs. And we’ll see what’s going to happen, but I think that debate will take place in Vermont.
Q. So you don’t support the recreational legalization of marijuana in Vermont?
I’m going to look at the issue. It’s not that I support it or don’t support it. To me it is not one of the major issues facing this country. I’ll look at it. I think it has a lot of support and I’ll be talking to young people and others about the issues. But there are two sides to a story.
That to me is consistent enough. Certainly not a flip-flop. It is a well-reasoned line of thinking and in leadership we need more people with critical thinking skills.
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