Sen. Welch: "War on Drugs was way overbroad when it came to marijuana"

Who?

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT)

LISTEN: Laslo & Welch

Ask a Pol asks:

Do you have any thoughts on the DEA — Drug Enforcement Administration — moving to reschedule marijuana?

Key Welch: 

“I'm in favor,” Sen. Peter Welch exclusively told Ask a Pol. “Everybody knows the War on Drugs was way overbroad when it came to marijuana, and it did a lot of harm, and hard to see what good it did. And the overscheduling of it was a grave mistake.”

Support SAFER Banking?

“Yes,” Welch told us. 

Caught our ear:

“The overscheduling of it was a grave mistake. It just isn't the same as hardcore drugs,” Welch told us. “So this is long overdue.”

Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), slightly edited for clarity.

TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Peter Welch

SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches up with Sen. Peter Welch as he walks across the grounds of the US Capitol.

Matt Laslo: “Curious your thoughts on the DEA looking to reschedule marijuana?”

Peter Welch: “I'm in favor.”

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ML: “Yeah? Cause I mean — cause a lot of Democrats, like — are you with [Sens.] Booker and Schumer on the clemency part wanting, fighting for clemency for past convictions? Cause I'm curious if you all, if Dems lose leverage with the administration.”

PW: “Yeah, I mean — look, everybody knows the ‘war on drugs’ was way overbroad when it came to marijuana, and it did a lot of harm and hard to see what good it did. And the overscheduling of it was a grave mistake. It just isn't the same as hardcore drugs. So this is long overdue.”

ML: “Yeah?”

PW: “And the prosecutions that were, in effect, treating marijuana as something much worse than it was, we should address that.”

ML: “Yeah?”

PW: “So, you know, I'm inclined to support that.”

ML: “And I take it you're with your party on SAFER Banking?”

PW: “Yes.”

ML: “Yeah?”

PW: “Yeah.”

ML: “Yep.”

PW: “Thanks.”

ML: “Preciate ya, sir. Have a good one.”

Andrey Beregovskiy and Walken Whalen contributed to this report.

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