Gravel: Bush should be jailed, all drugs legalized

Gravel: Bush should be jailed, all drugs legalized

RAW STORY Published: Wednesday May 16, 2007
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Former Sen. Mike Gravel, the longshot presidential candidate who has generated buzz in the liberal blogosphere following a dramatic and heated performance during the first Democratic presidential debate, reaffirmed his belief that President Bush should be jailed for going to war in Iraq and that all drugs should be legalized during an interview with the Iowa Independent blog.

Responding to why he seemed to display anger at the debate, Gravel asserted it was the growing casualty list in Iraq that fueled his passion.

"How would you feel if you were over there (Iraq) getting shot at, getting crippled, because your leaders didn’t exercise proper judgment?" said Gravel. "What about the people who are going to die between now and Christmas because we don’t end the war? That's a reason to get angry."

Gravel went on to reaffirm his support for his signature campaign issue, a national initiative process, as well his support for a national sales tax, a traditionally conservative position.

When asked whether he believed marijuana should be available next to beer in liquor stores, Gravel replied, "Go get yourself a fifth of scotch or a fifth of gin and chug-a-lug it down and you'll find you lose your senses a lot faster than you would smoking some marijuana."

He asserted that all drugs should legalized and regulated. "The drug problem is a public health problem. It's not a criminal problem. We make it a criminal problem because we treat people like criminals."

Gravel continued, "You take a drug addict, you throw him in jail, you leave him there, and he learns the criminal trade so that when he gets out you have recidivism."

When pressed on his earlier statement that President Bush should be jailed for his manipulation of pre-war information, Gravel reaffirmed that belief.

"If you had an FBI agent knock at your door today and you lie to that agent, you commit a felony and you go to jail," Gravel said.

"If that's the way it is for ordinary citizens, what about the president of the United States who lies to the American people, fraudulently sells them on a war that 50 million Americans don't want and over 3,000 Americans get killed as a result of that, and thousands and thousands of Iraqis gets killed... do you not think that's a felony? It's criminal."

LINK TO FULL INTERVIEW