• McCain opposes the legalization of marijuana.

• He opposes the use of marijuana for medical purposes and supports
the continuation of federal raids on medical marijuana patients.
When asked in April 2007 if he would end the federal raids on medical
marijuana patients he answered, "I will let states decide that
issue."

• He believes that marijuana is a 'gateway drug' and leads to use of
harder, more harmful drugs.

• Concerning medical marijuana McCain stated in September of 2007,
"Every medical expert I know of, including the AMA (American Medical
Association), says that there are much more effective and much better
treatments for pain than medical marijuana...I still would not support
medical marijuana because I don't think that the preponderance of
medical opinion in America agrees with [the] assertion that it's the
most effective way of treating pain."

• McCain strongly supports prison expansion initiatives to cope with
the rising number of convicted criminals, including drug related
crimes.

• He strongly supports fighting the war on drugs internationally and
would advocate more money and military assistance to drug-supplying
nations such as Colombia to stop the flow of drugs into the US.  He
recently commended Mexican president Felipe Calderon for his
cooperation with America in drug prosecutions. "He's a good man, for
the first time in history he extradited drug dealers to the U.S."

• McCain supports the death penalty for drug kingpins.

• Obama has publicly admitted to using illegal drugs in the past.
“Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role
of the young would-be black man,” He wrote in his 1995 book, ‘Dreams
of my Father.’


• He believes that if the best way to relieve pain and suffering is
through use of medicinal marijuana then it's something 'he's open
to'.

• Obama pledged to end medical marijuana raids in the 12 states that
allow medical marijuana use.

• He has stated that there is no difference between medical marijuana
and morphine when it comes to just giving people relief from pain.

• Concerning medical marijuana Obama stated in March 2008, "When it
comes to medical marijuana, I have more of a practical view than
anything else. My attitude is that if it's an issue of doctors
prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a
cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate because there
really is no difference between that and a doctor prescribing
morphine or anything else. I think there are legitimate concerns in
not wanting to allow people to grow their own or start setting up mom
and pop shops because at that point it becomes fairly difficult to
regulate. 
I'm not familiar with all the details of the initiative that was
passed (Oregon Medical Marijuana Act) and what safeguards there were
in place, but I think the basic concept that using medical marijuana
in the same way, with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by
doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate. 
I would not punish doctors if it's prescribed in a way that is
appropriate. That may require some changes in federal law. I will
tell you that...the likelihood of that being real high on my list is
not likely. What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice
Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue
simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and
potential terrorism. We've got a lot of things for our law
enforcement officers to deal with."

• Obama believes the disparity between sentencing crack and
powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated. 

• He would give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve
their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation
programs designed in changing bad behavior.