The support for marijuana legalization is so strong among Democrats that there may be no hope for any United States presidential candidate who supports marijuana prohibition to achieve the party’s nomination. Indeed, we have witnessed Democratic candidate after candidate express support for legalization. Even long-time drug warrior Joe Biden, though he has held back from endorsing legalization, said through a spokesperson last month that he supports several significant marijuana law liberalizations.

Still, it is uncommon for a Democratic presidential candidate to take the further step of declaring his support for ending the entire drug war. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made such a declaration as he started his presidential campaign. In the case of Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel, a former US senator from Alaska, public support for ending the drug war goes back further.

You can watch here Gravel back in 2007 declaring his support for legalizing drugs and ending the drug war “that does no good to anybody”:

Gravel has continued promoting legalization as part of his 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, declaring on his campaign website issues page titled “Ending the War on Drugs” that the US should “[d]ecriminalize, legalize, regulate, and tax all drugs, including opioids.” Plus, at the Gravel campaign’s YouTube page there is a trippy video in which Gravel, as an animated talking bug, denounces the drug war:

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.