The Pothead Voters’ Guide to the Presidential Candidates

"I didn't do it when I was young. I'm not going to start now." –CNN Town Hall, June 2014

On Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cleared up her stance on marijuana policy in front of a crowd at Luther College in Iowa. "I would support states and localities that are experimenting with this," she reportedly told the audience, providing more insight into her plans than she had in previous statements.

In a more vague comment last summer, she called states "laboratories of democracy," adding, "We have at least two states that are experimenting with that right now. I want to wait and see what the evidence is."

"I smoked marijuana twice — didn't quite work for me." –Yahoo News interview with Katie Couric, June 2015

Just this week, Sanders said that while marijuana legalization is "not [his] thing," "it is the thing of a whole lot of people." The federal government, he said, could actually help clear the path for marijuana legalization in the states. 

"What the federal government can do is say to the state of Colorado that if you choose to vote to legalize marijuana, we will allow you to do that without restrictions," he said, citing federal restrictions preventing banking for Colorado marijuana businesses. "So I think there are things that the federal government can do that would make it easier for states that want to go in that direction to be able to do so."

Sanders didn't go into detail about what the federal government might do, saying he'll have more to say down the line, but this marked his second mention of banking restrictions on the state.  

"Forty years ago I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did." –CNN Republican debate, September 2015

On the same evening Bush opined his mother's disappointment in his long-ago marijuana use, he said he believes marijuana legalization should be left up to the states. "What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision," Bush said.

The former Florida governor, whom Rand Paul called out for not supporting a medical marijuana ballot initiative in his home state, had previously supported the states' rights argument for marijuana legalization. At the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference, he said marijuana legalization is "a bad idea, but states ought to have [the] right to do it."

"No. The wildest thing I did in college was have a beer." –Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, news conference, February 2015

At the second GOP debate, Walker espoused support for states' rights while also making the case that marijuana legalization conflicts with federal law in a problematic way.

"For me I think that should be a state issue, but I also think that you can't ignore the laws. And until the federal government changes the laws you don't get to pick and choose in a just society whether you enforce the laws or not," he said. 

Asked directly if he would "go after Colorado," Walker offered this meandering response:

"Well, I would enforce the law that was on the books no matter what it is. And again if we are going to change it, change it in the Congress. I believe it is a states' issue, so I don't have a problem changing it. I don't think marijuana is something that should be legalized. I've opposed it at my own state because law enforcement in both political parties have warned me that that's a gateway drug, they worry it would open the door to others out there. But to me, I still think that's something best handled at the state level. But the federal level, you've got to change the law. You don't just get to pick and choose what laws you enforce."

Basically: Enforce the federal law or change it.

"If I tell you that I haven't, you won't believe me. And if I tell you that I did, then kids will look up to me and say, 'Well, I can smoke marijuana, 'cause look how he made it. He did all right, so I guess I can do it, too.'" –ABC News, February 2014

Rubio, role model to the world's youth, doesn't want the federal government to give kids the wrong impression about pot either.

"Marijuana is illegal under federal law. That should be enforced," he told ABC News in May. In August, he told Meet the Press, "I believe the federal government needs to enforce federal law."

"I've never taken drugs of any kind, never had a glass of alcohol. Never had a cigarette, never had a cup of coffee." –Esquire, June 2015

At this year's CPAC, Trump said that while he doesn't like marijuana legalization, he'd leave the decision up to the states. "I think it's bad, and I feel strongly about that," he said, but, "If they vote for it, they vote for it."

"No, never have. It was not my thing." –New Hampshire, July 2015

Chris Christie has been clear about his intentions to stomp out marijuana legalization if elected. "If you're getting high in Colorado today," he said at a town hall in New Hampshire over the summer, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." 

In April, he had told radio host Hugh Hewitt, "Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law. And the states should not be permitted to sell it and profit from it." 

At the most recent GOP debate, Christie said that "the war on drugs has been a failure" before adding, "That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs."

Pointing to "the decrease in productivity" and "the way people get used and move on to other drugs," Christie said, "Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also."

"That's why I'll enforce the federal law."

"Let's just say I wasn't a choir boy when I was in college and that I can recognize that kids make mistakes, and I can say that I made mistakes when I was a kid." –WHAS, December 2014

In November 2014, Rand Paul said, "I'm not for having the federal government get involved," adding that while he hadn't "really taken a stand" on marijuana legalization as a policy, he's "against the federal government telling [states] they can't."

At the second GOP debate, Paul went off on marijuana legalization as a states' rights issue, and even called out other candidates for supporting the criminalization of a drug they've admitted to doing without consequence. "I think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy," he said, side-eyeing Jeb Bush and other former stoners on the stage. "People have one standard for others and not for them — for themselves."

"We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this," Paul continued. "And I think the federal government has gone too far."

"I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment, and I really will say that the states are left to themselves," Paul said, driving home his point.

"I remember when I had cancer and my doctor said, 'Do you have any interest in medicinal marijuana?' I did not." –CPAC, 2015

At the second GOP debate, Fiorina denounced marijuana, characterizing it as a gateway drug that can lead to death, but also defended the 10th Amendment before changing the subject to gun control.

"I agree with Sen. Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago," she said, adding, "Sorry, Barbara," before discussing the "epidemic" of drug addiction and revealing she lost a child to addiction.

"I respect Colorado's right to do what they did. They are within their rights to legalize marijuana, and they are conducting an experiment that I hope the rest of the nation is looking closely at," she told the Des Moines Register in May. "I believe in states' rights. I would not, as president of the United States, enforce federal law in Colorado, where Colorado voters have said they want to legalize marijuana."