Amy Klobuchar on Drug Decriminalization

Klobuchar would require prescribers to use the prescription drug monitoring program.

Klobuchar would create a position in the White House that exists outside of the Department of Justice to advise the president on criminal justice reform issues.

Klobuchar would create a bipartisan clemency advisory board that would include victim advocates and prison and sentencing reform advocates to advise the president.

Klobuchar is a co-sponsor of the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, which would amend the Controlled Substance Act to exempt states that have legalized cannabis from federal intervention.

Klobuchar is one of eight senators who signed a letter addressed to then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, demanding answers about the status of applications to become federally authorized marijuana manufacturers for research purposes.

When data showed that a local drug court in Hennepin County was sentencing many drug offenders to probation instead of prison, Klobuchar called the results “unacceptable,” adding, “We believe that they should serve a lengthier sentence instead of going to the workhouse and that they should be behind bars.” Klobuchar was a prosecutor in Hennepin County at the time.
Prosecutors criticize Drug Court
Star Tribune, July 13, 2006

Klobuchar supports incentives for state governments to enact ignition interlock laws for those convicted of drunk driving. These laws often also impact individuals convicted of substance use related charges, including those that do not involve a driving incident.

Klobuchar is a co-sponsor of the First Step Act, to reduce federal sentences for non-violent drug offenders.

Klobuchar signed on to measures designed to expand research into marijuana by increasing the number of facilities permitted to cultivate cannabis for research purposes and require relevant federal agencies to reassess whether cannabidiol (CBD) should remain a controlled substance. Another proposal she cosponsored would remove CBD and “CBD-rich plants” from the definition of marijuana under federal law.

Klobuchar has not signed onto the far-reaching Marijuana Justice Act that Sen. Cory Booker filed to deschedule cannabis and withhold funding from states with discriminatory enforcement.

Her Senate website contains just one mention of marijuana policy: “Finally, I have opposed efforts to roll back the Obama Administration policy that the federal government would not interfere with state laws legalizing marijuana, and I cosponsored the STATES Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Gardner to protect the ability of states to regulate marijuana,” she said. “I have also cosponsored legislation to make it easier for researchers to study the medical effectiveness and safety of marijuana and cannabidiol, which is used to treat conditions such as epilepsy.”

“I support the legalization of marijuana and believe that states should have the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their borders.”
Amy Klobuchar says she supports legalizing marijuana
CNN, February 22, 2019 | Dan Merica and Sophie Tatum