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Pete Buttigieg wants to decriminalize possession of all drugs

In August, the presidential hopeful released a comprehensive plan to decriminalize all drug possession to tackle opioid epidemic and treat addiction as a public health issue.
UPDATED DEC 30, 2019
Democratic presidential candidate South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg leaves after holding a campaign event at the Majestic Theater on December 29, 2019 in Centerville, Iowa. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Democratic presidential candidate South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg leaves after holding a campaign event at the Majestic Theater on December 29, 2019 in Centerville, Iowa. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has slowly but surely come up the list of the Democratic presidential hopefuls in the run-up season. His prospects have improved ahead of the first primary in Iowa on February 3 and in an interview in the state last week, Buttigieg has said he would decriminalize all drugs if elected the president next year.

In the interview, the 37-year-old backed alternative programs as a way to deal with what he called a ‘health problem’. While some of his contenders in the Democratic Party have expressed a viewpoint that align over marijuana possession, Buttigieg said even those with ‘Class A’ drugs did not deserve to be locked up.

“I would not have said even five years ago what I believe now, which is that incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” Buttigieg told the Des Moines Register on December 23.

He said “That’s right” when asked by the publication’s editor whether that was across the board, including “meth or coke or ecstasy”.

“What I've seen is that while there continue to be all kinds of harms associated with drug possession and use, it's also the case that we have created—in an effort to deal with what amounts to a public health problem—we have created an even bigger problem,” Buttigieg, a Navy Reserve veteran, said. “A justice problem and it's a form of a health problem when you think about the adverse aspects on a child.”

Buttigieg, whose campaign has received a positive response in Iowa, made the remarks during his stay in the Hawkeye State where he has been for over 40 days to carry out his campaign. He also shared concerns over the US’ overpopulated prisons.

“'We have kids in South Bend who have grown up with the incarceration of a parent as one of their first experiences,” he added.

This is not the first time that Buttigieg has touched down upon the key issue. In August, he released a comprehensive plan that sought “decriminalizing all drug possession” if he became the president to tackle opioid epidemic and treat addiction as a public health issue, rather than criminal justice.

Decriminalization is one of the actions that the Democratic candidate has planned to pursue to reform the country’s mental health care system and boost treatment of substance abuse.

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