WMUR 9 ABC - Rand Paul Tells Students People Should Not Be Jailed "For Hurting Themselves' With Drugs

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By John DiStaso

Rand Paul brought his message of opposition to government intrusion in Americans' personal lives to the New England College New Hampshire Student Convention on Tuesday, also proposing "an end to the war on drugs."

The Kentucky U.S. Senator called for decriminalization of marijuana possession, for denying the federal government access to bulk phone records and for a less "bellicose" foreign policy that does not support regime change and opposes a no-fly zone in Syria.

Paul was among a group of presidential candidates who spoke to several hundred students from 36 states who have been meeting at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester over the past two days. The convention continues tomorrow with a video town hall with Republican candidate Ben Carson.

Paul said it was the "height of hypocrisy" for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other politicians to have admitted smoking marijuana when they were young and now oppose decriminalization of marijuana possession and the legalization of medical marijuana.

"It's a matter of do as I say but not as I do," Paul said. "I think it's time we end the war on drugs."

"Criminal justice reform in general is something that should bring us together, both right and left," he said. "We shouldn't have a system in which the wealthy are able to escape and the poor are caught up in a terrible situation."

"I'm not here to encourage (drug use). I'm just here to tell you we shouldn't put people in jail for hurting themselves," Paul said. "And understand that there is a racial disparity in how we are putting people in jail for doing drugs."

While Paul has been labeled as an isolationist by some of his competitors, he told reporters after his student town hall meeting that the upheaval in the Middle East has actually made his message of restraint more attractive.

"I think the facts actually argue very strongly in my favor, that when we've tried regime change, it hasn't made us safer and it hasn't made the world more stable," Paul said. "Each time that a strong man has been deposed in the Middle East, we've gotten chaos, the rise of radical Islam, and we've gotten less safe."

Paul also said President Barack Obama ignored the Constitution by issuing a firearms control executive order.

"He needs to come to Capitol Hill and ask us to write a law. But he can't declare law, otherwise he would be a king. I think what he's done is going to be found unconstitutional."

Paul said Congress is unable to defund the provisions in the order as a result of a $1.1 trillion spending bill passed and signed into law in December.

Congress, Paul said, "made themselves powerless to stop the president from doing this."

Also Tuesday, Paul told reporters that he will not participate in a so-called "undercard" debate ahead of the main debate scheduled for Jan. 14 on the Fox Business Network.

Paul said recent polls by CNN/ORC and CBS should boost him to the main stage, but if he ends up being assigned to the undercard debate, "I don't accept that designation. I wouldn't participate in anything that is not first tier.

"I am arguing publicly, though, that it is a mistake of epic proportions, with four weeks to go, to try to assign somebody. Are they really going to assign Jeb Bush to a second card? He's raised over $100 million, has been governor of a state for eight years. Are we really going to assign him to a second card and announce to all of his supporters that he has no chance of winning?"

As for his own prospects in Iowa and New Hampshire, Paul said he is comfortable.

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