2020 candidate Seth Moulton says he’d legalize marijuana and boost mental health care for veterans

Samantha Lee

• 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Seth Moulton, a US Marine Corps veteran, joined Business Insider Today for a town hall.
• Moulton answered questions from an in-studio audience and comments section in the Facebook livestream.
• He discussed a range of issues including mental health care for veterans, foreign policy, criminal justice reform and more.
• Watch the full Business Insider Today town hall event here.

• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

2020 presidential candidate Seth Moulton sat down with INSIDER politics editor Anthony Fisher and Business Insider Today host Lionel Moise on Tuesday for a live-streamed town hall. He discussed everything from his proposal to boost mental health services for veterans, to foreign policy and legalizing marijuana. 

Here are some highlights of the town hall:

• On veterans and mental health:
  • Rep. Moulton, a US Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq, shared his experience with post-traumatic stress and seeing a counselor that eased his transition to civilian life, saying, "If veterans come back and get the care that we need, we can be really successful and continue serving the country back home."
  • He backs mandatory annual mental health checkups for veterans and establishing a national crisis hotline for people dealing with mental health emergencies.

• On public service for young Americans:
  • Moulton pushed a plan modeled after the GI bill that would provide educational or vocational scholarships for young Americans in exchange for one to three years of service.

• On foreign policy:
  • Moulton supports strengthening diplomatic efforts to reduce ongoing tensions over the Iranian nuclear program and believes that President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has endangered American security interests.
  • Moulton said there should "a responsible end" for wars launched in the Middle East and elsewhere after the September 11, 2001, attacks. 
  • Moulton also said he believes there should be another vote on the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which justified America’s post-9/11 wars including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying, "It is literally against the Constitution that we are carrying out wars overseas based on an authorization because of the Al-Qaeda attacks on America in 2001."

Read more: The ‘war on terror’ has cost nearly $6 trillion and killed roughly half a million people, and there’s no end in sight

• On immigration: 

• • Moulton called for ending family separations at the US-Mexico border and said a Moulton administration would prevent it from happening again.
  • He also backed comprehensive immigration reform which would "create a pathway for citizenship for everybody who’s here. Not just ‘Dreamers,’ but people who are here and part of our economy."

• On criminal justice reform:
  • Moulton supports legalizing marijuana as a mechanism to reform the nation’s judicial system, saying, "I’ve seen the statistics of how unbelievably unjust these laws are applied," pointing out that people of color have been convicted of drug possession at higher rates.

Watch the full Business Insider town hall event here. 

NOW WATCH: Fox News pundits are using white supremacist language tied to ‘The Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory

See Also:

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• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had a surprisingly muted response to Biden’s conduct with women and girls: ‘Not necessarily about right or wrong’

SEE ALSO: Meet the Iraq War veteran and presidential candidate who wants to carry on John McCain’s legacy of public service for a new generation

Source: Business Insider – jzeballos@businessinsider.com (Joseph Zeballos-Roig)