Legal Commentary

CNN Examines Cindy McCain

By Jeralyn

Everyone knows Cindy McCain, the heiress wife of John McCain, was addicted to pain pills. CNN's 360 tonight highlighted it in a profile of her tonight.

But Cindy McCain wasn't just addicted to pain pills. She was investigated federally for stealing pain pills from a medical charity she headed and for having prescriptions filled in the names of the charity's employees. She admitted it. One of the doctors who wrote the prescriptions for her lost his license.

Mrs. McCain, through her lawyers, was able to get federal prosecutors to let her enter a diversion program and avoid jail.

Diversion is common in state courts for first-time offenders. It isn't in federal courts.

Here are some articles from that time period:

• Opiate for the Mrs
• How Cindy McCain was outed for drug addiction

John McCain is a hawk in the war on drugs. One standard for his wife, another for everyone else.

His voting record on drugs, after his wife's problems:

More....

• 1999, he voted to restrict methadone treatment programs
• 2000, the Boston Globe writes:

  Of the four major candidates, McCain has expressed the most hawkish positions on drug policy. He wants to increas penalties for selling drugs, supports the death penalty for drug kingpins, favors tightening security to stop the flow of drugs into the country, and wants to restrict availability of methadone for heroin addicts. He said the Clinton administration was AWOL on the war on drugs and he would push for more money and military assistance to drug-supplying nations such as Colombia.

• 2007: McCain opposes medical marijuana

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 07, 2008 (boomark / email).