Paul added, “Instead, we should treat our nation’s drug epidemic as a health crisis and less as a ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key’ problem.”…

Sen. Paul wrote in a USA Today op-ed in 2013, “Mandatory minimums most harm those lacking in the means to defend themselves. These laws disproportionately target the poor and minorities.”

“Getting rid of mandatory minimums simply means allowing judges to use their discretion in sentencing, rather than having to follow the current, draconian federal parameters that are totally detached from the very human situation at hand,” Paul added.