BENNINGTON — The teenagers weren’t shy about discussing the day’s biggest issues with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
During a student assembly at Bennington’s high school on Wednesday, participants asked Vermont’s junior senator about an array of topics, including the legalization of marijuana, how society can support the police and whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of the constitutional right to an abortion would affect other groups.
An estimated 400 juniors and seniors at Mount Anthony Union High School attended the gathering on Wednesday afternoon, following a similar one at Rutland High School that morning. The events were the first in-person “town meetings” that Sanders, an independent, has held in southwestern Vermont since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.
In Bennington, there was some muted clapping and laughter when a student asked if marijuana could eventually be legalized nationwide after President Joe Biden last week pardoned people convicted federally of marijuana possession.
“I’m not a great fan of drugs and alcohol,” Sanders responded, “but I think that for a lot of reasons, we should make marijuana legal in every state in this country. And we are moving actually in that direction state by state. The federal government can, and should, play a role in that process.”
When another student brought up the long-running local and national problem with opioids, namely heroin and fentanyl, the senator said the solution should involve different approaches. He mentioned the importance of drug prevention and treatment programs, as well as better oversight of pharmaceutical companies, whose aggressive marketing of prescription opioids are blamed for opening the door to today’s opioid epidemic.
The subject of law enforcement was also brought up a few times. One student, pointing to a police officer providing security at the event, asked Sanders: “How much should members of our law enforcement be paid? This nice gentleman across here, how much should they be paid?”
Sanders said that in the city of Rutland, where he’d met with the police chief earlier that day, new police officers were paid about $25 an hour. “Not a whole lot, in my mind,” he said.
The senator later added — in response to a question about how to eliminate racism in the police — that law enforcement agencies need to be well compensated and structured. “If you want a police department that is not racist, that treats everybody the same, it’s got to be professional, well trained, well paid,” he said.
As the hourlong event was ending, a student asked for Sanders’ thoughts on reproductive rights. The senator said he strongly supports “a woman’s right to control her own body.”
He described as “very insulting to the women of this country” the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down the nearly five-decade-old federal right to an abortion.
“I’m hopeful that men will stand with the women on this issue,” the senator said, drawing a big round of applause from the audience.
A student followed up on the topic, asking whether the overturning of Roe v. Wade would lead to the erosion of rights of certain groups. Sanders’ response specifically addressed same-sex marriage.
“Do I think they may go after gay marriage, that implication? Yeah, I do,” he said, referring to the action of politicians he described as beholden to special-interest groups with deep pockets.
Sanders told the students Vermont has been a leader in women’s and gay rights nationwide, so he doesn’t think reversals will happen in the state.
After the event, Sanders told reporters it’s “terribly important” for him to hear what young people in Vermont are thinking. He believes it’s also important for them to know what their public officials are trying to accomplish.
“It’s very easy to be discouraged about the political process, about what’s going on in the country,” he said, “and I want to give them at least some understanding of what some of us are trying to do.”
Mount Anthony Union High School’s principal, Tim Payne, said he believes the event gave students an opportunity to better understand the workings of a democratic government. He also said it provided the teens with good practice on engaging in conversations with different points of view and opinions.
All of the school’s 470 juniors and seniors were invited to the event, but their attendance was optional, school officials said.
Sanders’ trip to southwestern Vermont on Wednesday included meeting with veterans at the Vermont Veterans’ Home. He also met with health care professionals at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington and the Battenkill Valley Health Center in Arlington, as well as local officials in both Rutland and Bennington. These meetings were not open to the media.
