Republican senatorial candidate Tom Campbell called the nation?s war on drugs “This generation?s Vietnam,” in an outdoor speech Tuesday to a CSUS audience.

Campbell, speaking in the Joe Serna Jr. plaza, told the audience that the $1.3 billion spent on the drug war in Colombia could be better spent on higher education.

In his 40-minute talk, Campbell also spoke on the importance of young voters, the ills of special interest funding, and social security reform. But the majority of his emphasis was on the need for young voters to vote and the methods by which the war on drugs have been conducted.

Campbell also said he believes more money should be spent on prisoner rehabilitation, except for sex offenders whom he referred to as “blood suckers and bottom dwellers who should be prosecuted to the fullest.”

At the end of his formal talk, Campbell came down from the podium for a town-hall question and answer period during which his stance on medicinal marijuana and his opposition to personal income tax were outlined.

Though Campbell spoke across a 30-foot empty gap of wet grass to his audience, freshman Jennifer Kovanda still felt that the speech was personal. “After hearing the speech I feel much more inclined to vote than I had before,” she said.