The White house Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, has called for an end to the so-called "War on Drugs" which has actually been a war on the people not the drugs.
From Raw Story and the Wall Street Journal:
White House drug czar calls for end to ‘war on drugs’
“The Obama administration’s new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting ‘a war on drugs,’ a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use,” the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.“Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” he told the paper. “We’re not at war with people in this country.”
Kerlikowske’s statement signals the Obama administration is likely to moderate a policy that has taken heat from social activists, as effectively targeting poor and minority Americans. “Prior administrations talked about pushing treatment and reducing demand while continuing to focus primarily on a tough criminal-justice approach,” the Journal adds.
“The Obama administration is likely to deal with drugs as a matter of public health rather than criminal justice alone, with treatment’s role growing relative to incarceration,” the paper summarized Kerlikowske as saying.
Obama officials have already said they’d stop federal authorities from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana, which is still prohibited under federal law.
State lawmakers — including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — have recently signaled their openness to legalizing marijuana, seeing a tax on the substance as a way to potentially close massive state budget shortfalls.
Read the full story here.![[drug war]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AX680A_DRUGS_NS_20090513194822.gif)
12 comments:
“We’re not at war with people in this country.”
Wow. It's about time. The government lost that "war" a long time ago.
I respect Kerlikowske but he's still a cop and will always think like a cop. To his credit, he is also a pragmatist. In his time in Seattle, he opposed the laws that made pot less of a crime and available for medical uses but he followed the will of the voters. He left the hippies alone at Hempfest (yes, it was me) as long as they weren't 'in your face' about it.
They tolerated a lot but there is a limit and some of the damn fool skater crowd crossed the line quite a bit.
Gil will be a reasonable Drug Czar, I hope. If we can change the laws in Congress and the States, he'll follow them to the letter. He has said he wants to concentrate on the Mexican drug trade and the violence that flows up from there.
All things considered, Obama didn't do too bad. A health professional would have been better but would have met with a GOP brick wall in hearings. This way, we get an avenue to bring about the change old dirty hippies like me have been working for these past 40 years!
I'll believe this when I see it.
Nancy - It's a "war" that never should have been started. The pot smokers are the ones who have paid the biggest price in this "war."
David - I agree that he's not exactly the perfect person to have in this position, but he's better than what we could have in there.
Hopefully we'll start seeing some change....that change we've both been waiting for for 40+ years.
phuchpolitics - I understand your skepticism about both him and what he may or may not do. But it is a start, and we've gotta start somewhere.
It IS about time. It's a war on poor people whose crimes are more public than rich college kids who snort this shit in their plush dorms.
Unfortunately, this is another of those apparent situatuions where different agencies aren't on the same page.
Holder's DoJ is aggressively prosecuting medical pot shops in CA and elsewhere.
Obama's moving military personnel to the Mexican border.
They will surely not scruple at shooting those they deem miscreants...
I'm (sadly) with Phuckpolitics...
Riot Kitty - That's just it. The pot heads have been getting hammered with long sentences while "Cola Cowboys" have been getting a slap on the wrist.
Woody - I understand what you're saying...but it's a start, and we gotta start somewhere.
By saying the gov't lost the war a long time ago, I meant that not a thing changed. All drugs are just as prevalent as they ever were, if not more. Their little war on drugs made criminals out of pot smokers - even those who use it medically. This ridiculous little conservative town I live in refused to abide by the medical marijuana law passed by voters several years back. I guess they feel those who are terminally ill belong in jail.
I agree Eddie that we have to start somewhere - anywhere!
Nancy - You're right, nothing did change...except for the number of pot smokers, both recreational and medical, who are serving time which is always more time than meth heads and those who like the nose candy.
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