Obama Drug Czar to End

[lightning]

Obama Drug Czar to End “War on Drugs”?

5/14/09, 3:48 am EST

 

Potentially huge news this morning from Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske’s interview with the Wall Street Journal. He rejects the formulation of the “War on Drugs” and voices an inclination to treat American drug abuse as a national health challenge:

 

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation’s drug issues.

 

“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. We’re not at war with people in this country.”

 

Tim Dickinson

 

We finally have the bastards on the run, it seems threats of having them charged as war criminals has made them back off.

[Radic]

from the wall street journal

By GARY FIELDS

 

* MAY 14, 2009

 

White House Czar Calls for End to 'War on Drugs'

Kerlikowske Says Analogy Is Counterproductive; Shift Aligns With Administration Preference for Treatment Over Incarceration

 

WASHINGTON -- 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.

 

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation's drug issues.

 

"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 said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

 

Gil Kerlikowske, the new White House drug czar, signaled Wednesday his openness to rethinking the government's approach to fighting drug use.

Brendan Smialowski for The Wall Street Journal

 

Gil Kerlikowske, the new White House drug czar, signaled Wednesday his openness to rethinking the government's approach to fighting drug use.

Gil Kerlikowske, the new White House drug czar, signaled Wednesday his openness to rethinking the government's approach to fighting drug use.

Gil Kerlikowske, the new White House drug czar, signaled Wednesday his openness to rethinking the government's approach to fighting drug use.

 

Mr. Kerlikowske's comments are a signal that the Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate -- and likely more controversial -- stance on the nation's drug problems. Prior administrations talked about pushing treatment and reducing demand while continuing to focus primarily on a tough criminal-justice approach.

 

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, Mr. Kerlikowske said.

 

Already, the administration has called for an end to the disparity in how crimes involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine are dealt with. Critics of the law say it unfairly targeted African-American communities, where crack is more prevalent.

 

The administration also said federal authorities would no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states where voters have made medical marijuana legal. Agents had previously done so under federal law, which doesn't provide for any exceptions to its marijuana prohibition.

 

During the presidential campaign, President Barack Obama also talked about ending the federal ban on funding for needle-exchange programs, which are used to stem the spread of HIV among intravenous-drug users.

 

The drug czar doesn't have the power to enforce any of these changes himself, but Mr. Kerlikowske plans to work with Congress and other agencies to alter current policies. He said he hasn't yet focused on U.S. policy toward fighting drug-related crime in other countries.

 

Mr. Kerlikowske was most recently the police chief in Seattle, a city known for experimenting with drug programs. In 2003, voters there passed an initiative making the enforcement of simple marijuana violations a low priority. The city has long had a needle-exchange program and hosts Hempfest, which draws tens of thousands of hemp and marijuana advocates.

 

Seattle currently is considering setting up a project that would divert drug defendants to treatment programs.

 

Mr. Kerlikowske said he opposed the city's 2003 initiative on police priorities. His officers, however, say drug enforcement -- especially for pot crimes -- took a back seat, according to Sgt. Richard O'Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. One result was an open-air drug market in the downtown business district, Mr. O'Neill said.

 

"The average rank-and-file officer is saying, 'He can't control two blocks of Seattle, how is he going to control the nation?' " Mr. O'Neill said.

 

Sen. Tom Coburn, the lone senator to vote against Mr. Kerlikowske, was concerned about the permissive attitude toward marijuana enforcement, a spokesman for the conservative Oklahoma Republican said.

 

pollitricksion backpeddling

charge em

 

i wanna see action

crumble babylon

may it all a happenin so fast

to the workers of lust greed and power

remember

babylons walls will fall in one hour

 

there will never be peace without justice

 

we will forgive

but

we will never forget

 

forward ever cannabis crucaders

irey guidance and protection

free cannabis

[Radic]

opps heres the link

the wall street journal

[Radic]

CNN

 

The man Obama picked to be the new "drug czar," Gil Kerlikowske, has made it clear that the United States is going to do a better job of treating addicts to try to reduce the demand for narcotics.

 

Kerlikowske, 59, is a military veteran with 36 years of law enforcement experience. The drug czar oversees an agency that sets the country's drug-control strategy.

 

The White House and Congress want to see more drug courts, and increased funding for the program 250 percent in the spending bill signed in March.

 

It's a campaign pledge that the Obama administration thinks will give nonviolent offenders "a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior," according to the White House Web site.

[DarkSpark]

Awesome too see, i honestly believe that you want too keep people out of jail as much as you can, once they go in lives are ruined, not just the fact your record says that you have been too jail and finding work is hard but also the fact that most people who go in for minor things end up coming out with knowlege gained in prison and end up back in there for bigger crimes.

 

While it has taken far too long at least somebody is finally realising that sending someone too jail doesn't help with anything, helping the get straight on another hand is at least something... I cant believe the part about how the federal authorities were raiding the medicinal dispensaries. that is absurd, it is something that had too be changed... What is the point of them even making their own state laws if the feds are just going too go over their heads fucking everything up.

 

Australia has got its "drug diversion" program for minor drug charges, which i have done, and must say was a complete waste of time... if anything the boredom and thus agitation made me feel like smoking more, i don't have diagnosed ADD or anything but i cant concentrate on things that don't interest me for too long... and none of what they were saying or doing in any way seemed too be of any help...

[iamnotacop]

Awesome too see, i honestly believe that you want too keep people out of jail as much as you can,

 

Australia has got its "drug diversion" program for minor drug charges, which i have done, and must say was a complete waste of time... and none of what they were saying or doing in any way seemed too be of any help...

 

 

Except to keep your ass out of JAIL.

 

Trust me, being in jail is the definition of boredom.

[luciddreaming]

True anything besides jail is fine. This is, as long as they do the same for problem alcoholics.