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

[Ladywriter 7,783]

TWSJ

• MAY 14, 2009
  

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."

It is a war on ppl's right to choose what they put into their body. Its a restriction of freedom for fear of criminal prosecution.

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.

Though I'm no fan of 'hard' drugs I would like to see a system in place that mitigates the damage to the urban poor. Not all substance users belong in jail. The fact that you can NEVER overdose and die on marijuana makes it safer then alcohol or Rx drugs; that alone is enough to make it legal. IT CAN'T KILL YOU.

"While we were sitting there, the guy we're buying from is smoking pot and his toddler comes over and he blows smoke in the toddler's face," Mr. Kerlikowske said. "You go home at night, and you think of your own kids and your own family and you realize" the depth of the problem.

What a fucking idiot. Dumb assholes like this dweeb ruin marijuana for the rest of us. I sure hope child protective took the kid away. It really doesnt take much common sense to know getting toddlers high is a bad idea