White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske's thinking about drug addiction has moved from disdain to enlightenment over the past decade, but the former police chief views drug legalization as a "non-starter" and is urging law-enforcement officials to speak out against the idea.
A new Justice Department policy directive not to prosecute legitimate medical-marijuana programs in states that allow medical use of the drug has sparked concerns in some precincts that the Obama administration is laying the groundwork for legalizing the drug -- or at least blurring the distinction between legal and illegal drugs.
However, in an Oct. 6 speech (PDF) before the 2009 International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference, Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), was clear in his opposition to legalization. Scorning a recent opinion published in the Washington Post by two members of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Kerlikowske urged the police officials at the conference to advocate against legalizing drugs.
"We owe it to the people we serve to speak out about the unintended consequences legalization would have and the toll it would take on the health and safety of our communities," said Kerlikowske, who announced that ONDCP is creating a new fellowship program in order to give a policy platform to law-enforcement personnel who have firsthand knowledge of drug problems.
"Recycling the same people through the system, the default approach in place now, is not working," Kerlikowske later added. "But let me be clear: A balanced and more effective approach does not mean legalization. It does mean being smarter about drug policy."
Read the whole article and then...weep!You are wrong my friend especially with your comments about how much harm legalisation would cause.
