Drug Czar on Anti-Marijuana Crusade

Drug czar John Walters is a busy man these days. Between engineering yet another installment in the Office of National Drug Control Strategy's ( ONDCP ) bizarre series of ads linking marijuana users to terrorism and violence, trotting out a new offensive aimed at curbing teen pot use, trying to put out brush fires in places like California and Nevada, and threatening to disrupt cross-border trade with Canada if marijuana were legalized there, Walters appears to have a full-blown case of marijuana mania.

Beginning this week, TV viewers around the country are being treated to the latest version of the notorious Superbowl "drugs aid terror" commercials, this time targeting marijuana. The text of one ad is as follows: "This is Dan. This is the joint that Dan bought. This is the dealer that sold the joint that Dan bought. This is the smuggler that smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought. This is the cartel that uses the smuggler that smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought. And this is the family that was lined up by Dan's cartel and shot for getting in the way."

A second ad features teen pot-smoker "Stacey," then shows an image of her dealer, then moves up the chain to the person who supplies the dealer. But the final image is of a bed-ridden woman: "This is Carla, who was hit by a stray bullet from Stacey's supplier and paralyzed for life," the voiceover intones ominously.

Walters, who recently had to announce that earlier ONDCP propaganda campaigns had flopped, said this one was different. "These ads are different," he told Good Morning America as part of his media blitz. "We toughened up the behavior not only to look at the harms drugs can do to young people, but using their idealism, their drug buying to things they care about."

But Good Morning America also talked to young people about the ads, and some of their responses cannot be encouraging for Walters. Elisa Roupenian, a college student interviewed on the program, said her friends objected to linking drug use here to violence in other countries. "It made people mad because they pointed the finger at teenagers," she said. "Some people think that if the government didn't create the war against drugs that made such a huge black market, the terrorists and the drug cartels wouldn't be able to make such a tremendous profit," she said.

Nevertheless, expect more such ads to follow. The drug czar has a $1 billion propaganda budget for the next five years.

Walters and Surgeon General Richard Carmona on Tuesday kicked off this new effort with a Washington, DC, press conference and an "open letter" advertisement that began appearing in newspapers around the country this week.

"Did You Know? Marijuana puts kids at risk," the copy reads. "It is the most widely used illicit drug among youth today and is more potent than ever. Marijuana use can lead to a host of significant health, social, learning and behavioral problems at a crucial time in a young person's development. Getting high also impairs judgment, which can wreak havoc on teens in high-pressure social situations, leading to risky decision-making on issues like sex, criminal activity or riding with someone who is driving high. And don't be fooled by popular beliefs. Kids can get hooked on pot. Research shows that marijuana use can lead to addiction. More teens enter treatment for marijuana abuse each year than for all other illicit drugs combined."

"There's a myth that marijuana isn't as dangerous as smoking," asserted Carmona at the press conference. "That's not true. It's dangerous and addictive." Carmona and Walters were able to get 17 national medical, educational, and anti-drug groups to sign onto their letter, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National PTA.

The DC dog and pony show was interrupted, however, when DC Statehood Party candidate Adam Eidinger jumped onstage as Walters spoke. Holding a sign saying "Free Bryan Epis," the California medical marijuana provider scheduled to be sentenced to federal prison next month, Eidinger denounced the prosecution of Epis and the persecution of medical marijuana users, throwing out flyers until he was ejected by Secret Service agents ( http://www.drugwar.com/pczarinterrupted.shtm ).

Walters also announced this week that he plans at least three trips to Nevada to lobby against that state's initiative to remove civil and criminal penalties for the possession of up to three ounces of marijuana.

Aside from accusing the Canadian Senate's panel that recommended legalizing marijuana of being fools, Walters has also blustered about the impact Canadian legalization could have on cross-border trade. Walters called the Canadians "naive" to believe that marijuana has any medical uses. "The claim that marijuana is an efficacious medicine is a lie," he told a Detroit news conference. "It is used by people who want to legalize marijuana, cynically."

In his Detroit appearance Walters warned that the US would take unspecified additional actions at the border if Canada legalized pot. "We will do what is necessary to protect this country," he said.

Throughout the past two weeks Walters has repeatedly made such claims as "marijuana is a dangerous drug," "American drug users contribute to terrorism," that US pot prohibition is based on scientific evidence, and "today more young people are being admitted and presented for treatment of marijuana than for alcohol."

While some academics, activists and drug reformers are attempting a point-by-point rebuttal of Walters' lies, half-truths, and distortions, others are arguing that it is an exercise in futility.

"Walters is a rabid dog and chronic pathological liar," said NORML's Allen St. Pierre. "But the drug reform movement does not have the media access to rebut him line by line, except on the Internet," he told DRCNet. "He is a bullshit factory; to reply in kind would take too long and wouldn't be heard."

That doesn't mean the movement should just lie back and let itself be slandered, St. Pierre said. "We can respond in two ways. First, everyone who thinks this campaign is stupid and a waste of money can get on the phone and tell Congress to cut funding," he suggested. "We can also contact the media that are running these ads and threaten to boycott them. We can write letters saying, 'I saw you run this ad and I will not tolerate it and I will boycott your stations and tell your other advertisers that I'm not seeing their ads because I'm not watching your stations,'" St. Pierre suggested.

For Kevin Zeese of Common Sense for Drug Policy, the anti-pot offensive is a sign that the prohibitionists are running scared. "They know they're losing the education war on marijuana. With a higher percentage of the population having had personal experience with marijuana as the population ages, the public is catching onto the truth," he told DRCNet. "So Walters has to resort to false statements. What they don't want to face up to is the fact that no matter how safe or unsafe a drug is, the sensible policy option in to bring it within the law, regulate it and control it."

The debate about marijuana's safety is irrelevant, Zeese argued. "All of these claims have been refuted before," he said. "We have to focus on the reality that the most sensible policy is legal control."

SO LEGALIZE IT!

DAN CAN GROW HIS OWN, NO SMUGGLERS OR CARTELS WILL HAVE TO BE INVOLVED, AND IF THERE ARE ANY PROBLEMS, IT CAN BE TAKEN TO COURT RATHER THAN SETTLED BY GUNS!!!

Can the ONDCP be so stupid as to think the average person will link marijuana use to drug war violence without considering that it is the prohibition...not the substance...that leads to violence?

That's OUR tax $$$, folks. Is it really that worth it to all you drug warriors?

Well, it's not worth it to me. Was just having this discussion with someone the other day who told me that I sounded more like a libertarian than a conservative. I simply asked him to observe the amount of money we are throwing at the WOD and just what it has accomplished.

I worked for federal law enforcement when the first Drug Czar was appointed. I have not observed that the amount of drugs imported to this country has beem stemmed in the least, while statistics indicate that more and more kids are involved with some type of drug.

Our prison system is overburdened with non-violent, pot-smoking "criminals" while the big time dealers never find their way to prison. In the meantime, child molesters are given suspended sentences and walk free. I cannot begin to grasp the logic of our criminal justice system.

Having worked in the system I could make some observations, but I would be here all day.

76.3 million people over the age of 12 have admitted to smoking pot. That's 34.2% of the adult population according to the NIDA's own survey. Walters needs to be carefull in what propaganda his office puts before the public. Americans have had 50 years to learn about marijuana and know that it is not the demon drug that the ONDCP wants to make it out to be.

As the governments assumption of the ignorance of the people it governs becomes more apparent to those governed, the backlash against Walters and all law enforcement will grow. Disrespect for Federal Law Enforcement is already rampant in this country and on this forum.

This is a foolish waste of one billion dollars. In every state where this marijuana issue has come before the people for a vote, the sentiment of the people has been clear. Legalize or decriminalize the stuff. Washington is ignoring the will of the people in the "Several States". Something more important to the government then the "will of the people" is at stake here. What could it be?

The following are excerpts from The Benefits of Marijuana:

Marijuana use can have physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits:

The PHYSICAL BENEFITS of marijuana are far-reaching, widespread, and long-term. Because of the way marijuana impacts the Autonomic Nervous System which expands the breath and relaxes the body, its potential for health and healing are enormous, and have been completely unrealized by Western Medicine.

PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS: When we balance the Autonomic Nervous System, there is an effect on the mind that is both energizing and relaxing SIMULTANEOUSLY. In other words, we can think more clearly and more efficiently.

SPIRITUAL BENEFITS: That which enlivens is understood as the SPIRIT. In these times of secular values, when the life force is not recognized as being an expression of the holy, when in fact, the notion of a plane of existence beyond the material is not acknowledged, the search for meaning nevertheless perseveres.

Today, in these darkest of times, hundreds of millions who pursue the journey inward to the universal core values, find that marijuana facilitates the search. As a religious sacrament, intuitively recognized by all for whom the sacred beckons, marijuana has been employed for thousands of years, crossing all geographical and ethnic barriers. Marijuana not only balances the body, and enhances our mental processes, it can also help (some of) us to perceive the abiding reality by raising our consciousness.

Look, I'm not an advocate of smoking dope. Frankly, we need more people to get involved in their communities and start holding our constantly growing govt accountable for its action. However....

Let dopers be dopers. It's too expensive and a waste of time to continue drug prohibition in this country.

The appalling irony of those commercials is their use of innocent murder victims caused by the policy of the WOD. It is the WOD which provides the motive for the deaths of bystanders to the War.

I have yet to see a single drug warrior acknowledge the truth that they must necessarily find the murder, robbery and burglary of tens of thousands of innocent victims an acceptable cost for trying (futilely) to stop people from getting high.

They showed the commercials on TV Today show this week with a bunch of high school and college kids to judge ..4 of six said kids don't give a crap about the people in Columbia, and if they legalized it, the crime would go away . So much for our tax dollars spent on legislating pleasure again ..
The two that were in agreement were typical lemming that follows the government protection of the people to the max .

You've got a point there...if we follow the trail back to origin, any number of things might become "tainted". That is a weak argument against illicit drug use, isn't it?

On the other hand, diamonds and SUV's aren't distorters of perception. Society (i.e. Us and the government we have elected) have found it necessary to limit or criminalize substances which can change the entire affect of a person, making him at least potentially dangerous to himself and others.

"This is Dan. This is the joint that Dan bought. This is the dealer that sold the joint that Dan bought. This is the smuggler that smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought. This is the cartel that uses the smuggler that smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought. And this is the family that was lined up by Dan's cartel and shot for getting in the way."And this is the CIA agent who organized and funded Dan's cartel. And these are the CEO's of America's largest finincial institutions who launder the money for Dan's cartel. And these are the local, state and federal politicians who are bought and paid for by both the drug cartels and the finincial institutions to insure that the war is never won and will never end.

Society (i.e. Us and the government we have elected) have found it necessary to limit or criminalize substances which can change the entire affect of a person, making him at least potentially dangerous to himself and others.

For more than 4 in 10 convicted murderers being held either in jail or in State prison, alcohol use is reported to have been a factor in the crime. Nearly half of those convicted of assault and sentenced to probation had been drinking when the offense occurred.

About a quarter of the women on probation nationwide had been drinking at the time of their offense compared to more than 40% of male probationers (figure 30). For those convicted of public-order crimes, nearly two-thirds of women and three-quarters of men had been drinking at the time of the offense.

On an average day in 1996, an estimated 5.3 million convicted offenders were under the supervision of criminal justice authorities. Nearly 40% of these offenders, about 2 million, had been using alcohol at the time of the offense for which they were convicted.

Explain the discrepancy.

A study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University confirms what many criminologists have long known: alcohol is associated with more violent crime than any illegal drug, including crack, cocaine, and heroin. Twenty-one percent of violent felons in state prisons committed their crimes while under the influence of alcohol alone. Only 3% were high on crack or powder cocaine alone and only 1% were using heroin alone.

Pot doesn't even make a blip on the violent criminal radar screen.

Pot doesn't even make a blip on the violent criminal radar screen.

Uh pot does make a large blip on the drug culture screen, though.

Oh that's right that can be "explained" away with such blast fax idioms such as, "Well all criminals drank milk, so there", never mind, it is useless trying to talk to the pot fixated, IMO.

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