Drug Czar-Marijuana Legalization "Non-Starter" for Obama
by Gil Kerlikowske, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy
The Department of Justice earlier this week issued guidelines for Federal prosecutors regarding laws authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. This prompted a flurry of news reports, analysis and commentary, some arguing that the guidelines could be read as the Federal government's tacit approval of “medical” marijuana. Advocates of marijuana legalization tried to cast the guidelines as a victory, portraying them as a step toward full legalization. Neither of these analyses is correct.
Marijuana legalization, for any purpose, remains a non-starter in the Obama Administration. It is not something that the President and I discuss; it isn't even on the agenda. Attorney General Holder issued very clear guidelines to U.S. Attorneys about the appropriate use of Federal resources. He did not open the door to legalization.
Regarding state ballot initiatives concerning “medical” marijuana, I believe that medical questions are best decided not by popular vote, but by science. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which studies and approves all medicines in the United States, has made very clear that the raw marijuana plant is not medicine, and any state considering medical marijuana should look very carefully at what has happened in California.
Legalization is being sold as being a cure to ending violence in Mexico, as a cure to state budget problems, as a cure to health problems. The American public should be skeptical of anyone selling one solution as a cure for every single problem. Legalized, regulated drugs are not a panacea—pharmaceutical drugs in this country are tightly regulated and government controlled, yet we know they cause untold damage to those who abuse them.
To test the idea of legalizing and taxing marijuana, we only need to look at already legal drugs—alcohol and tobacco. We know that the taxes collected on these substances pale in comparison to the social and health care costs related to their widespread use.
In a little over three months, my office will deliver to President Obama a National Drug Control Strategy that will strike a balance between public health and public safety, recognizing that reducing demand through a community-wide approach is critical to our success. Legalization would only thwart our efforts and increase the economic and social costs that result from greater drug acceptance and use.
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Voordelen stoppen met roken In tabaksrook zitten veel stoffen die uw huid uitdrogen. Dit maakt uw huid kleurloos en dof. Uw huid zal zich in de weken nadat u gestopt bent met roken weer herstellen en mooier worden. Een mooiere huid is dus een aanzienlijk voordeel van stoppen met roken.
I still cannot understand why people who know the least speak the loudest! Everyone who says anything negative about marijuana has absolutely no clue as to what they are talking about. It really is a life enhancing plant that has incredible medical uses and will lower crime rates, lower our nation's deficit , provide relief to people who are suffering, help Americans reach their goals and dreams, among so many other positive benefits . There is no need to worry about " kids being addicted to marijuana at 16". Where has everyone who says ignorant things like this been? This is not China!
People need to get a grip on the horrible devastating effects of alcohol and tobacco , and realize that marijuana doesn't resemble either of them. It's also the fault of those ridiculous commercials that show kids that are high thinking they are invincible and blowing their heads off. What does that really sound like? I feeling of invincibility? ALCOHOL! How many people are in a drunk tank because "they are stoned and need to sober up".
For some people, this is a mind enhancing, skill enhancing, pain relieving plant that helps them take control of the problems in their life. This plant is God's gift to mankind, only to be labeled as "the devil's drug".
What about methamphetamines? Meth is tearing up America, poising people lungs and minds, druggies doing anything they can to manufacture the drug they got addicted to the very first time they tried it! Marijuana has been proven to not be addictive at all!
I have been smoking marijuana for 10 years, and I can honestly say that it was the greatest thing I have ever done for myself. The misconceptions that are thrown in marijuana's direction are partly because of "stoner movies" where the individuals shown are so stupid and messy, but I can assure that I do not resemble them in any way. I am ex- military , have been to 6 different countries and 38 states in the U.S., and am currently attending ITT Technical Institute for a degree in Information Systems Administration. Does that resemble a lazy, sloppy, stupid stoner like in the movies? Do movies closely resemble reality at all?
I will get back to why people who know so little talk so much about subjects they should not. IGNORANCE. The world is flat and the sky is fucking falling. These people need to use their own experience and stop talking about marijuana being a "psych-active bane on America". They have absolutely no clue.
Imagine being able to smoke a small amount of very low tar plant that allows to undertake any challenge and conquer, understand anything you put your mind to, do anything with your body that you cannot do otherwise (like a back flip), without side effects like cocaine , or violent tendencies (feelings of wanting to rob, steal, fight, murder ), or any possibility of your heart exploding. Let me tell you what marijuana makes a person feel. I feel a need to take vitamins, exercise , take care of my responsibilities, forgive people who have done wrong to me (A very difficult thing for me to do), maintain the upkeep of my belongings, get in touch with people who are important to me, plan for the future, learn new things, have an adventure and enjoy my life.
If this sounds criminal and destructive to America then I don't know what is happening in this country. People are not supposed to be depressed, hate their lives, worry about being attacked in their own neighborhoods, worry about developing a disease (tobacco), worry about what they might do while they are impaired (alcohol).
Look at the numbers in California about the potential amount of revenue that can be generated from marijuana sales in a controlled legal way. All marijuana will be of the same source, strength and value, all manufactured by the U.S. Government (which they already do). Do people honestly think that illegal grow operations will increase as "criminals" try to line their pockets with extra effort and risk? NO. Has anyone ever met a violent marijuana user (whose mind wasn't damaged by hardcore drugs ). NO. Hopefully someone will read this and understand that I am a very analytical and skeptical person who has learned all of these things from experience. They are also backed by my religious beliefs which state "God created all living things with a purpose". The purpose of marijuana is to heal people of pain, bad feelings, worry, and a lack of motivation that doesn't result in feeling intoxicated (such as alcohol, which is a depressant). Imagine applying this wonderful solution on a nation wide scale!
I am sure more people who do not know what they are talking about will continue to take someone else's word for how "dangerous" and "damaging" marijuana is to individuals and on a nation wide scale. Just be sure to remind them that the world is flat and you can fall off of it. :D
Adherence to “The rule of Law” is what makes a country civilised and the natural word meaning of the text is what the law means.
The Government has formally and officially declared the “War on Drugs”. This war is an internal armed conflict as the Government is waging it's war against it's own citizens and within our shores. The Government fills the role of the “occupying power” An end to hostilities has NOT been declared and arms have not been laid down. The war continues as do the human rights atrocities.
This action brings into play the Geneva Conventions.
To intentionally withhold lifesaving and effective pain relieving medication from sick and injured civilians in a theatre of internal armed conflict when that medicine has been requested and is within your power to provide or to seize by force and destroy said medicines from those civilians is a WAR CRIME.
It is variously called Murder, cruel treatment, torture ,and outrages upon personal dignity.
If the common law concept of Informed Consent in medical treatment and the Right to Bodily Integrity are to have any meaning in fact then it is the place of the individual to decide what they consider to be effective medicine in the treatment of their ailments. It is not the role of Government, the courts, the public service or the medical profession to dictate the medical choices of the citizen. The Government do have a right to make recommendations and provide “Guidelines” for quality control, safe use practices and regulations for distribution of any substance such as they currently do for alcohol and many pharmaceuticals but they have no right to declare a substance of no medical value and prohibited, especially when that substance is a naturally occurring plant that has been shown in scientific studies to be a safe and effective medicine and which has been used for thousands of years without one known fatality due to toxicity, Science not ideology should guide Government policy on health .
The citizen alone has the right to decide what is the appropriate medical treatment or medicine for their condition having investigated all the treatments on offer(in existence) and is free to decide for or against any treatment regardless if that decision may even result in death.
Cannabis is a proven life saving medicine and very effective pain relieving agent for certain types of intractable pain that does not respond to current pharmaceuticals. It is also far safer and less addictive than all other known pain medications. Under the current drug laws “the patient” is not authorised to have possession of their own medicine at any time for any reason. This makes a farce of the Common law rights mentioned above and infringes on personal dignity in an outrageous manner and renders the drug laws as ambiguous at best.
For the Government to refuse to allow supply of this medicine to those who choose it as medicine for their ailments and to prosecute as criminals those who have made the informed decision to control their own medical treatments through consumption of Cannabis is for the Government to have over stepped their jurisdiction and has lead to the deaths of many citizens through treatable curable diseases such as Cancer and Epilepsy and untold suffering amongst those whom the medical profession cannot help with “Authorised treatments and medicines”. Not to mention those directly "Murdered" by law enforcement officers. The front line soldiers in the war on drugs .
To undertake this action in a theatre of internal armed conflict makes it a war crime and charges must be laid against those responsible for the breaches of human rights.
These war crimes MUST be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as nobody is above the law or so we are told.
The FDA is a compromised institution and is not the beacon of purity and knowledge that Gil Kerlikowske believes or would have us believe. The Food and Drug Administration is the same agency that allow hundreds of pharmaceutical drugs that have collected a hefty death toll over these past few decades. Yet the one drug that does not have a single recorded death ever, cannabis , is outlawed. Given these circumstances and the fact that every scientific study proving the medical benefits of cannabis have been instantly dismissed, it's clear that we are not dealing with innocent people within the FDA. We are dealing with immoral bureaucrats who do not mind ignoring science when it enforces their personal viewpoint or gives their bank account a healthy boost.
I believe if the FDA had a legitimate reason to give for cannabis not being medically viable, Kerlikowske would have relayed it to the public so that we would understand. Clearly, as this was not done, they have no legitimate reason in determining its reported uselessness (again, we must all simply choose to ignore the reality that several scientific studies and millions of first-hand patient experiences have already occurred). As consequence, a nation of 300 million are forced to be denied a helpful medical solution based on a dishonest review process.
So, why must the FDA draw the line at non-toxic medical solutions?
Who is the FDA truly working for? Who is the FDA working against? Is the FDA truly benefiting the country's well-being or are they a part of the cancer slowly eating it away?
"In a little over three months, my office will deliver to President Obama a National Drug Control Strategy that will strike a balance between public health and public safety ..."
Striking that balance is superfluous when public health and public safety are SECONDARY to INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.
To this Czar, every other Czar, and all US citizens who support tyranny-by-majority...F YOU!
And Todd...he, and prohibition laws are UN-AMERICAN. I hold up our founding document as evidence. The prosecution rests.
The Drug War In a Nutshell
Valerie Davis, the 42-year-old woman killed this week in a cops-chase-drug-suspect scenario, would be alive today if drugs were legalized, controlled and regulated. And the drug suspect, now a murder suspect, would have been doing something else for a living, if drugs were legalized. (“Drugs suspects fleeing cops ram into car; woman killed,” Chicago Sun-Times, 11/4/09) Also a drug agent’s bullet fired in the excitement of the chase would not have risked killing innocent bystanders in the Washington Park neighborhood. In sum, drug agents escalated a drug-prohibition violation into the death of an innocent motorist that could have been anyone of us.
If drugs were legalized, some of the drug agents involved in this botched drug-enforcement operation could get a job making something and constructively contributing to American society and gross domestic product. Instead a woman is dead, needlessly, and some drug buyers will be momentarily inconvenienced as they switch drug dealers. A drug suspect will likely go to prison for murder. The taxpayers will get the bill, and Valerie’s relatives get to cry.
Truly – wasteful, counter-productive, deadly, expensive and futile folly. But that’s the drug war in a nutshell.
James E. Gierach
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Speaker
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Mr. Gil K. would be out of a job if things changed, so no wonder he is opposed to progress.
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The Drug Czar would still have to deal with other illegal drugs if cannabis were legalized, so he wouldn't be out of a job. A stoner society is not my idea of progress. We already have enough substance abuse with alcohol and tobacco , and we don't need another smoked substance that young people get hooked on and destroy their futures. Marijuana provides no tangible benefit to society that can't be provided by a healthier alternative.
As an MD, PhD toxicologist, I have better credentials in this area than the drug czar or for that matter anybody who ever worked or the US government in this area.
In fact, I briefly toyed applying for the drug czar job before realizing that liberarian beliefs and my favorable attitude toward the second amendment completely exclude me from any high administrative job.
Besides, which, the last thing the government wants in the drug czar's job is somebody who actually knows something about drugs and drug abuse. Mr. Kerlikowske has just proved my assessment right...
Dear Mr. Kerlikowske, In your statement:
"To test the idea of legalizing and taxing marijuana , we only need to look at already legal drugs — alcohol and tobacco . We know that the taxes collected on these substances pale in comparison to the social and health care costs related to their widespread use."
Can you name any health or social problems caused by marijuana in a regulated taxed atmosphere? As of now, there is no law regulating marijuana except it's being illegal . This causes health problems - stress, paranoia, fear of being busted. I can think of a lot more severe problems from tobacco - cancer and emphesyma. Alcohol - Drunk driving accidents, violence, and the worst. Can you name anything as serious with the use of marijuana? Other than getting overweight and fat? I can't either. Even better would be marijuana consumed in regulation! Then it will be done with even greater respect and care than it is now. The people have spoken! We want our WEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!