cannabisnews.com: John P. Walters 'Takes Five'





John P. Walters 'Takes Five'
Posted by CN Staff on June 03, 2004 at 20:45:46 PT
From the Journal Sentinel
Source: Journal Sentinel 
John P. Walters, director of national drug control policy and President Bush's "drug czar," was in Milwaukee Thursday to address members of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. Walters' strategy for fighting the war on drugs involves reducing both supply of and demand for illegal substances. He discussed that strategy and drug addiction issues with Journal Sentinel reporter Gina Barton.
Q. You support random student drug testing, and are visiting a school in Pewaukee where such testing is done. Why is random testing of students a good thing?A. Random student drug testing allows us to use the knowledge that we have that substance abuse is a disease of the brain and to apply public health measures such as screening and testing that have been used to reduce other diseases in our society.. . . It's important to emphasize that random student drug testing may not be used to punish. Under the law, it must be confidential, and it may only be used as a way to get help for the young person who may test positive for controlled substances.. . . Once we recognize that addiction is a disease and a disease that we catch in childhood, we begin to understand why it is so valuable to use better screening.Q. What do you say to those critics who believe random student drug testing is a violation of civil rights and the right to privacy?A. That concern is based on a misunderstanding. It's not about punishment. It's about keeping people healthy.. . . Drug abuse in the United States is a pediatric-onset disease. Why not use a public health tool - screening - as we do with so many other childhood diseases, and prevent the onset before they go down the path of destruction?Q. What is the philosophy behind drug courts?A. Drug treatment courts are another powerful tool that allows us to apply the knowledge that addiction is a disease.. . . It takes people who are non-violent drug offenders and puts them into a judicial process that directs them toward treatment and gives them the incentive to complete treatment and get into recovery. . . . This is a way to keep them off the path that in too many cases ends in a jail cell.Q. Tell me about your office's marijuana initiative.A. Marijuana is the single biggest area of ignorance that we have to correct. Today's marijuana is many times more potent.. . . We've had a doubling of emergency room cases involving marijuana, either people seeking treatment for addiction or as the result of accidents. Sixty percent of the estimated 7 million people we have to treat for addiction are dependent on marijuana. Nationally, more teens seek treatment for marijuana than for all other drugs combined.Q. What do you say to those who believe marijuana is a "soft drug" that should be legalized?A. The belief that marijuana is a soft drug is a myth. Marijuana is the single biggest treatment need.. . . We are living in the past if we believe marijuana is not a serious drug of abuse.. . . The ignorance about it has led to its use and has led young people into trouble. For those who think it's a soft drug and it should be legalized, it's time to look at the facts.Note: Random drug testing as public health toolFrom the June 4, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)Published: June 4, 2004Copyright: 2004 Milwaukee Journal SentinelContact: jsedit onwis.comWebsite: http://www.jsonline.com/Related Articles:Testing, Testing - Daniel Forbeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18793.shtmlPull The Plug on Mandatory Student Drug Testing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18588.shtmlNo 'Silver Bullet' - Marsha Rosenbaum http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18247.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 04, 2004 at 08:44:36 PT
global_warming 
I posted the article but I archived it since news is slow and I'm being selective because what I post might stay on the front page for a while. I get really annoyed with The Rockefeller Drug Law articles. They have cried wolf one too many times for me to believe what they say. I wish they would just do it and get rid of those horrible laws. I hope they realize that we know it's just politicians doing what politicians do. I think of it like two men standing facing each other pounding on their own chest. Wake up New York. There I feel better.http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18948.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on June 04, 2004 at 08:25:43 PT
from N.Y. May Reform Rockefeller Drug Laws 
``We're talking about human lives and wasted resources,'' Blain said Thursday. ``These people, we call them inmates, thugs, convicts, but they are brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers of someone. That's what's on the table now.'' As kaptinemo says, "Words are very important."The belief that Johnny P. has a brain is a myth; he seems more like a black-hearted parrot.Virgil, interestingly, glutamate in its natural form (MSG is a chemical cousin) is found in many foods including breast milk, meat, and tomatoes. Insufficient quantities of natural glutamate *may* cause schizophrenia, according to a new theory. Glutamate and Schizophrenia http://www.biopsychiatry.com/glutamate.htmkap, not only is America losing moral authority around the world and facing punishing budget crunches at home, but also U.S. brands are losing their luster: U.S. brands losing luster: 
American names eroding in popularity in other countries -- even before prison scandal.
May 25, 2004: 11:23 AM EDT 
By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money staff writer
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/20/news/fortune500/usbrands_attack/index.htm
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Comment #8 posted by Sam Adams on June 04, 2004 at 06:25:39 PT
Tough times
It's a sad day for the United States of America. The fact that we have a guy like this working for the US is a disgrace. It's like some rubbed a turd across the American flag, leaving a big, brown stain. What would Thomas Jefferson say if he read this? Ben Franklin? Washington? Listen to what he's saying:"Marijuana is the single biggest area of ignorance that we have to correct. " He's trying to MAKE people ignorant and afraid, not enlighten them. Everything that comes out of his mouth is doublespeak. I wish Orwell were still alive to see the complete and total manifestation of his vision.
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Comment #7 posted by mayan on June 04, 2004 at 06:05:55 PT
Pee Brained
It's amazing how Johnny Pee can spew the same tired lies over and over again, all the while knowing he is full of sh*t. The fascists are trying to eliminate any expectations of privacy the younger generations may hold so that when the said generations become adults they'll be used to Johnny Pee holding the cup in the bathroom stall as they urinate. Such perverts! The war on terror is over. The terrorists won.Action Alert - Congress to vote on MMJ:
http://capwiz.com/norml2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=5962431The way out is the way in...Long Debunked "Rumor" Validated by Giuliani - FEMA in NYC prior to 9/11:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories/fc/88/200406030034.f9b501af.htmlFarenheit 9/11 trailer:
http://www.fahrenheit911.com/A First Look at "Fahrenheit 9/11"
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,638819,00.html9/11 Panel to Probe Failures of Air Defenses: 
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/cohen060204.html9/11 Prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive:
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge.html
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on June 04, 2004 at 04:57:35 PT:
The next Drug Czar may be the last one
I am not being Pollyanna-ish about this, as it *really* means something very serious happening to this country to bring it about.The nation is practically bankrupt. The oil 'revenues' (nice way of saying 'stolen goods') that were expected from the Iraqi oilfields to pay for this immoral, misbegotten, undeclared, Constitutionally illegal war have not been forthcoming. The Guv'mint is stretched to the fiscal breaking point. Inflation (which incidentally is *caused* by government running the paper money printing presses in overdrive) is on the rise again after a 10 year low. Every trip to the gas station or grocery store confirms that. Times are tight, and getting tighter.The belts are being tightened, all over the country. Budgets are being pared down. Services cut. Even some government workers at local and State levels are being furloughed or 'let go' outright. If things get worse, we could see the kind of thing happening in this country that happened during the 1970's, with the much-unlamented 'malaise' creeping back into the vocabulary.Meaning...decisions will have to be made, at the national level. Decisions that could cause some government agencies to see the first cuts in their budgets in 20 years.Agencies like the ONDCP. To paraphrase an old saying, those agencies that "live by the dollar, die by the dollar." The dollar is losing value internationally, and that means inflation, and that means trouble. Trouble that the Feds literally as well as figuratively cannot afford. Walters' successor may have to dust off his resume within months after assuming Johnny Pee's 'bully pulpit'. Politically, it'll become the kind of 'fraud and waste' (as if it wasn't already!) that many legislators might see a chance at making political capital out of cutting.We can hope, at least. It'll be one of the few good things we'll see coming out of what's speeding down the pike in our direction... 
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Comment #5 posted by Virgil on June 04, 2004 at 04:16:45 PT
The Slow Poisoning of America
There is a book out titled "The Slow Poisoning of America."- http://www.spofamerica.com/ It says MSG is an addictive substance added to food to make people eat more.This link will tell you about MSG and also what aspartame breaks down into- http://www.rense.com/general52/msg.htmThe War Against Prohibition has no idealogical enemies. The people on the other side just want to continue the corruption and the police state and instill a fear in all people that one planted pill is the only thing needed to remove their freedom.
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Comment #4 posted by global_warming on June 04, 2004 at 03:21:06 PT
Say Goodbye Johnny
And take George "Monkey Lips" with you,..http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-NY-Drug-Laws.html			
N.Y. May Reform Rockefeller Drug Laws
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished: June 4, 2004Filed at 4:18 a.m. ETALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York lawmakers are ready to roll back the state's infamously harsh Rockefeller drug laws if they can agree on how to reform mandatory sentences for less serious drug violations.This week, members of a legislative conference committee verbally agreed to reduce the 15 years-to-life mandatory sentences for the most serious offenses to as little as 3 to 10 years.Gov. George Pataki and most legislators have called it an injustice that a first-time offender could face a life sentence for possessing as little as 4 ounces of a controlled substance or for selling only 2 ounces.``We have never gotten this close to an agreement,'' said state Sen. Dale Volker, the committe's Republican co-chairman. ``Now we are right down to the nitty gritty.''The sticking points between the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled Assembly both address the issue of treatment for nonviolent offenders.The Assembly wants those offenders to get treatment, in many cases with no prison time, and wants to remove the veto power that district attorneys now have over courts' decisions to send offenders to treatment.The Senate opposes both steps.Letting offenders avoid prison entirely under drug law reform would represent a ``dramatic change in our entire sentencing scheme,'' Volker said.``You're absolutely correct,'' said the committe's other co-chairman, Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, arguing that such sweeping change is needed.Republican senators also say prosecutors need the threat of longer prison sentences to give offenders incentive to successfully complete treatment.New York spends more than $500 million a year to incarcerate nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom can rebuild their lives faster if they receive treatment, said Michael Blain of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that espouses reducing both drug misuse and drug prohibition, and promoting the sovereignty of individuals.``We're talking about human lives and wasted resources,'' Blain said Thursday. ``These people, we call them inmates, thugs, convicts, but they are brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers of someone. That's what's on the table now.''Twenty-seven states have rolled back mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, liberalized drug treatment options or otherwise eased drug statutes in the last year, Blain said.Former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller pushed the statutes through the New York Legislature in 1973 and 1974, at a time when he felt the state's inner cities were being lost to heroin addiction and judges were balking at imposing stiff sentences on drug offenders.About 2,000 inmates are serving up to life in New York prisons under the Rockefeller drug laws. More than 13,600 others are serving shorter mandatory sentences for less-severe drug violations.
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Comment #3 posted by Virgil on June 04, 2004 at 03:07:15 PT
They are creating rackets
All this testing and treatment is racketeering. They should be testing for lead and mercury, but health has nothing to do with it. They are just creating a racket with forced testing and forced treatment.Walters is a fraud and so is all of ONDCP. Walters needs to see real justice and sentenced.
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Comment #2 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 03, 2004 at 21:30:43 PT
Ignorance About Marijuana?
The man is right. I've never seen anyone so ignorant about marijuana as John P. Walters, the epitome of a fascist.
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on June 03, 2004 at 21:12:12 PT
is a disease of the brain
and while we are at it we might as well test for vd and aids and lets see what condition that the students bodies are in have they had sex or on the pill ---soon it will be used to ck cholesterol the human will be more regulated than the meat inspectors do.
http://www.mmdetroit.org
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