cannabisnews.com: The General's Farewell





The General's Farewell
Posted by FoM on October 18, 2000 at 14:39:00 PT
By Ryan Sager of National Review
Source: National Review
 The czar is dead. Long live the czar.If it hadn't been him, it would have been somebody else — and for that reason alone it is perhaps unfair to heap all of the scorn engendered by the Drug War in the last four years on retiring drug czar Barry McCaffrey. Still, McCaffrey's announcement yesterday that he will leave office in January sent waves of glee rolling over those who believe that our nation's War on Drugs needs serious rethinking. 
While the retirement of one drug czar is certain only to mean his replacement by another, many are overjoyed to see this one go. Ever since his appointment in 1996 by President Clinton, Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey has ruffled an array of feathers — from those of hard-line libertarians looking for full legalization of drugs to those of public-health types who would like to see more emphasis on drug treatment. But why is this? Would a different czar have done things much differently? If not for McCaffrey, would we be passing by pot stands on our way to work? Would we see millions of people being thrown into rehab every year instead of jail? The answer to all of these questions is obviously no, making it all the more clear what exactly it is that irks so many people about McCaffrey: his attitude. Opponents of the War on Drugs accept that it is bound to continue for years to come, and they accept that no drug czar is likely to share their views. What they don't accept, however, is a man overseeing our nation's drug policies who has no respect for their point of view and a mind closed to scientific debate — in short, a man like Barry McCaffrey. In fairness to McCaffrey, his appointment was never intended to further a debate on our nation's drug policies. From the beginning he was being used by The Man Who Didn't Inhale to paper over his administration's lack of credibility on the drug issue. Whether or not an actual military leader was the right person to lead a metaphorical war was apparently not an important consideration. The results were as could have been expected. The new czar did not endear himself to many. The largest blunder of McCaffrey's tenure, and the one that would set the tone for the next four years, came early on with his reaction to the medical-marijuana movement in the west. In the matter of a few short months after California and Arizona passed medical marijuana initiatives in 1996, McCaffrey managed to set himself up as the opponent of cancer, glaucoma, and AIDS patients while simultaneously threatening the medical profession's right to free speech by warning doctors in these states not to even recommend marijuana to their patients lest they face prosecution. In one botched political play, McCaffrey lost credibility with the medical community as well as a large segment of the public. Things only went downhill from there. On top of more states passing medical-marijuana initiatives, McCaffrey saw his many statements on marijuana's lack of medicinal use directly contradicted by a government study that he himself commissioned. In the meantime, New Mexico elected a governor strongly opposed to the Drug War. McCaffrey's reaction to New Mexico's governor Gary Johnson was typical of his lack of tolerance for any person with opposing views on drugs. He immediately denounced Johnson as "irresponsible," said he was "embarrassed" by a public servant taking such a position and called Johnson "Puff Daddy" in a speech. Such disrespect has characterized McCaffrey's reign. Those who dislike Barry McCaffrey do so for a plethora of reasons: for misleading statistics on marijuana's relation to traffic accidents, for false statements about the Dutch experiment in legalization, for buying off TV networks and other media outlets to insert anti-drug propaganda into their content — but above all else it has been his attitude. In a few months a new president will get to make a new choice and perhaps a fresh start. "In a sick way we'll miss him," says Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, adding that McCaffrey has been "a convenient foil." Despite the kidding, a foil isn't what St. Pierre and others want. St. Pierre wants someone with experience in public health. Others might hope for a person with background in law enforcement. Still others might hope for a person to help make a moral case against drugs. At bottom, let's all just hope it's not another general. Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/index.html Source National Review (US) Author: Ryan Sager of National ReviewPublished: October 18, 2000Address 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Copyright: 2000 National Review Email: letters nationalreview.com Website: http://www.nationalreview.com/ Forum: http://www.nationalreview.com/forum/forum.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Site:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/McCaffrey Says He Will Leave White House Post http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7364.shtmlMcCaffrey Will Resign From Drug Czar Post http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7361.shtmlMcCaffrey To Leave White House Job http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7358.shtml CannabisNews McCaffrey Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/McCaffrey.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Governor Gary Johnson:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Gary+Johnson 
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Comment #13 posted by Antianti on October 19, 2000 at 06:15:22 PT:
Columbia will backfire in his face
Requiem for "Plan Colombia"?The recent report by the US General Accounting Office on the many failures of Plan Colombia whizzed by the Clinton-Gore administration like a surface to air missile buzzing the tail of a Black Hawk helicopter.The GAO report shook the administration because it told the truth: the Plan has become a United States colonial project, rejected even by the European Union, as Narco News explained on multiple times last July, August and September.The GAO report is available on the Internet, but many of its findings, in fact, have been available here for months on Narco News.Portugal was the first nation to put the US in check when, last July, all the left wing and green parties united to decriminalize drugs in that nation. We pointed out that this was the first European response to "Plan Colombia" and struck at the heart of US policy because it called into question the root cause of the bloodshed in Colombia: drug prohibition.In August, Narco News published a translation of a story in the influential French daily Le Monde that revealed -- at a time when US and Colombian officials still insisted that Europe would be part of Plan Colombia -- that European nations were backing away and, indeed, opposing the military plan.By September, when, as reported here, European opposition to Plan Colombia had even peeled Argentina's government of Fernando De la Rua off of its commitments to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, thus opening the way for the Brasilia Summit of South American Presidents to oppose the military intervention portion (80%) of Plan Colombia.When, in September, even Great Britain, traditionally slavish to US policy, backed away and opposed Plan Colombia, the writing was on the wall.And as exiled Colombian journalist Alfredo Molano told Narco News last July, in Barcelona, European opposition is very important "because it isolates the United States."When The Narco News Bulletin reported each of these facts, many chose to ignore them. This is situation normal for us. But we kept plowing forward with our commitment to get the true facts to the public. Then, last week, the US General Accounting Office -- the independent investigative agency of Congress -- issued a report that confirmed everything our readers have known for months.This created a serious crisis for both the Clinton-Gore administration and the press corps that has consistently offered false and misleading information about Plan Colombia to US readers. It also vindicated the news source that will continue to push the official media into better coverage simply by telling the truth: The Narco News Bulletin.And so, suddenly, the LA Times reported last Friday that Plan Colombia could be cancelled after the US elections in November. The NY Times followed suit the next day, publishing the same story. They both mentioned the GAO report and cited longtime Plan Colombia architects like Michael Shifter of the Council of Foreign Relations and its Inter-American Dialogue subsidiary organization, allowing these hypocritical and complicit interest groups to spread the rumor that the Plan is in trouble.Yes, the Plan is in trouble, but not in Washington nor on Wall Street, where it remains a vital strategy to intervene in Latin America. Heinz Dieterich Steffan, in his recent essay translated and published on Narco News, pointed out that "Plan Colombia" has alterior motives that have nothing to do with fighting drugs: first and foremost, putting the breaks on Bolívar's dream of a united América against colonial aggression. A dream that today is more possible than ever: "The Name of Our Country is América!"Plan Colombia, however, is not going away. They may change its name or boost some social funding aspects, but its bottom line -- stopping the social movements of Latin América -- will continue to be fought at the barrel of a gun. And Washington is now moving to give more money, more arms, more control over drug trafficking, to the violent paramilitary death squads of top narco Carlos Castańo to do Plan Colombia's dirty work.So revealing of the dark agendas of Washington and Wall Street, is this truth that many who chose not to believe our earlier stories will prefer not to believe what we say here: the rumors of Plan Colombia's demise are no more than an election strategy by the White House, the campaign of Vice President Al Gore (D-Occidental Petroleum) and their stable of reliable "journalistic" mouthpieces.Why does the Gore campaign wish to spread this rumor today? Narco News has learned the answer to that question: Gore's strategists have picked up in their private polling data that opposition to Plan Colombia and the US drug war in Latin America are driving many "Gore voters" to the independent campaigns of Ralph Nader and Libertarian candidate Harry Browne, or simply motivating them to stay home and not vote at all. And in key electoral college states, the Nader vote in particular threatens to derail a Gore victory.They want everyone to calm down, to stop worrying about "the Next Vietnam" or "the New El Salvador" underway in the Amazon jungle. They want to imply that a Democratic administration would somehow be less hawkish, less militarizing in América, than the Republicans might be. They implied the same with Iraq in 1992; but every time Clinton's personal escapades caused him a dip in the polls, the bombs fell on the Middle East again and again and again. In the next four years, the bombs will start falling in América. But it's all public relations: a cynical act of simulation not backed by policy nor their real intentions.Don't believe the hype. Keep the pressure on. The prohibitionist empire is on the defensive over its disaster in Colombia and all América, stumbling, off balance, but not yet defeated.Today's reports in Narco News will be greeted in some quarters as cynically as our previous reports -- cited above -- were greeted at the times we published them. And yet each one of those stories has now been confirmed by the US General Accounting Office and grudgingly reported by the LA Times and the NY Times, among others.Our better track record on reporting the facts of the drug war in Latin America is based on one factor only: our commitment to report and analyze the truth. It's no formula nor secret recipe, but rather an old-fashioned commitment to Authentic Journalism in an age of cynicism and simulation by what passes as "the press" today.The same forces of simulation will choose to ignore our reports today: that the Bolivia crisis is not over and will deepen within months; that Mexico's president-elect Vicente Fox is a party to yesterday's electoral fraud in Tabasco; that his new "anti-corruption czar" is a master at corruption and yet endorsed by the US Embassy, which likes its Mexican law enforcement officials to be corrupt enough to be blackmailed.The root problem of all of these scandals does not lie with officials in Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia or elsewhere. The fuel on all these fires is the US-imposed prohibition on drugs.We will keep the pressure on, with the weight of the facts on our side, until the hypocritical drug war is defeated in Our América.From somewhere in a country called América,Al Giordano, Publisher of the Narco News Bulletinnarconews hotmail.com
The Narco News Bulletin
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Comment #12 posted by Kanabys on October 19, 2000 at 05:41:01 PT
I think we are rejoicing
prematurely. I hate to be a killjoy but we really have to worry about the other side of the coin. Who will be next??? What will the next one do??? Can it get worse??? I hope all of these questions I am asking are not needed but one has to ask them. I still nominate Dr. Ethan Russo for drug czar, that is if we even really need one in the first place.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on October 18, 2000 at 23:05:26 PT
Glad to have you here!
Welcome demiwolf! You're right. I often wonder if a person was a cigarette smoker, a drinker and a smoker of marijuana and they were going to be stuck on an isolated island with only one of those three substances which one would a person pick? I think the cigarettes. That is addiction but the marijuana probably would not be picked til last because it is non addictive I believe.Welcome ras james, I have wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings here. I learn so much from the different views of the people. I don't know much about your religion but I respect your beliefs.Welcome Aboard!Peace, FoM! 
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Comment #10 posted by nl5x on October 18, 2000 at 22:57:42 PT
more-on McCaffrey
more-on McCaffreyhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1059/a03.htmlFIGHTING "CHEECH & CHONG" MEDICINEhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n043/a09.htmlDRUG MONEY How The White House Secretly Hooked Network TV On Its Anti-Drug Message
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Comment #9 posted by demiwolf on October 18, 2000 at 22:46:43 PT:
Bozo on the way out
This must be some of the best news we've heard yet. Seems the antis are ducking for cover, fast. I'm a long time reader but have been holding off on posting because of my hobby. I'm a MMJ user and really don't want to go to jail. No one should have to feel bad about feelig good. All of the prescribed meds made me feel like a zombie. All pot did was alliveate my symptpms without ruining me as a person. Why can't they understand people don't want government in their lives. Maybe this will be the turning point. The Wolf.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 18, 2000 at 20:08:13 PT
Sure Do!
I hear you Freedom Fighter! Loud and clear!
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Comment #7 posted by freedom fighter on October 18, 2000 at 19:56:42 PT
Can you hear
a deaf man laughing??? hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahhahhahahahhahaaaaaaa 
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Comment #6 posted by Dankhank on October 18, 2000 at 19:12:13 PT:
Damn the evil man ...
I spent 22 years in the Army and ran across many an officer and even a few senior enlisted men that acted like he did.It didn't matter if you knew the truth ... it wasn't HIS truth. I began to truly learn how hate can grow while serving under the thumb of these many little Hitlers.The best thing about the service was that only if you arrived in the unit the same time as the evil men would you have to suffer their presence for 3 years ...Usually you or he would be transferred in 18 months ... couple of years ... maybe you only had six months to go when the little hitler arrived.The problem with generals, and I submit that it IS a problem, is that they are GOD on earth in their minds, and sometimes in fact.Witness that he was able to direct the massacre of surrenduring Iraqis when he should have captured them ... and got NO trouble for it ...If you truly want to meet God on Earth, meet a general in a combat zone.His penchant for calling names must have been a real trial if you were a low ranking officer in his unit and you did or said something that he didn't like ...I have seen and been the target of just such approbation by a man that probably would have been fragged in Viet-Nam.A friend of mine was in Nam and tells the story of a martinet of a Major that flat got cynical and nasty as the evil drug czar did with Gov. Johnson.Guess what? That night a live grenade rolled into his tent and BOOM ... one less martinet to deal with.Was it right? Don't know, wasn't there ... but I will not judge, only instruct.Be careful who you disparage ... he may come back and bite your nose off.Regardless of the tone of the article, I chortle with glee that he is leaving, and I am sad that it is not soon enough. Gen McCaff .... you are truly an evil man and can't go fast enough .. I hope the door does hit you in the ass on the way out.Good Riddance.Check my page for his ugly mug and a link to his e-mail ...
Lots o Links ...
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Comment #5 posted by fivepounder on October 18, 2000 at 18:58:51 PT
Bye bye you fool!
Another one we all outlasted. May the general need mmj in the future and may his ego prevent him from trying it..
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on October 18, 2000 at 18:24:02 PT
I man
Ras James........JAH Shine on You....
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Comment #3 posted by ras james on October 18, 2000 at 17:26:14 PT
mccaffrey revelation
from the I-man's point of view general, mccaffrey helped fulfill the BOOK. in Revelation 22:1&2, it states that one of the signs of the end of tribulation and the beginning of the "CITY OF GOD" would be when the TREE OF LIFE bears fruit twelve months of the year on both sides of the streets.in chicago...in the year 1999...cannabis sativa fruited (one seed fruits called achenes) on both sides of madison street which divides chicago in half. had cannabis sativa been legal like alcohol it would have been grown on large farms and not in small grow rooms all over chi-town. but NOW marijuana has manefested as the sacred TREE OF LIFE.EVEN THE GENERAL MUST GIVE ALL PRAISE AND THANKS TO JAH RASTAFARI...FOR THE FATHERS FINAL WORDS IN THE BIBLE HAVE COME TO BE: "THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS BE WITH THE ALL." THE SINS OF ALL (PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE) HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN...FOR THE FATHER'S WORDS HAVE BECOME FLESH. even mccaffrey's _________ __________ made it...even mine.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 18, 2000 at 16:33:08 PT
Hope the door doesn't hit his fanny 
I love it!
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Comment #1 posted by observer on October 18, 2000 at 16:25:38 PT
No Tears
Those who dislike Barry McCaffrey do so for a plethora of reasons: for misleading statistics on marijuana's relation to traffic accidents, for false statements about the Dutch experiment in legalization, for buying off TV networks and other media outlets to insert anti-drug propaganda into their content — but above all else it has been his attitude.I'm glad the writer mentioned ol' Pinocchio McCaffrey's Dutch falsehoods. http://www.csdp.org/ads/pinocchio.htm That needs to me emphasized.Hope the door doesn't hit his fanny on the way out.
Time To Resign, McCaffrey
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