cannabisnews.com: Bush Backs a Promotion for Florida's Drug Czar





Bush Backs a Promotion for Florida's Drug Czar
Posted by FoM on March 22, 2001 at 08:26:56 PT
By John Balz
Source: St. Petersburg Times
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is touting his drug czar, Jim McDonough, to lead the nation in its battle against illegal drugs. On McDonough's behalf, the governor has called his brother, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney "several" times, a spokeswoman said. During the series of recent calls, Jeb Bush stressed McDonough's record in combatting drugs in Florida and his previous experience in the federal government's National Office of Drug Control Policy. 
"We are working actively for (Director McDonough) on our end," said Bush's communication director, Katie Baur. McDonough, 54, was in Washington on Wednesday speaking to a panel of senators about the dangers of ecstasy and Florida's efforts to curb designer drug use. Afterward, he spoke about his aspiration to direct U.S. drug policy. "I've thought about what I would do if I (were given) such an honor," McDonough said. "I've tried to think about how I would address the issue." McDonough said he has not spoken to President Bush and declined to comment when asked whether he had conversations with Gov. Bush about the drug czar position. Before being tapped by Gov. Jeb Bush in 1999 to head Florida's Office of Drug Control, McDonough served under President Bill Clinton's drug czar, Barry MaCaffrey. In Florida, McDonough is known for ambitious proposals to halt drug use. He recommended that the state offer financial incentives to companies that randomly test employees for drugs. He also suggested unleashing a killer fungus on illegal marijuana crops. But state officials who worried that the fungus might mutate and kill other plants never followed through on the idea. Besides McDonough, those mentioned as candidates to be director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy include ex-U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum and Maricopa County, Ariz., prosecutor Rick Romley. President Bush rarely mentioned the war on drugs on the campaign trail, and some in the White House favor dropping the drug czar job from the Cabinet. But McDonough believes the government must keep a high profile and aggressively attempt to eradicate drugs. "I actually do not think all is lost and the sky is falling," he said. "My view is when you work the issue in a sustained and balanced way, you bring drug use down. When you walk away and surrender, forget it, drugs go through the roof." One drug that has been skyrocketing recently is ecstasy. Manufactured primarily in the Netherlands, the drug is particularly prevalent among teenagers and young adults who use it at all-night parties called raves. McDonough said 60 ecstasy-related deaths occurred in the state of Florida during the last half of 2000. Between 1997 and 1999 Florida had 174 ecstasy-related deaths, and McDonough said the increase is proof of the drug's growing popularity and its fatal consequences. "We've had parents say to us: You would rather have your child on the most dangerous street in Florida rather than inside a rave club," he said. Note: The governor presses his brother to make Jim McDonough the nation's drug czar. Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)Author: John BalzPublished: March 22, 2001 Copyright: 2001 St. Petersburg TimesAddress: 490 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701Contact: letters sptimes.comWebsite: http://www.sptimes.com/Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Forums/ubb/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgiCannabisNews Articles - Drug Czarhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=drug+czar
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Comment #16 posted by ekim on March 23, 2001 at 03:59:03 PT:
Mycoherbicide --Fusarium
Info on this fungus.http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n921/a12.html
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Comment #15 posted by dddd on March 22, 2001 at 20:25:52 PT
DanBstrodamus
 That message deserved to be big,and was quite appropriate in its' bigness.I'm glad to see you do more negativly flavored commentaries.Optimism is nice and good,but I always like seeing the more realistic reality of actuality.,,,and the bignessof your comment was a good thing....dddd
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Comment #14 posted by Dan B on March 22, 2001 at 19:36:04 PT:
Wow!
Sorry that last message was so BIG.Dan B
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Comment #13 posted by Dan B on March 22, 2001 at 19:34:56 PT:
To touch on aocp and jAHn's comments . . .
The Results of a "Balanced Approach"If the feds decide to increase spending on "treatment" to the level of law enforcement (this is almost certainly the type of "balanced" approach they are looking for), this is what I predict will happen:(1) Arrests for drug "crimes" will increase at an alarming rate in order to accomodate both the prison industry and the "mental health" industry. (2) So-called "drug courts" will become merely triage centers where prosecutors will get to decide a person's fate: jail time or unspecified lengths of stay at "treatment" facilities.(3) In order to keep money flowing for law enforcement, forfeitures, both state and federal, will also increase at an alarming rate. This increase in forfeiture funds will offset any decrease in annual law enforcement funding increases.(4) Because of this so-called "balanced" approach, building of "treatment" centers will boom, just as prison building has boomed to accomodate the alarming increase in the prison population. This will result in a temporary glut of jobs for building contractors, meaning more jobs for skilled workers, but lower pay.(5) In order to make "addicts" (i.e., anyone caught with an illegal substance, planted or not) serving time in "treatment" facilities "feel useful," work programs will be established. Large corporations will benefit from this labor.(6) The government will soon "realize" that "treatment" is not working for a vast majority of those convicted of "drug crimes" and will begin searching for a new "solution."(7) Soon, the government will decide that it does not need two systems to conquer one "problem," so all people convicted of drug crimes will be sent to the new "drug enforcement labor camps," eliminating the need for both "treatment" centers and prison space for "drug criminals." Prison wardens and psychologists who previously worked in the now-deflated prisons and drug "treatment" centers will find new jobs in the labor camps.You can likely guess where it will go from there. There is no way that the government could ever end drug use without the threat of annihilation for anyone caught using an illegal drug. Their rhetoric will say that the drugs would kill you anyway, ao the government's mass genocide programs are simply another form of euthanasia. "It won't hurt; these people are on drugs," they'll say.There is only one way to stop the violence associated with drugs: end the black market by legalizing and regulating these substances like alcohol. Any "alternative" only leads us further down the road toward a 21st century holocaust.Dan B
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Comment #12 posted by jAHn on March 22, 2001 at 19:28:37 PT
Hey, Craven...
"President Bush rarely mentioned the war on drugs on the campaign trail, and some in the White House favor dropping the drug czar job from the Cabinet. But McDonough believes the government must keep a high profile and aggressively attempt to eradicate drugs."Who wants to talk about something that's really on the minds of Millions and Millions of Americans? (Excluding the Ones in Jail/Prison.(((Being raped over a Joint))) About Prosecution for those who really need to be prosecuted? Certainly not George Bush, a member of the Evil Bush Family!! see the following link: http://www.copvcia.comLet me know how that settles with ya!It's Insane to keep using such a Primordial method, like Prohibition, to forge the decision-making process of an Individual. This goes without mentioning the Sick & the Dying, right this moment, unable to make such decisions of wanting to try Pot/Cannabis because of Falsely-Instilled Fear. What a Sick Country this, America, has become. It's almost like Hitler has been ressurrected! (maybe in truth, his Ideology!!!
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Comment #11 posted by New Mexican on March 22, 2001 at 18:06:48 PT
OLD OR NEW MEXICO IS THE NEXT BEST THING! 
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR gARY jOHNSONS POLICIES AND MOVE HERE!See ya soon!
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Comment #10 posted by Lehder on March 22, 2001 at 17:48:39 PT
Somewhere, Someday...
There will be so many of us congregated by magic and by the magic that beckons us we will know THIS is the day and when we see the cameras on us we will not leave and more will come and the totalitarians who know only a fight to the death will have our message: Kill us or leave us alone and then they will be ashamed and we will fly away free free free.See you on April 20...somewhere!
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Comment #9 posted by dddd on March 22, 2001 at 15:58:31 PT
mass surrender
I think you're onto something there SuperStoner ...Thousands of pot users in a massivelemming-like surrender,insisting on our right to be incarcerated,,clogging the jails andcourts throughout the country...dddd
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Comment #8 posted by jAHn on March 22, 2001 at 13:18:58 PT
Hey, SuperStoner,
I'm down with this plan!!! I think it should be alittle more detailed, though...We should Organize some event! One where all of the people that support the use of Cannabis gather at the White House to begin Migration, North, to Canada. We could fly hemp flags and smoke America the heck out!!!  Before the trek, however, we have to find a cheap place to pick up residency in Canada, so ALL of us people whom support the Social/Medical/Overall use of Cannabis can work closely together and work towards a Peaceful, Tolerant society made up of many different Races, Creeds, Colors, Attitudes. I know, for a fact, that Canada is about FED up with its' dealings with American Drug Policy and its' Perpetuated lies, instead of Honest, Adulterated Debates, is looking for ways to work with Cannabis... If all of the people who support Cannabis in America Migrate to a place with Tolerant,NotBelligerent, Laws, America would open its' swollen eyes to the simple fact that all of its' workforce has fled....If they feel like getting out that Comatosed state of mind to open them, of course!!!(word!)
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Comment #7 posted by jAHn on March 22, 2001 at 13:03:32 PT
Great Point, Lehder!
 While I've only lived for 24 yrs. on this planet, pin-pointedly-Ameri(KKK)a, I am in total agreement with you on the point you made: "Criminal imbeciles like this who promote ignorance and violence above all other American virtues will destroy the country. Probably it is too late to stop the drug war juggernaut; I expect that I will live to witness the economic and pollitical collapse of the U.S. which will come as a great relief to the entire world." In a way, I hope this doesn't happen. Think of all of the African/Mexican/Arab/Asian/European(non-religious)-Americans that are -(and have been)living/figthing/hoping- under this Paradigm of a Free Society, yet Governed so closely, so Supremacistly(word?) TO Know that many people, that have been treated like Sheep, have been misled under false premises and taken for granted just for the Globalization of an Industrialised Society I believe that this was Hitler's ultimate goal, no kidding. The fact that that S.O.B. used its' countries army, deceptively (like America???hmmm) to create Prisons and "Concentration" Camps, and then say that they were Rehabilitation Centers!?! For some reason, I'm led to believe that Papa (George H.W.) was one of the Nazi's that were snuck over here after WW2!!! And now his Wretched little kids, and his CON servative Administration has Utter Control over the world, I beleve, as C-3PO would day, "We're DooMED!!!But, hey...."{Don't believe the Hype it's a Sequel"  This Bush is going to have a Beefy criminal record worth prosecution after these Whack-O's time is up, soon enough...Patience waited out the evil...Then goodness loomed above all!!! One day, I;ll be able to tell my grandchildren about how WE, the X'd Generation, Beat up the Nazis, Once and for all!!! All that we need....       ...Is Good Art!!!        Heee heee heee!
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Comment #6 posted by superstoner on March 22, 2001 at 12:47:43 PT:
time for a white flag
we need a big white flag and to tell the government we give in... and then tell them why.... we no longer want hardworking americans to be arrested for makeing a choice which is their "god" given right.... we no longer want people to suffer harrassment and live in fear....and then tell em we are all movein to canada to start our own country ... and that when they are done wipein their ass with the consituion ... call us.. and we can all live happily and freely.... boy dont i wish... i am really considerin movin to canada cause this country is goin no where ... and at a fast pace.
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Comment #5 posted by Lehder on March 22, 2001 at 11:38:10 PT
told ya so
Criminal imbeciles like this who promote ignorance and violence above all other American virtues will destroy the country. Probably it is too late to stop the drug war juggernaut; I expect that I will live to witness the economic and pollitical collapse of the U.S. which will come as a great relief to the entire world.
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Comment #4 posted by aocp on March 22, 2001 at 10:00:27 PT:
F*** this guy
"I actually do not think all is lost and the sky is falling," he said. "My view is when you work the issue in a sustained and balanced way, you bring drug use down.What's with all the "balanced" approach BS we've been getting shoved down our throats from every corner of the globe these days? The Canadians say their policy is soooo different from the u.s., b/c they're offering a "balanced" approach, yet we say the exact same line of crap!When you walk away and surrender, forget it, drugs go through the roof."I'm going to put on observer's Cloak of Reasoning here: listen up, jackass! Your forced coercion efforts and complete surrender are hardly the only two options! Do you get that?!? Probably not. In fact, no anti-prohibitionist supports either one! If regulation really isn't a possibility, y'all got a lot o' essplaining to do about how we handle the two biggest recreationally-used drugs by our YOUNG PEOPLE!: booze and tobacco!!! Where are the cries for the childrunnnnnnnn?!?!?!?!?!
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Comment #3 posted by Rainbow on March 22, 2001 at 09:27:55 PT
What environment
He also suggested unleashing a killer fungus on illegal marijuana cropsIf he gets in the fungus will be released. Either here or in Columbia. The military will mistake it for something else and drop it.He is evil and with the anti-environment schrub (bad name for him) he will do what he can to kill us.In fact I believe he would be worse than the McCzar since he might have some intelligence.Rainbow
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Comment #2 posted by legalizeit on March 22, 2001 at 09:11:50 PT
good ole boys network
Here we go with the Shrub relatives conspiring among themselves to figure out the best way to screw Americans and the rest of the world.Just what we need, a Nazi who championed the release of a dangerous fungus into our environment and advocated even more loss of privacy by trying to give companies kickbacks for implementing piss testing programs.>Before being tapped by Gov. Jeb Bush in 1999 to head Florida's Office of Drug Control, McDonough served under President Bill Clinton's drug czar, Barry McCaffrey.That's reason enough to have nothing to do with this buttwipe. His mind has already been polluted beyond hope by McBizarro, and the last thing we need is another such person in office. Ditto for McCollum (EX-US Rep, that says a little something about what voters think of this hard nosed drugnazi.) I don't know about that Maricopa County guy, but he can't be up to much good either.>McDonough believes the government must keep a high profile and aggressively attempt to eradicate drugs. Sure, because if it doesn't, he's out of a job!!Though I think Bush is in office under fraudulent circumstances, and I definitely disagree with hs views on many issues, my hat will be off to the Head Shrub if he does actually disband the ONDCP and its legacy of misinformation, propaganda and outright lies. If Repubs are really for a smaller government, this would be an excellent place to start. Then when he's done telling those bimbos to walk, he can knock off the DEA, BATF, IRS, and other wasteful and draconian bureaus.If not, I'm all for Gary Johnson for Czar!!
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Comment #1 posted by craven on March 22, 2001 at 08:41:41 PT
ugh....
for one, this guy is completely against all drug use, including medical mj, calling it folklore and witchcraft."President Bush rarely mentioned the war on drugs on the campaign trail, and some in the White House favor dropping the drug czar job from the Cabinet. But McDonough believes the government must keep a high profile and aggressively attempt to eradicate drugs." Well of course he believes this.. he believes he needs a job! McDonough: All drugs should remain illegal so I can get a paycheck.
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