cannabisnews.com: A Draco of Drugs 





A Draco of Drugs 
Posted by FoM on April 29, 2001 at 21:17:58 PT
By William Raspberry
Source: Washington Post
President Bush, if the reports are to be believed, has picked John P. Walters to replace Barry McCaffrey as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. At one level, the nomination would be no surprise. It fits the pattern that has the president turning to retreads from his father's administration to fill key positions. Walters was deputy to drug "czar" William Bennett under the previous Bush administration.
At another level, though, it is a peculiar choice. Walters, almost alone among those who have spent serious professional time on drug abuse in America, harbors no misgivings over the fact that we've been crowding our prisons almost to the bursting point with nonviolent drug offenders.Indeed, he thinks we'd be better off if we jailed more drug offenders. And while we're at it, he wrote in the March 5 issue of the Weekly Standard, we'd do well to abandon three of "the great urban myths of our time":• That we are locking up too many people for possession.• That we are locking up drug offenders for excessive sentences.• That "the system is unjustly punishing young black men."These are myths? Officials across the country are rethinking the mandatory minimum sentences that have fed the prison population explosion. Listen to President Bush himself in a January interview on CNN:"I think a lot of people are coming to the realization that maybe long minimum sentences for the first-time users may not be the best way to occupy jail space and-or heal people from their disease."In that interview, Bush also said we ought to be moving to eliminate the disparities in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine. Not Walters, who is on record against reexamining the sentencing disparities and for mandatory minimums. As for the peculiar impact of drug enforcement on young black men (and increasingly on young black women as well):"Crime, after all, is not evenly distributed throughout the society. It is common knowledge that the suburbs are safer than the inner city, though we are not supposed to mention it."That, of course, is sleight of hand. The relative unsafety of the inner cities might reasonably account for higher incarceration rates for violence.But it was drug arrests that were being discussed, and most of the experts on these matters say the drug-use rates are roughly equal for blacks and whites. But according to Ethan Nadelmann of the Lindesmith Center, blacks are arrested for drug offenses at six times the rate for whites, which may explain why they are disproportionately subject to mandatory minimums -- and disproportionately behind bars.Perhaps Walters is doing a similar bit of legerdemain when he denies that get-tough drug laws are needlessly crowding prisons. "Throughout the 1980s and 1990s," he wrote in the Weekly Standard, "violent crimes vastly outpaced drug offenses as the cause of the prison population's rapid growth."Jason Ziedenberg of the Justice Policy Institute cites numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics that lead to a different conclusion. "Every year since 1989," he says, "the number of people sent to state prisons for drug offenses has exceeded the number sent to state prisons for violent offenses. In 1980 about 10,000 people went to state prisons for drug offenses. By 1988-89 the number was up to about 60,000." The rates have come closer in recent years, he said, with about 100,000 prisoners a year in each category. Ziedenberg adds that in 1970, the majority of inmates were serving time for violent offenses. By 2000 most of those in all prisons and jails were nonviolent offenders.But the statistics are almost a distraction. The real issue is policy, not numbers. Walters seems to believe that we can incarcerate our way out of our drug problem -- even while many other equally hard-nosed observers are coming to believe that it might make more sense to treat drug abuse as a public health problem."I started in this area in the Education Department, writing prevention stuff on drugs with Bill Bennett," he told a session of the Senate Judiciary Committee four years ago. "But the more I look at this, even since I left government, this is a supply problem. . . . Drugs are so attractive to people that some people will give up everything in their life to consume them."If that's the problem, how can anyone believe that the threat of jail time is the solution?Source: Washington Post (DC) Author: William RaspberryPublished: Monday, April 30, 2001; Page A17 Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com/Related Articles & Web Site:TLC - DPFhttp://www.lindesmith.org/Tough Conservative Picked for Drug Czarhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9504.shtmlBush's New Drug Czar?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9418.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by jAhn on April 30, 2001 at 11:52:18 PT
John Walters Needs an Alternate Position! 
What about all of those DANGEROUS priests crawling about through "your suburbs?" What about all of those Fast Car Driving freaks that CRASH- while NOT intoxicated- in "your suburbs?"What about the Dangerous, Dirty business men/women that prey upon us POOR consumers with their Faulty products/services?  Suburbs are designed to appear safer, although, Realistically- Most "criminals" get let go for sake of "not ruining the image of the innocent suburb." Just Go Back To Whatever Hole You Crawled From Under john walters! Feed it to someone Else! You Criminal!!!
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Comment #6 posted by jorma nash on April 30, 2001 at 08:25:45 PT:
draco the dragon.
the Post has long been one of the biggest WoSD cheerleaders.now walters isn't even officially nominated yet,and they are already likening him a dragon.i still hold a small hope somebody might see the potential for backlash, and at the 11th hour pick someone who is not a monster.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~not much hope though. we'll probably be stuck with GCW's idea of a silver lining.now, GCW, i totally agree with your assessment...richard cowan has made pretty much the same point, as well, athttp://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=438but i have to consider this making the best of a horrible situation.it's kind of like a jew being excited that he's heard the nazis are going to start gassing them now,well, *that* will show everybody how bad the nazis are!ddddo agree with dddd, as usual: "I'm afraid the war on drugs is going to go into high gear this summer."but, the re-legalization movement is snowballing with remarkable speed, too.what happens when the irresistable freedom forcehits the unmovable object of tyranny?think we'll all find out.if the Post won't give walters a free ride, no-one will.in the short-term, walters will cause as much devastation as he possibly can.to cause even more long-term damage to prohibitionist's credibity,we'll have to really go on the warpath, people.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world,and that is an idea whose time has come.~ Victor Hugo ~
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Comment #5 posted by bcg on April 30, 2001 at 06:47:31 PT
Amtrak response
This is the most recent thread, so I will post Amtrak's response to my letter about their cooperation with the DEA here:Thank you for your comments regarding the Amtrak police department and itsdrug interdiction efforts. As you may have read recently in the press,Amtrak has and will continue to cooperate with the U.S. Drug EnforcementAgency and other law enforcement agencies to prevent crime and ensurecustomer safety aboard Amtrak trains, as well as in our stations and otherfacilities. Airlines and other modes routinely cooperate with governmentagencies for law enforcement purposes as well.With respect to access to customer information, Amtrak's chief of policereviewed this issue and has ensured that Amtrak police will maintain directcontrol of computers and access to ticketing information. The policedepartment's code of ethics and policies forbid illegal practices thatviolate the civil rights of individuals, such as racial profiling.Information related to a person's race, ethnicity, and other factors simplyis not included in the Amtrak reservation and ticketing computer system.Amtrak is in the process of developing a privacy statement for itscustomers, which will soon be posted on our web site at www.amtrak.com. While we respect your right to disagree, we would hope that you will atleast consider another perspective on the matter.Sincerely,Keith BonnecarrereCustomer Relations AdvisorAmtrak
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Comment #4 posted by Rambler on April 30, 2001 at 06:05:08 PT
Promises
The only way to make a republican keep a promise,is withlots of cash.I bet all the runners up for heading the ondcp are very dissappointed.Youcan be sure that many a politician has lusted after having the title ;Czar.Being a czar would be way cooler than being a senator or governor.Canyou imagine what it does to a person who is already obsessive,and fanatical,to be given the title of CZAR?I still have problems figuring out who had the sick idea of applying theczar label,to an American political apointee.(?). I guess it speaks volumesabout the whole drug war.
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Comment #3 posted by meagain on April 30, 2001 at 05:40:31 PT
Help we are trapped in an american!
The republicans said on cnn if they got back in control they would legalize. Is this going to turn out to be another political "white lie"???
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on April 30, 2001 at 04:18:54 PT
This is good news!
I am very optimistic! This guy is too unbelievable, and will probabley go after the wealthy suburban areas with troops. He will show that he is the real tough guy on the block and if we've been disproportionatly caging black and brown people, then when we up the odds, we'll up it for white skins. He will piss off so many white women, bringing down the war in itself. PLUS: do not forget that the referendums being put on the ballot are continueing. Many more states are going to make that vote count. Most anything now takes a bigger chip out of the wall, and that wall IS coming down. This war is going to end (as far a cannabis is concerned)during Bush's watch! And he aint getting re-elected. This could be just a stanc for posture, which will show his position along w/ the republicans platform once the revolution has taken place. If the revolution brings full on drug legalization and it turns out bad, the republicans will shout about it. And then there is the issue of legalizing cannabis, which is sane, compared to legalizing all drugs, which may go either way, yet could happen since many want cannabis legal at any extent.  Hmmm. Remember, this needs to be a peacefull revolution, for best results.Who was it that said something like: To end a bad law, inforce it vigourously.
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Comment #1 posted by dddd on April 30, 2001 at 00:23:56 PT
not good......indeed
It's no suprize that Bush chose Walters.I'll bet you that Waltersis a friend of Ashcroft.Dubya has surrounded himself with theworst of the radical right.I'm afraid the war on drugs is going to go into high gear thissummer.Keep your eyes open for alot of press releases likethe recent one from Herr Barr...They are going to put the pedalto the metal,in an attempt to counter the shifting public opinionof the drug war...The threat of a slowdown is a high priority forthe administration.You can be sure that all the passengers on thedrug war gravy train have made it clear that there can be nocompromises on keeping the trains fund flowing.The passengersinclude the military,the prison industry,law enforcement,andnumerous other leeches who have been well made rich by thegold mine of the drug war.Bad times are on the horizon......It's time to Fight for Freedom.Keep on keepin' on........................................dddd
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