cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar Blasts Proponents of Pot Legalization Drug Czar Blasts Proponents of Pot Legalization Posted by CN Staff on July 24, 2002 at 16:06:37 PT By Ed Koch Source: Las Vegas Sun Proponents of a state ballot initiative to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana are throwing up a smoke screen when they say the measure is meant to help law enforcement, the White House drug czar said today."Let's not kid ourselves -- this is about helping the marijuana dealers by making it easier to buy and sell on a wider scale and eventually legalize all drugs," said John Walters, the national drug control policy director and so-called "drug czar." Walters was in Las Vegas today to address an anti-drug law enforcement convention at the Hilton.Prior to a news conference, he told the Sun that Nevada is a key battleground in the war on drugs because of the initiative that got put on the November ballot by the Marijuana Policy Project.Billy Rogers, who is on leave from that organization to organize efforts for local supporters of the measure, Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, said Walters is "out of touch with reality" and doubts he has read the initiative."It is not true that our goal is to legalize all drugs," Rogers said."And if the drug czar had read the initiative he would not have said that this would aid the marijuana dealers because it says transfer of marijuana in and out of Nevada is strictly prohibited."Passage of the question in November and again in 2004 would constitutionally protect the rights of people to possess up to three ounces of marijuana.Rogers' group argues that the police and the courts are clogged with too many minor pot possession cases.The group also says there are safeguards in place in the initiative that would provide stiff penalties for people who smoke marijuana in public, sell pot to minors or kill people while operating vehicles under the influence of marijuana.Walters was not impressed."We already have stronger prohibitions under current laws," he said. "I would not expect that anyone with common sense would accept that the law would work any better with passage of this initiative because there would be more drugs available and marijuana use would be a lot higher."Walters said this is an issue that will be highly influenced by marketing. He says proponents will spend a lot of money and use marketing tools to pass the measure.Walters said he would make another trip to Nevada as election day draws closer to help educate voters.Complete Title: 'Drug Czar' Blasts Proponents of Pot Legalization InitiativeSource: Las Vegas Sun (NV)Author: Ed Koch Published: July 24, 2002Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Sun, Inc.Contact: letters lasvegassun.comWebsite: http://www.lasvegassun.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Nevada Becomes Marijuana Battle Groundhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13518.shtmlState at Front Line in Pot Debatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13513.shtmlVoters Split on Marijuana Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13501.shtmlDEA Director Criticizes Marijuana Ballot Measurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13388.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on July 25, 2002 at 04:54:51 PT: "Common sense" evidently isn't common A man who is afraid of calico cats because he fears they are emissaries of Satan isn't applying 'common sense' to his reasoning faculties. A man who is so disturbed at a sight that millions of people have looked at and thought nothing of (I refer to the statue of Lady Justice) that he uses tax dollars (to the tune of $8,000 USD) to cover one bare bronze bosom ain't displaying 'common sense'.What he is displaying are neuroses. This puppy is sick, folks. Just plain sick.And he runs the Justice department... [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by VitaminT on July 24, 2002 at 23:12:17 PT Why fear Marketing? Walters said this is an issue that will be highly influenced by marketing. He says proponents will spend a lot of money and use marketing tools to pass the measure.According to you: Marijuana legalization is a bad idea. Other bad ideas have been marketed to the hilt. Your BILLION DOLLAR ANTI-DRUG AD CAMPAIGN for instance, PEOPLE IGNORE IT because they see the drug war for what it is - A BAD IDEA. So what have you to fear? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on July 24, 2002 at 20:00:42 PT Head of Stasi blasts proponents of unification The wall must fall! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on July 24, 2002 at 17:38:52 PT separation of markets This policy works to keeps young people from coming in contact with organized crime, and is very successful as evidenced by the aging heroin population in the Netherlands.This policy is difficuly to discuss in American Media becuse so often they try to stick to the propagandistic mentality that refuses to acknowledge the "soft-hard" drugs spectrum. Walters is one of these proponents.They dont even want to say "marijuana" its always "druuuuugs"...And given that marijuana is currently selling ounce for ounce HIGHER than gold, I don't think a lot of the "marijuana dealers" are backing the legalization efforts, John. Though I do like the prospect of getting higher off what I do smoke.And as far a "marketing" goes, dude, you all have the money. The legalizatopn movement as a WHOLE doesn't have 5% of the 10s of BILLIONS of dollars the governemnt blows on prohibition and propaganda. You youself even made ads and people just lampooned them because they were stupid.People want this and you cannot change their minds....at least not until the Pentagon gets done with its "calmatizer research"......Pot Smoking is NORML [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on July 24, 2002 at 17:18:55 PT I'll second that BGreen Backed by facts...In Amsterdam, Herion users are older and not getting Younger!In United States, the users are younger!All because of the prohibition of Cannabis...ff [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by BGreen on July 24, 2002 at 17:09:40 PT Since criminalizing cannabis CREATED many drugs It's amazing the amount of new drugs that have entered the black market since the criminalization of cannabis. Crack, meth, X, etc. weren't a problem before the attack on cannabis!What's to say that relegalizing cannabis won't decrease the proliferation of hard drugs, in direct proportion to the amount hard drug use created by cannabis prohibition? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Nuevo Mexican on July 24, 2002 at 16:34:30 PT Its 5:30 mdt and Crossfire fires up about Cannabis It's coming on now, check it out! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment