cannabisnews.com: Senate Unanimously Confirms Prosecutor as DEA Chief 










 Senate Unanimously Confirms Prosecutor as DEA Chief 

Posted by CN Staff on August 01, 2003 at 21:54:24 PT
By Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writer 
Source: Washington Post  

A longtime Justice Department drug prosecutor is expected to become the first woman to head the Drug Enforcement Administration as the agency takes a broader role in battling drug trafficking on the federal level. Karen P. Tandy was confirmed as DEA chief late Thursday by unanimous consent of the Senate, just hours after Attorney General John D. Ashcroft had announced her appointment as acting administrator of the drug agency. The formal appointment awaits a signature from President Bush. 
Tandy, 49, is a native Texan who most recently served as associate deputy attorney general. Ashcroft and other officials have credited Tandy with helping to revitalize the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which was formed during the Reagan administration and seeks to bring together scores of law enforcement agencies on major drug cases. Just this week, the task force announced indictments and hundreds of arrests targeting a Mexico-based trafficking organization headed by Ismael Zambada-Garcia, who is alleged to be one of the major importers of cocaine into the United States. Tandy's appointment also comes as the DEA is assuming a larger role in leading major federal drug investigations while the FBI focuses more of its resources on counterterrorism and counterintelligence. In addition, the drug agency is preparing for the impending retirements of much of its senior staff. "My long-term plans are to really focus on priority targeting . . . so we don't just take out a small piece of an organization, but truly wipe it out," Tandy said yesterday in an interview. "We will never succeed in truly dismantling these drug organizations unless we dry up their money supply." Although Tandy's nomination was approved last month by the Senate Judiciary Committee, some lawmakers questioned her role in the DEA's ongoing crackdown on medicinal marijuana patients, who are generally exempted from prosecution in California and eight other states. Many patients with glaucoma, cancer and other illnesses say marijuana eases pain and discomfort. In answers to written questions from Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who voted against her nomination, Tandy said she would not support a moratorium on DEA raids targeting the patients and their suppliers. "We are not going to pick and choose which federal laws should apply in different areas," Tandy said yesterday. Steve Fox, director of government relations for the District-based Marijuana Policy Project, said his group was "saddened and disturbed that the Senate has voted to continue these attacks on the sick, and did it in the dead of night with no recorded vote and no debate." Tandy takes over as director of the drug agency from former representative Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.), who earlier this year became border security chief at the new Department of Homeland Security. The White House on Thursday also nominated Michele M. Leonhart, head of the DEA's Los Angeles office, to be Tandy's deputy. Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff WriterPublished: Saturday, August 2, 2003; Page A06 Copyright: 2003 Washington Post Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/First Woman To Head DEA Sets Agenda http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16987.shtmlAmbushed: Sober Justicehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16986.shtmlThe Chill Is On - Jacob Sullumhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16889.shtmlTandy Won't Be Dandy for Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16876.shtml

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Comment #13 posted by Virgil on August 02, 2003 at 14:30:08 PT
Okay, one more thing
Ending CP would end a climate of fear for many and the center pole of the prohibition tent would be gone. We could go on to demand honest answers and research into plant properties including coca. I guess I am saying ending this prohibition would open the door to a more honest and better world.I myself am interested in nutrition as I will soon be dragging 50 instead of pushing it. A new age of gardening is upon us who might as well stick some seeds in the ground and not take a chance on frankenfoods and pesticides. A real awakening on nutrition will hurt many companies. It will hurt the sugar water industry for sure because there is no nutrition in their empty calories. It will hurt the alcohol industry (while helping the problems caused by the demon of many forms that is alcohol). It will challenge everything. That is why the lid must be kept on CP. Ending CP will not just immediately improve our lives and restore freedom, it will let reason and those that employ it loose on the world. Currently freedom has been incarcerated and reason has to hide. Bumperstickers sales for the next reforms would skyrocket and we all know that would be a good thing.Do I really and truly think that CP is a million times more harmful than cannabis use itself? You should know my answer- you are goddamn right. 
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Comment #12 posted by freedom fighter on August 02, 2003 at 13:14:32 PT
Shame on you Tandy!
"Just this week, the task force announced indictments and hundreds of arrests targeting a Mexico-based trafficking organization headed by Ismael Zambada-Garcia, who is alleged to be one of the major importers of cocaine into the United States." 5 KILLED IN DRUG-GANG VIOLENCE MEXICO CITY -- At least five people were dead and several injured after a day of what police believe is an outbreak of drug-gang violence in Nuevo Laredo, a bustling commercial city on the Mexico-Texas border. Three people died in an early morning shootout yesterday between groups of heavily armed men in an area near downtown Nuevo Laredo. Two were killed when a pickup truck was struck in the shootout and caught fire, police said. Another died of gunshot wounds at the scene. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1162/a08.html?397Would Ms.Tandy care to explain that?pazff
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Comment #11 posted by cloud7 on August 02, 2003 at 13:11:43 PT
War on Bees
LOL! Seriously though, I dont think any regulars here would doubt that there really would be a War on Bees if you felt good after they stung you!Future quote from John Pee: "We realize bees are integral to the pollination and life cycle of a large portion of the vegetative kingdom, but the bottom line is that Bees are a dangerous drug. And now in Canada, they are exporting what are called Bumbles, let me tell you -- these are the crack of Bees. Just yesterday the DEA took down a Bumble farm in someone's basement where they had over a hundred hives -- this has got to stop. And on a related note, letting bees sting you is not medicine -- it's just a ruse by Bee legalization groups."
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Comment #10 posted by Virgil on August 02, 2003 at 11:46:22 PT
P.S.to comment9-Let me go on record
Vitamins are more dangerous than cannabis. Just a few of those multi-vitamins with iron can kill someone within minutes and you have children thinking they are candy. Peanut butter can kill people and cause a life-threating fear in them. Plenty of people die from bees and a War on Bees is in the same realm of insanity as warring on cannabis.But for the record I will say cannabis prohibition is a million times worse than the plant itself. I can accept someone as being knowledgable of the situation if they answer it with a thousand times worse. If they cannot see at least that I can not appreciate their answer.A very key word to cannabis is benign. It is right up there with beneficial. 
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Comment #9 posted by Virgil on August 02, 2003 at 10:36:41 PT
JR- things are upside down
I believe you are right in some respects, but things have been turned upside down. I do not know exactly about the danger issue as it does not apply to cannabis. The prohibitionists do not even apply it to poison ivy.I am going to do some "Cannabis Prohibition is" because I thought of one I really liked and then I will do a rant for the last time. It should be our objective to turn the debate right side up. There may be medical uncertainties about the 60 cannabinoids that Jack Herer says has medical applications. We know more than the average person cares to know about cannabis, but the issue is still CP and its harms.What is needed is harm reduction applied to all things and surely the laws should not inflict more harm than the substance itself as Jimmy Carter pointed out.Cannabis Prohibition is a double edge sword. It cuts both ways" First we do not get the benefits that would come with regulation, use, and research and secondly, we have a corruption of government, taxpayer funded propaganda/lies, arrest, incarceration, the resulting pain and murder of the sick, and property seizures. Now I have asked the question several times- How many more time harmful is prohibition than cannabis itself. No one else has every answered but I threw the number 100 at it. That was just looking at the harm side and actually I think it quite low. There is a harm to not having the benefits of sane regulation that is all but infinite because 1)cannabis has very little harmful properties(particle inhalation would be reduced with regulation and we would have soup) and 2)it is not a mandatory use like breathing polluted air or drinking contaminated water(chlorine may cause as much as 10% of all cancer)- people can quit if there is an adverse affect on the body because cannabis in not physically addictive.So let us assign the value of 1 to the harms of cannabis. So legalization comes and people get magnetic cards allowing them to buy cannabis foods and stronger herb and hash from a vending machine. The Logical Conclusion would say cut our present value of 1 say to a half.Now compare that to the harms of prohibition with millions of man years in prison, destroyed lives, a deminished outlook on life by criminalizing what should be legal, police and prison costs and so on. That in itself is 100 times more than the value of 1 assigned to the harms of cannabis.But what makes the sword cut both ways is we get the harms of CP on one side and are denied the benefit of cannabis on the other. We know damned well that these cannabinoids did something good by means of nutrition and we let the government prohibit healthy eating. But look at the damage we know is caused by lack of this nutrition and look at diseases that may not even occur if science were put on the case. Skin cancer is one big problem and so is the need for something for head trauma. Maybe MS and Alzeimer's could be prevented or delayed and so on.The prison time alone is probably 100 times more harmful than cannabis. You could go through and value each element of the harms of prohibition. Then when you get through you could double it because regulation would reduce the harm even further considering elimination of contamination, stronger herb, and alternative consumption methods.That is still on the harm side and not the harm of denying the benefits. I admit I was not completely honest with my guesstimate. I say for real that CP has to be 1000 times more harmful than cannabis itself and that is bending the low end as hard as possible. Well, that explains my attitude. No one has said different where my opinion might gain from someone else's analysis.Cannabis Prohibition is a great lesson to some.Cannabis Prohibition is a dissappointment without any satisfaction.Cannabis Prohibition is salted water.Cannabis Prohibition is a tree with 66 years of bad fruit.Cannabis Prohibition is a cow without milk.Cannabis Prohibition is an illusion and reality at the same time.Cannabis Prohibition is a ghost of something once killed that still haunts us.Cannabis Prohibition is ignorant of its failure.Cannabis Prohibition is of no benefit.Cannabis Prohibition is all about control in neglect of freedom.Cannabis Prohibition is a mistake.Cannabis Prohibition is ludicrous. Cannabis Prohibition is tyranny with excuses.Cannabis Prohibition is stopping the world from benefiting from a miraculous plant.Cannabis Prohibition is because of a government gone mad and staying that way.Cannabis Prohibition is inhumane.Cannabis Prohibition is a pain.Cannabis Prohibition is a pain in the drain.Cannabis Prohibition is failure without acknowledgement.Cannabis Prohibition is an excuse to target political enemies of plutcratic rule.Cannabis Prohibition is a shame.Cannabis Prohibition is a national shame.Cannabis Prohibition is a horror on society.Well, I quit now. The loneliness of my position is getting to me. 
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Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on August 02, 2003 at 10:09:09 PT
A science question for Dr. Russo
The so-called "excercise high" was in the past attributed to endorphins. I read in a fitness magazine that this theory has failed to come through scientfically, and the neurochemical source of the "exercise high" is now regarded as unknown.Is it possible that the so-called "exercise high" comes from anandamide?I think this could be true, on the basis of my own subjective experience combining cannabis with exercise.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 02, 2003 at 09:56:04 PT
Thanks Everyone
If the news in the states gets any slower I'll have to start writing. Believe me I'm only kidding. I want to make sure that all the regular contributors at CNews know how much the links and different articles that you post are appreciated. We have a good group of people here and after almost 5 years of ups and downs it is really appreciated.I consider myself a news person but I consider all of you news people too. As we bring our own special articles to CNews we expand our knowledge of the world and the laws, justice, and fairness. The comments have been superb and the passion is obvious. Thanks once more to all the good folks here at CNews. 
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Comment #6 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on August 02, 2003 at 09:42:06 PT
Meanwhile, in the UK
Man Grew Cannabis For Pain Relief: http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/News/story.asp?datetime=02+Aug+2003+07%3A40&tbrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=NEWS&category=News&brand=EDPOnline&itemid=NOED01+Aug+2003+20%3A24%3A59%3A490From the article:--Judge Paul Downes said that prescribing cannabis for chronic pain was currently being considered by medical authorities, but warned "that is not the position at the moment and possession is still an offence".--Why does it have to be proven to help before you don't go to jail for it? Shouldn't it have to be proven to be harmful before you start hauling people away to jail? That's like saying, "Witchcraft may be a serious, loving and empowering religion - but that's not the way we do things here in Salem."
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Comment #5 posted by Virgil on August 02, 2003 at 09:20:13 PT
How far will they go?
From http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=1384359&nav=0RZFHE3v(FRANKFORT, Ky., July 31st, 2003, 6:30 p.m.) -- A former teacher will receive $70,000 from the Shelby County School District to settle a lawsuit she filed claiming she was wrongfully fired for promoting the legalization of hemp.
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on August 02, 2003 at 09:13:17 PT:
Unanimously?
Vote 'em all out!
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Comment #3 posted by Billos on August 02, 2003 at 05:43:26 PT:
Another government "TOOL" on T.V.
Sunday morning’s C-SPAN hosted Larry Greenfeld, Bureau of Justice Statistics Director, and welcomed callers to phone and ask the man questions. Of course when the subject of non-violent offenders came to light, particularly cannabis offenders, the man not only skirted the issue of cannabis but lied through his teeth when directly answering questions. For instance he claimed that only 20% of the federal prison population is made up of non-violent offenders while in the same breath said that cannabis alone does not put anyone in prison. Maybe this is Dandy Tandy’s first effort to control the media in order to impact the sheople and make them believe that Her government really does not incarcerate people unless they are repeat violent offenders, all the while implying that cannabis offenders are not unjustly punished. (who owns C-SPAN anyway?) Hell, the violent offenders are the ones that get early releases while the drug offenders stay behind to serve their full terms. Larry Greenfeld used to be a probation officer. He looks like he enjoyed watching men pee in his cup.
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Comment #2 posted by Patrick on August 02, 2003 at 03:26:02 PT
Read mayan's newbie article...
on the Nazi connection to CP and Bush at... http://www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.htmlTandy, 49, is a native Texan yeeha oh boy!!!"We will never succeed in truly dismantling these drug organizations unless we dry up their money supply." ie… arresting cannabis smokers and stealing their property or shooting them in the head on their farm and then taking their property..."My long-term plans are to really focus on priority targeting . . . so we don't just take out a small piece of an organization, but truly wipe it out," Basically, die you scum sucking cannabis lovers.Come visit Texas, it's like visitin a whole nother country!
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Comment #1 posted by Petard on August 01, 2003 at 22:49:14 PT
Coincidence?
John (Iran-Contra-cocaine-for-arms-smuggler) Poindexter resigns from the Pentagon in the same week the largest Mexican importer of cocaine gets busted. Coincidence? Or is Pointyambidexterous going back into business? Bet the Los Angeles market has an opening for him to resume his import/export business dealings since the hyphenated guy's cartel is under indictment and like father like son they always say, look under every bush and find a dope for guns deal.
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