cannabisnews.com: Report: Bush's Drug Office Lacked Broader Focus





Report: Bush's Drug Office Lacked Broader Focus
Posted by CN Staff on February 26, 2009 at 12:34:47 PT
By Rita Beamish, The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Washington, D.C. -- The White House office responsible for fighting illegal drug use has focused for nearly a decade on youths smoking marijuana instead of a broader strategy that would sufficiently target adult drug users, according to a new study.The nonprofit National Academy of Public Administration says the $1.2 million study, which it planned to release Thursday, found that the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George W. Bush relied on selected data to show progress in combating illegal drug use by youth.
The office did not highlight less positive results among adults or pursue a comprehensive anti-drug strategy across age and demographic groups, the report found."Such an approach to strategy neither addresses the depth and breadth of illicit drug use and its consequences nor lays the fundamental basis for making enduring national resource commitments," the report stated.Under congressional pressure, the office began to expand its focus last year but still lacks an overall strategy based on broad data sources, the report said.It also suggested a politicized environment in the drug office, saying intern applicants were asked about their voting histories and participation in recent elections.The Associated Press obtained a copy of the study in advance of its publication.Bush's former drug-policy director, John Walters, denounced the report as erroneous and biased by the Senate committee that commissioned it. The report described a frosty relationship between lawmakers and the drug office. Walters said the new report overlooked such accomplishments as expanding drug treatment, workplace drug testing and launching prevention programs in mainstream doctor settings."To have this kind of poor-quality evaluation masquerading as an outside expert efficiency review, pointing out changes that will weaken the office, is wrong," he said.Walters denied any political criteria for his staff and said he did not recall the intern applications.The anti-drug office is known to most people for its public-service advertisements, such as the "Above the Influence" and "Parents, the Anti-drug" spots. Its latest ad features teen actors describing their achievements after taking drugs: "I stole from my little sister," a boy says. Another teen says, "I got straight D's."Until President Barack Obama names a new director of drug policy, informally known as the drug czar, White House officials say they are not discussing anti-drug plans. The president is widely expected to appoint Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to the post.Obama is the first president to acknowledge that he used marijuana in high school and college and that he tried cocaine, an admission he has said can help young people understand that they can make mistakes and still recover.Policy and advocacy groups are watching for shifts in Obama's drug policies. Already the administration's new economic stimulus package includes $2 billion for a grant program that has supported drug task forces, prisoner rehabilitation and after-school programs but was slashed during the Bush administration.The White House drug office was created through 1988 legislation largely crafted by then-Sen. Joe Biden, now the vice president.Obama will have a chance to repair sour relations between the drug office and Congress, which has complained about a lack of information and consultation by the drug czar."It was hard to determine whether we were making progress in our efforts to address the drug problem because the measuring tools did not seem to be very consistent," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy.The report said the drug czar has had one supervisor for every two employees but lacked key subject matter experts in areas like toxicology, public health and social services. The academy panel said the office has not sufficiently used available data, other agencies' expertise or advisory panels.The drug office is down to 86 employees because a quarter of its 106-member staff were political appointees who left when Obama took office.Associated Press writer Philip Elliott in Washington contributed to this story.On the Net:Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://www.ondcp.gov National Academy of Public Administration: http://www.napawash.org/Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Rita Beamish, The Associated PressPublished:   February 26, 2009Copyright: 2009 The Associated PressCannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on February 27, 2009 at 09:04:31 PT
Runruff
You tend to be easy on the guy, because it's a deep and great part of your character to be easy on people. Easy as in kind, compassionate, good, patient, gentle, helpful... all that really good stuff.What I tend to think of as "People of the Light" want to be all those things.Walters is a deluded, self righteous tyrant. He's made a profession out of it. He got paid to be what he is.I hope I'm of the People of Light. I think, as being part of that spiritual Light, I have to question myself from time to time. I have to, sometimes, re-examine my motives to make sure they're still valid.Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe prohibition like we have it now is good. Maybe it's the right and best way. Maybe those people who died and suffered terribly because of the prohibition ... maybe that was acceptable somehow.Apparently prohibitionists never, ever look very deeply at a situation and question their stance on these matters. And if they do... I guess they don't care... or they stop right where their job in the illegal drug industry ends.
 
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Comment #9 posted by runruff on February 27, 2009 at 07:34:28 PT
Wants to be the new Anslinger!
My best friend always told me that I give people too much of the benefit of the doubt. That is why I question myself whenever I tend to want to cut some slack for Johnny Pee.I want to think that he is smarter and more knowledgeable than he seems but newwwwwww! While most of the prohib idiots are just grand standing, I know that some really are ignorant and just going along with party line or what their church tells them!I've known stubborn hard headed people and how they hate to change or admit they were wrong. Johnny Pee is an idiot plain and simple and fits this description.I've talked about "useful idiots" here before. Governments that use them. Bad governments use them almost exclusively [Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini]. All of the characters appointed by the Son-of Babs turned out to be idiots but not so useful. They bungled, stole, lied and tried to hide everything from cracked plaster to dire disaster! Don't foreget the administration that selected him or who his boss was, what they were looking for in such an individual and how he could serve them! He was a faux drug czar appointed by a faux president it is no wonder he is as dump as a bag of dirt!
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Comment #8 posted by GeoChemist on February 27, 2009 at 03:38:58 PT
Moron
The accomplishments of the office, i.e. shredding the Bill of Rights even more. Work place drug testing does NOT show impairment; it delves into people's private lives and is a direct violation of the 4th amendment. We don't need 9 idiots in robes, appointed in a sense by agendas to interpret what these amendments mean. Work place drug testing is destructive, as I have witnessed first hand; it drives the cannabis user who needs a vice to harder substances that are water soluble. Drug testing targets the least harmful of all substances; it is discrimination in its truest sense. What really sets me off in this acticle is the fact the ONDCP lacked key experts in important fields, especially toxicology. This just delegitimizes the office and Johnny Pee even more; he always calls cannabis poison, without a REAL toxicologist, how can he think his office is legit? I think Guantanamo could still serve a purpose. 
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Comment #7 posted by ekim on February 26, 2009 at 20:12:42 PT
Diane Rehm Show today had on johnypee
good comments on how legalizing would take money away from cartels but ol j-pee was not having it -- just kept playing the fear card for all it is worth-- which by the sounds of the twitters and callins today is not playing well at all.10:00Drug Wars in Mexico
Mexico�s Attorney General says his country does not need help in its fight against drug cartels. But some see the increased violence as a national security threat to U.S. Diane and her guests discuss the drug violence in Mexico and how it is affecting its northern neighbor.http://wamu.org/programs/dr/
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Comment #6 posted by fight_4_freedom on February 26, 2009 at 14:54:08 PT
What wonderful news
No better news I could have read after a hard days work.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on February 26, 2009 at 14:50:05 PT
dongenero
I honestly hope I never need to use it again. I actually thought that then when I knew I had to use it.
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Comment #4 posted by dongenero on February 26, 2009 at 14:39:26 PT
oh, that picture!
FoM, I'll be glad when we no longer have to look at the picture of dumb and dumber on the CNews articles!Oppp,um.....sorry, think I need a little something for nausea.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 26, 2009 at 14:29:05 PT
charmed quark
Yes it is good news. I keep looking for an article but so far I haven't found one yet but the Youtube video says it all.
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Comment #2 posted by charmed quark on February 26, 2009 at 14:02:58 PT
US AG Declares DEA MMJ Raids Not US Policy
Don't know if you reported on this yet (via CMMNJ):   Speaking at a press conference with DEA
administrator Michelle Leonhart, Attorney General
Eric Holder declared that ending medical
marijuana raids "is now American policy."
   A reporter asked, "shortly after the
inauguration there were raids on California
medical marijuana dispensaries...do you expect
these to continue?", noting that the President
had promised to end the raids in the campaign.
   Holder responded, "What the President said
during the campaign...is consistent with what we
will be doing here in law enforcement. He was my
boss in the campaign....He is my boss now. What
he said in the campaign is now American policy."
!!!
  The question appears about 25 minutes into the
press conference, which was devoted to an
operation against the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.
 
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-15821
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 26, 2009 at 13:05:57 PT
I Believe It Was Political
Excerpt: Walters denied any political criteria for his staff and said he did not recall the intern applications.
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