{"id":2230,"date":"2009-02-26T12:05:18","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T17:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2parse.com\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2009-02-26T17:54:09","modified_gmt":"2009-02-26T22:54:09","slug":"former-drug-czar-mccaffrey-doesnt-care-if-drugs-are-legalized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2parse.com\/?p=2230","title":{"rendered":"Former Drug Czar McCaffrey Doesn’t Care If Marijuana Is Legalized"},"content":{"rendered":"

[digg-reddit-me]QUESTIONER<\/strong>: …[W]hy not just legalize drugs?<\/p>\n

Former Drug Czar, General BARRY MCCAFFREY (retired)<\/strong>: …[S]ince I’m not in public life, [I can say] I actually don’t care.\u00a0 I care about 6th graders through 12th graders.\u00a0 If you’re 40 years old, and you’re living in Oregon, and you have 12 giant pot plants in the back of your log cabin, knock yourself out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Discussing Mexico and US drug policy<\/a> at the Council on Foreign Relations on February 23, 2009.<\/p>\n

General McCaffrey as drug czar vehemently opposed medical marijuana<\/a>; he accelerated the militarization of the Drug War in Columbia and Mexico; and during his time as drug czar, arrests for marijuana possession soared above those for harder drugs<\/a> (See graph on page 3 of pdf). After years of failure<\/a> to dent domestic demand for drugs, this chief drug warrior now admits he doesn’t care if drugs are legalized and that he sees nothing wrong with growing your own marijuana. It is incredible that someone could pursue the policies he did – and now state that he either didn’t or doesn’t strongly believe drugs should be illegal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, another group of former drug warriors produced a report describing the failure of America’s prohibitionist policy in Latin America and in the United States:<\/p>\n

Prohibitionist policies based on the eradication of production and\u00a0on the disruption of drug flows as well as on the criminalization of\u00a0consumption have not yielded the expected results. We are farther\u00a0than ever from the announced goal of eradicating drugs…<\/p>\n

Current drug repression policies are firmly rooted in prejudices, fears\u00a0and ideological visions…<\/p>\n

[T]he available empirical evidence shows that the harm\u00a0caused by [marijuana] is similar to the harm caused by alcohol or tobacco.\u00a0More importantly, most of the damage associated with cannabis use –\u00a0from the indiscriminate arrest and incarceration of consumers to the\u00a0violence and corruption that affect all of society \u2013 is the result of the\u00a0current prohibitionist policies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From <\/span>Drugs and Democracy<\/a><\/em>, a report by\u00a0C\u00e9sar Gaviria (former president of Columbia),\u00a0Ernesto Zedillo (former president of Mexico),\u00a0Fernando Henrique Cardoso (former president of Brazil) and numerous other prominent Latin American figures released February 11, 2009.<\/p>\n

As former Governor William Weld recently explained<\/a>:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no one so brave and wise as the politician who\u2019s not running for office and who\u2019s not going to be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is notable that so many of our prominent politicians reveal after they leave office that they don’t really agree with the premise of the War on Drugs – a war which is consuming billions of dollars, waging war on our citizenry, jailing a higher percentage of our citizens than any other nation<\/a>, destabilizing our neighbors<\/a>, competing with and undermining anti-terrorism measures<\/a>, and making America less safe<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the best our current leaders offer is to\u00a0soften the roughest edges of the Drug War<\/a>\u00a0on American citizens. ((Yes, I know about the San Francisco Assemblymen Ammiano<\/a> introduced a bill in California to legalize marijuana and tax it – but he’s clearly the exception. Texas Congressman Ron Paul would be another exception.))<\/p>\n

Obama has taken a number of sensible positions on Drug War issues<\/a> – but he has not publicly acknowledged what most informed observers can see – that the War on Drugs has failed, is wasting money, and making us less safe. It is inconceivable that a reflective, informed policy-maker such as Obama does not realize this as well.<\/p>\n

Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to tell all of the favor-seekers<\/a> who came to impress upon him the importance of certain issues:<\/p>\n

I agree with you. I want to do it. Now make me do it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, we must put pressure on Obama if the hopes of reform advocates<\/a>\u00a0and Obama administration insiders<\/a> are to be realized.<\/p>\n

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