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New Drug Czar Appointed, Makes Ridiculous Remark

At his nomination announcement yesterday, drug czar appointee Gil Kerlikowske got his first chance to practice saying stuff that makes no sense:


For too long, we have operated, as the Vice President said, in silence when it comes to making our country drug free and reducing the demand for drugs. [NYT]


Oh, crap. He said "drug free." He's one of those people. I mean, honestly, since when is there a shortage of proud prohibitionists proclaiming important progress at every opportunity? If there was ever a moment when no one was yelling about making the country drug free, somebody should have told me so I could bask in it.

Other things worth noting about the drug czar appointment:

*The position has been downgraded from cabinet status. Interesting, but that’s the way it was before Bush, so not a huge deal.

*The nomination announcement was made by Joe Biden, who carried on about his work on drug policy. Not encouraging.

*Joe Biden says the drug czar’s office "hasn't gotten the attention that it should have,” which I think means he wants the new drug czar to be more visible than in the past. Sounds potentially annoying.

All of this serves to remind us that the drug war doctrine still rules in D.C., but I don’t think our cautious optimism about the new drug czar is misplaced. New opponents have taken the stage and we will challenge them as we did their predecessors. The reform argument is gaining a lot of momentum this year and the new administration will face unprecedented pressure to acknowledge fundamental flaws in our drug policy. Stay tuned.

Ten Years Later, the United Nations Anti-Drug Efforts Have Accomplished Nothing

…nothing, that is, except filling prisons around the world, spreading disease, empowering a worldwide network of organized crime, and killing lots and lots of people:

VIENNA (Reuters) - A United Nations campaign to cut supply and demand for illegal drugs has shown no progress globally in the decade since it was launched, a European Commission report said on Tuesday.

The U.N. General Assembly session (UNGASS) met 10 years ago to declare that it was time to really get serious about winning the drug war and this is what they have to show for their efforts.

Asked whether the UNGASS campaign had failed, Carel Edwards, head of the Commission's anti-drug unit, told a news conference: "This very clearly comes up with our conclusion that there is no indication that it has made any difference.

"We basically seem to be marking time on the spot," he said.

While a "world without drugs" was never part of the 1998 UNGASS declaration of intent, Edwards said, "nevertheless, at the time, there was an overwhelming publicity campaign that in 10 years we were going to lick this problem. (That) was naive."

Yeah, it was more than naïve. It is truly appalling to see world leaders completely divorced from reality. Regardless of ideology, drug policy is a serious issue and must be approached rationally.

Anyone who thought the world’s drug problem could be contained in 10 years’ time is not qualified to work on drug policy issues. Seriously, if this is the type of expert analysis we can expect from the UN, they might as well hand the job over to a group of randomly-selected idiots off the street.
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