I think they took a left when they should have taken a right. It seems like they are speaking words that will calm things over for a while, rather then actually making a change in the right direction. By law, Kerlikowske must oppose any attempt to legalize the use. (Read this: The Drug Czar is required by law to lie) Furthermore, I will bet that most of you truly believe that marijuana is not a drug that requires any sort of treatment. Do you honestly believe being stopped on the street with a few grams in your pocket requires treatment? They are looking at another way to pull $$ from YOUR pocket right into their pocket. Im not buying it. I doubt this "change" will have the police acting any different in the streets. They are still working towards putting you through the system. Their paycheck still depends on YOU. I cannot buy into this name change "policy" I wont be happy until the government stays out of non-violent peoples personal lifestyles entirely.
Movement in the right direction of any kind is good.At leat we are beginning to see people with some flexability in looking at whats going on and recoginising that the people feel they are being persecuted not protected.The very need for the government to stop people from feeling its a war on drugs is a good thing as it shows at long last a response to the public and concern finally that the people are tired of being oppressed and are beginning to gain political force which can no longer be ignored.The Baby boomers are taking over a lot of public offices so we are now gaining by attrition and we are going to see change coming with them.Its slow but its coming
awesome news, and like everyone else said, its awesome that the drug czar is for it, but i'm not gonna hold my breathe. i can see this dragging out for a long time.
A number of years back there was a request from the United Nations which was signed by (I think) 136 member nations, asking the Bush administration to discontinue the "War on Drugs" as this so-called "war" has failed miserably from it's inception (over 40 years now) and to adopt the principles and concepts laid out in the Netherlands Harm Reduction Model. The Harm Reduction Model doesn't "legalize" drugs, but allows for a number of alternatives to financially and miltarily supporting the arrests, convictions and long prison sentences handed down in the Home of the Free. Within the first year of utilizing the HRM, the Netherlands saved SO much money for critically needed social program funds that within the first year their crime rate had dropped something like 6000%!!! The money saved by that move has allowed the Netherlands to have one of the best, if not THE best social health care system on the planet. For major narcotics they have a system in place where people (after going through a "reality check" system) people can have those drugs prescribed by a physician, though from what I've been told after seeing the reality of what a person would be in for should they, test drive this type of drugs; heroin, cocaine, etc) and become habituated, over 80% of the people decide it's not for them. The remaining 20% are not branded criminals and placed in prisons unless they commit some other crime along with the drugs. At any rate, the U.S. government after reading (or pretending to) the clinical data that prove the War on Drugs is a complete failure and waste of money, and the Harm Reduction Model does work and creates a safer, less violent, more compassionate standard of living while literally saving billions if not trillions of dollars. The biggest obstacle marijuana activists face is the corruption rampant throughout all of the various law enforcement and judicial areas involved in this ludicrous war. There is such an unbelievable amount of payoff, bribe and lobbying money in keeping these drugs illegal unless THAT changes, we are not in a good position to win. As far as pot goes, legalizing THAT may well be a possibility, though still an uphill battle because when pot is illegal, those it is far easier and less expensive for the 11-14 year old "experimenting age" kids to buy that bullshit, poisonous bathtub "meth", heroin, coke, crack or X than it is for them to "try" a non-addicting, non-poisonous benign drug. And unless you're running on just a few brain cells, you can't be blind enough to NOT see this has been a planned concept for a long time now. In closing, the argument that MJ is a "gateway" drug is patently spurious. Caffeine, sugar alcohol and nicotine are all legal drugs that (a) affect the central nervous system, (b) have an addictive effect, and (c) cause millions of deaths a year. We are being physically "programmed" to view these drugs as less dangerous than pot, which although does have a euphoric effect, has no overdose level, does not promote crime and/or violence and in gerneral is much more beneficial than any of the real gateway drugs. Just my opinion. For a real good idea of the reality of the current situation, I would strongly recommend to anyone, both pro or con, to read a book called, "Drug Crazy", by Mike Gray. After reading it, my mid-70's mother who is about as anti-drugs as is possible to be, actually changed her mind! For about a year or so until the constant barrage of propaganda slowly eroded her memory of what she read in that book. Whatever your particular stance on drugs, I think we can all agree that something must be done. It is proven that morality cannot be legislated, and keeping marijuana listed as a Schedule I drug (which means it has no therapeutic value and is both harmful and addictive) merely continues to make it expensive and rare versus highly dangerous and addictive drugs being cheap and readily available. If there is ANYONE out there who believes the current policies are correct, I would seriously suggest mental health treatment.
News just in, The governments of the world will no longer use the term nuclear weapons, from now on they will be called cuddly teddy bears. Does this make us any safer? NO. Talk is cheap and not worth shit, only actions have any currency. Until then, politicians, in my eyes, are liars and zealots who will only get my respect when they use rational thinking and science when it comes to banning drugs of any kind.
We can talk about as much we want but nothing gonna change if something not done. Prohibiton is the elphant in the room and he growing thank god. Hopefully one day someone will do something. With over 50% of America in favor it is as good a time as ever.
Hahaha. Poor Gil. Honestly, when it's all said and done, he's going to be the guy labeled "The dream crusher" by advocates everywhere. Being chief of police in Seattle was where he should have stayed; at least there, he actually had direct influence. In the White House, all he is is a face with a speakerbox. I don't know if people really delve into the political workings very often, but there isn't going to be an END to the "War on Drugs"; there will be a re-branding. That's all it is. The government acts just as big business does because it is in fact a corporation like any other. When product A from a company doesn't sell, the first thing the company does is NOT changing the product because it's already set to provide optimal profit while minimizing expense, they just change how the product is percieved/delivered by changing it to product B. The "War on Drugs" is no different. It will not change. Those statements that raids would stop; false. I believe it was not more than a week or two AFTER the statements had been made that yet another MM house was raided. The "War on Drugs" will be repackaged and sold to us in a different manner, but will not change. It's hard for such an entrenched government to actually change it's policies. But it's definitely easier for them to sell us the same ol' shit in a shiny new package. Namely changing the focus to "treatment" as opposed to incarceration is the new package. The good thing that comes from all of this will be the outrage from citizens that the proposed change from the new administration is just a change in the same ol' alphabet soup that is our government. I'm just wondering how many civil liberties have to be taken from American's before we actually can rally behind a generalized cause instead of taking on the role of special interests.
the Netherlands saved SO much money for critically needed social program funds that within the first year their crime rate had dropped something like 6000%!!! ok I think you have a Typo there.The crime rate dropped 6000% Huh?Hows that work they all turned into super crime fighters and are flying around stoned out of their heads preforming Anti-crimes. But seriously they do have a much lower crime rate in regard to DRUG related Crime.