Pubdate: Fri, 13 Feb 2009
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Section: Feature Article
Website: http://www.drugsense.org
Author: Dominic Holden
Note: Dominic Holden is a reporter for The Stranger and a board 
member of the National Organizations for the Reform of Marijuana 
Laws. In years past, he served as director of the Seattle Hempfest, 
organizer of the ACLU of Washington's Marijuana Education Project, 
and chair of campaign to pass Initiative 75, which made marijuana 
possession the Seattle's lowest law-enforcement priority. This piece 
was originally posted at the Stranger Slog - http://drugsense.org/url/7VhCEC57

CZAR STRUCK: OBAMA'S BRILLIANT PICK FOR DRUG CZAR

Obama choosing Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to become the 
next drug czar in Washington, D.C., at first, looks like the same old 
beltway logic: cops and prison terms are the snake-oil cure for drug 
addictions. Some change, Obama. Right?

Under Clinton's and Bush's drug czars, the United States experienced 
the steepest spike drug arrests in its history (contributing to the 
fattest swell of anti-drug spending).  Drug arrests jumped over 80 
percent since 1992.  And despite the effort, the White House reports 
that drug use has Risen

But Kerlikowske, since he became chief in 2000, has been at the 
police department's helm while Seattle made some of the most 
aggressive to drug enforcement allowed under federal law. He never 
stood in the way.  And now Kerlikowske is poised to become the most 
influential person in federal government to set new drug laws.

The needle-exchange test: The Obama administration has already 
identified this as its most pressing drug issue. Last week, Obama 
sent American negotiators to the UN orders to reverse Bush's block on 
needle exchange. He wants to allow clean needles-in Europe and in the 
US. What's Kerlikowske's record?

"There has been long-standing support in the community as a whole and 
from SPD for our continued operation of the needle exchange," says 
James Apa, a spokesman for Seattle King County Public Health, which 
runs one of first and the nation's largest needle-exchange programs. 
Seattle IV drug users have some of the lowest HIV-infection rates in 
the country, he says. But acceptance of the controversial program 
hasn't been that long standing.

"What we would find is that police would hang around the exchange 
site and watch who came and went," says Kris Nyrop, former director 
of Street Outreach Services, a pioneering needle exchange group that 
operated a table in downtown Seattle in the late 1980s. "Their 
presence itself would be somewhat intimidating ... people would see 
four police officers halfway down the block and they would turn 
around and go home," he says.  "Harassment like that happened 
routinely up until the mid '90s."

But under Kerlikowske, "It has been a laissez-faire thing and the 
police basically leave needle exchanges alone," says Nyrop.

Pot arrests have plummeted under Kerlikowske's watch. When he took 
office in 2000, Seattle police arrested 332 people for misdemeanor 
marijuana possession; by 2006, the number had dropped to 148. Some of 
that decline is likely due to Seattle passing Initiative 75, which 
made marijuana enforcement the city's lowest law-enforcement 
priority.  But Kerlikowske didn't try to block I-75.  While City 
Attorney Tom Carr joined Bush's Drug Czar John Walters at a press 
conference to oppose the measure-and Carr campaigned against the 
measure for months-Kerlikoske was mum. And after voters passed the 
law in 2003, SPD told a City Council Marijuana Policy Review Panel 
that "officers [had] been verbally advised during their roll calls 
that investigation and arrest of adults for possession of cannabis 
intended for personal use is to be their lowest priority." At 
Hempfest-where tens of thousands of people smoke pot in unison-SPD 
sergeant Lou Eagle told a reporter, "We are not out there to enforce 
the marijuana laws." And medical-marijuana patients, who could still 
be arrested despite the state's medical-pot law, found Kerlikowske 
fair.  Had Kerlikowske chosen, SPD could have maintained or increased 
pot arrests. But he didn't.

In striking contrast, Walters's number-one priority was marijuana. 
"[N]o drug matches the threat posed by marijuana," his office wrote 
in a letter telling federal attorneys to ratchet up prosecutions. And 
under Walters, the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal 
prosecutors made a point of busting medical pot collectives in 
California.  But for Kerlikowske, pot was his lowest priority.

Hold on-Obama's not about to legalize pot.

The bigger issue-and safer issue, politically-is replacing 
enforcement with public services.  On that issue Kerlkowske has 
incubated a revolution.  Seattle implemented two programs that get 
drug users off the street before they get arrested. Most notably, the 
Get Off The Streets (GOTS) program hatched in the Central District 
when Lieutenant John Hayes (now a captain) set up a table as an 
arrest-free area that people with criminal warrants could visit for 
health and human services.

"That was, at that time, a very edgy approach, and the chief was 
willing to let one of his people staff the program," says City 
Council Member Nick Licata, who soon seized on the idea, passing 
legislation to fund the project permanently. "It was a stage where 
Gil could have stopped it from [getting funding], but he allowed it 
go forward," he says.

"He's not saying we should do away with the drug war, but I think he 
recognizes that it has not been a success and I think he is open to 
other strategies," Licata continues. "That may be due to some of his 
experiences here.  Seattle may get some credit for exposing him to 
real-time experiments, such as I-75, as to what could happen nationally."

And nationally, Kerlikowske could be a drug czar who pushes to lift 
the federal ban on funding needle exchange, stops the medical pot 
raids in California, overhauls our nonsensical anti-drug commercials, 
and enthusiastically seeks funding for drug-treatment programs.

The brilliance of Obama's pick for drug czar is not just finding 
someone who is open to new strategies, but someone who nonetheless 
holds undeniable qualifications as a cop. Nobody can claim 
Kerlikowske is a public-health nut who doesn't know the impact of 
drugs on the streets.  Like many Americans, he agrees that drugs 
should be illegal.  But he understands the place for low priorities 
and public health-and he's willing to step back where enforcement 
alone has failed.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake