Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Dan Glaister
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

OBAMA DROPS 'WAR ON DRUGS' RHETORIC FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGES

The Obama administration signalled today that it was ready to 
repudiate the prohibition and "war on drugs" approach of previous 
presidents, and steer policy towards prevention and "harm reduction" 
strategies favoured by Europe.

David Johnson, an assistant secretary of state, said the new 
administration would embrace policies supporting federally funded 
needle exchanges. The aim, he said, was to establish a policy based 
on public health needs. "This will result in a policy that is broader 
and stronger than the one we had in the past," Johnson said on the 
sidelines of a UN drug strategy conference in Vienna.

His words come days after the nomination of the Seattle police chief, 
Gil Kerlikowske, to the post of director of the Office of National 
Drug Control Policy, the nation's drug czar. Kerlikowske has built a 
reputation in Seattle for pursuing drug policies based on harm 
reduction. The state has an established needle exchange programme, 
has legalised marijuana for medicinal purposes and has made marijuana 
among the lowest priorities for law enforcement.

In a further sign of a new approach in Washington, congressional 
committee hearings last week heard lawmakers argue for a shift in 
national drug policy, largely in response to the rising drug-related 
violence seeping into the US from Mexico.

Those hearings followed a report by the former presidents of Mexico, 
Colombia and Brazil, which dubbed the war on drugs a "complete 
failure". Ernesto Zedillo, Cesar Gaviria and Henrique Cardoso, all 
conservative politicians, blamed the US emphasis on criminalisation 
for the continuing toll caused by drug trafficking, and called for an 
approach based on public health, including the legalisation of marijuana.

Johnson said the latest shift came as a result of a direct 
instruction from the new administration. "There was very much an 
official directive from Washington," he told Reuters. "There was no 
confusion whatsoever. The [switch on] needle exchange was the clear 
signal of that."

Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drugs Policy Alliance, 
which lobbies for alternatives to the war on drugs, welcomed the change.

"These statements really indicate a significant shift," he said. 
"It's not just a repudiation of the Bush administration, it's a 
repudiation of the Clinton administration. This signals a new 
direction in US drug policy. This is about all the leading scientists 
and all the public health people pushing in the same direction and 
Obama saying he's putting science above politics."

In a statement last week announcing the nomination of the new drug 
czar, Obama said: "With escalating violence along our Southwest 
border and far too many suffering from addiction here at home, never 
has it been more important to have a national drug control strategy 
guided by sound principles of public safety and public health."

Kerlikowske faces bruising confirmation hearings in the Senate. After 
his name was floated for the position, it emerged his stepson has 
been arrested several times on drug-related charges. Kerlikowske 
alluded to this at the announcement of his nomination. "Our nation's 
drug problem is one of human suffering," he said, "and as a police 
officer, but also in my own family, I have experienced the effects 
that drugs can have on our youth, our families and our communities."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom