Drug WarRant

[DdC]

Obama Taps Police Chief for Administration Job
Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has accepted a job in the Obama administration, most likely overseeing the nation's drug policies, according to sources familiar with the chief's plans.

Obama's Marijuana Prohibition Acid Test

Obama Must Keep Marijuana Promise

New drug czar?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske?



Hempfest's Grass is Greener This Year
CN Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer August 14, 2008 Seattle, WA

Police review panel faults West Precinct supervision

A scathing civilian-review board report that blasts Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, saying he interfered with an internal investigation into the actions of two officers, also asserts that the department's West Precinct is inadequately supervised.

Gil Kerlikowske may leave Seattle Police Department for Obama administration

Prison Industrial Complex Attacks Prop. 5

Signs of Sickness and D.E.A.th

Blessed is the Police State?
Exporting DEAmocracy

Seattle Votes To Make Marijuana Crime Low Priority

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske was quoted by the Seattle Times as saying the measure would not affect police work on the street. About 400 arrests for marijuana possession are made in Seattle every year.

Seattle Voters Favor Measure on Marijuana
Victory is likely to be mostly symbolic.

Drug Czar Calls Seattle Pot Initiative a 'Con'

White House drug czar John Walters yesterday condemned a Seattle ballot initiative aimed at making marijuana possession the lowest law-enforcement priority, calling it a "con" and a "silly and irresponsible game. Possession of 40 grams or less is a misdemeanor and police and prosecutors spend little time pursuing such cases, according to City Attorney Tom Carr and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, two of the most public critics of the measure.

Seattle Marijuana Initiative Criticized

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske declined comment on the initiative, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Drug Seizures Soar at U.S. Borders

Two academic experts who study drug dealing and drug use agreed that street prices had not changed. They are Rick Curtis, chairman of the anthropology department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York, and Mike Agar, a senior research scientist with Friends Research International, of Baltimore.

Agreement came as well from Gil Kerlikowske, the police chief in Seattle. Chief Kerlikowske said the steady prices in his city, at a time when tighter security along the nearby Canadian border had resulted in increased seizures of drugs, suggested to him that "estimates of what is coming into the country may have been wrong and that far more drugs were coming in than we were aware of."

'Just Doing Our Job. Sorry About Your Wall And Your Marijuana.'


Martin Martinez at Lifevine's office after the Seattle Police Department searched the premises, knocked a wall down, and unlawfully took 12 ounces of legal medical marijuana. Photo by Courtney Blethen of the Seattle Times

Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske

R. Gil Kerlikowske is a 36-year law enforcement veteran and was appointed as the Chief of Police for the Seattle Police Department on August 14, 2000. Serving a Seattle population of 592,800 people, he leads about 1,800 men and women to prevent crime, enforce the law and support public safety.

Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske

Failure to look after our children affects the whole community. National studies indicate that after-school hours are the prime time for teens to become involved in a range of anti-social conduct. The hour from 3:00pm to 4:00pm, for example, is the most likely time for a teen to commit a violent crime; and the 3:00pm to 6:00pm time slot is the most likely time for teens to drink, use drugs, have car accidents, or be arrested for, or become the victim of, a violent crime. Poor neighborhoods without Boys and Girls Clubs or similar after school programs, experience 50% more vandalism and 37% more teen drug use than do similar neighborhoods with such clubs and after school activities.

SPDBlotter.Seattle.Gov

Cruise control
Police and gay men clash over plainclothes operations in Volunteer Park.

Hempfest rolls into town - read how it all got started

The Seattle Overnight question of the week: What do former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper and TV travel guide/author Rick Steves have in common?

They will be attending the "World's largest pot rally" this weekend as main speakers on the main stage for the annual Seattle Hempfest.


Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper (P-I file)

Police kept cop on beat for 3 years despite suspicions of drug use

For more than three years, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske knew that a patrol officer responsible for enforcing drug and liquor laws in Belltown was suspected of using cocaine.

Cardboard Children Invade Seattle, Police Ready Squirt Guns

Monday, February 9, 2009
Washington's Marijuana Decrim Bill: Why It's Good, What's The Hold-Up, And What To Do

COPsAgainstGanjawar

[DdC]

"One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

From Seattle's top cop to 'drug czar'

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has been appointed to a law enforcement post within the Obama administration, which would return him to Washington, D.C., after almost a decade as Seattle's top cop, sources said Tuesday.

Norm and Joseph McNamara and Gil Puder and L.E.A.P. have my respect but...
We doneed no stinkin bodges. Its a vegetable.

COPsAgainstGanjawar

Sound Off Comments

☆ GOOD RIDDANCE

☆ I hope he doesn't get to carry a gun!

☆ The odious Chief Kerlikowske carries with him to Washington the blood of young Kristopher Kime. He ordered his officers to stand down whilst an innocent man was beaten to death - all because the precious mayor's approval ratings were savaged by his handling of the WTO riots. Yet another pathetic and scurrilous addition to the Obama administration.

☆ This is like Barney Fife running the CIA. They should make him the deputy director of National Park Security so he can better control the chipmonks. He'd feel important and it would be harmless unless he lost his gun again.

☆ If I would have known all these losers would leave with an Obama win, I'd a voted for him.

☆ This will be a very poor reflection on the Obama admin if true.

☆ Here is a guy has obsessed over gun control, which is really not in his job description. Among his highest-profile efforts have been sex-policing (huge Craigslist sting of '07, strip club raids, massage-parlor raids). All while petty crime like assaults and such spiraled. And he lost his Glock when it was inadequately secured.

☆ Norm Stamper was 50x the chief. If this is what the Obama admin is about, we are in deep yogurt.

87 comments continued...

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.



New drug czar? Update

Lots of good stuff in comments. The early consensus seems to be that he won't be a friend to drug policy reform, but he's less likely to be the kind of sadomoralist that we've had (he's certainly no John Walters). The Seattle experience is certainly a plus -- home of hempfest and Norm Stamper, and just a little bit down the road from Vancouver. I know a number of people from Seattle and it seems to have a good vibe -- maybe some of that rubbed off on him.

The fact of the matter is that the Drug Czar can't be a reformer as currently constituted. He's required by law to lie, remember?

But what I'm most interested in is what the new drug czar might not do. It would be nice if he didn't show up at state legislatures trying to prevent them from passing state laws regarding medical marijuana or decriminalization. It would be nice if he didn't go out of his way to lie to the press all the time about marijuana. It would be nice if he didn't travel around the country acting as an advance salesman for drug testing companies.

These are things that a new drug czar could legitimately fail to do. And that would be a good thing.

Further Update: NORML's Daily Stash interviewed former Seattle Police Chief (and LEAP member) Norm Stamper today about Gil Kerlikowske as drug czar. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. Pete Guither

Drug Czar was coined by Joe Blieden

czar (zär) noun

☆ 1. an emperor: title of any of the former emperors of Russia and, at various times, the sovereigns of other Slavic nations

☆ 2. any person having great or unlimited power; autocrat

CN NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - February 12, 2009

NORML Comments On Obama's Rumored Drug Czar Pick - Calls Kerlikowske a "Step in the Right Direction" and a "Clean Break" from his Predecessors

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said today that the President's apparent pick for the position of White House ‘Drug Czar,' Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, "is a step in the right direction" and represents a "clean break" from the ‘do drugs, do time' mentality of previous directors. continued...

Kerlikowske Seen as a Progressive
By Vanessa Ho and Scott Gutierrez, P-I Reporters
CN Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer February 12, 2009 Seattle, WA

Gil Kerlikowske remained silent for a second day on his appointment as the nation's drug czar, but his track record in Seattle -- a city known for its progressive drug stances -- offered a hint at how the Obama administration might wage the drug war.

No official word came from the White House on Wednesday on Kerlikowske, who, if confirmed by the Senate, could become the new director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. continued...

Pot Advocates Love Seattle's Top Cop As Drug Czar
Thursday, February 12, 2009 SEATTLE
While President Barack Obama still hasn't made it official yet, the next U.S. drug czar is very likely going to be Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. continued...

Does Obama’s Pick Signal ‘Change’ At The Drug Czar
My full commentary on Obama's Drug Czar nominee is on The Hill.com: February 12th, 2009

President Barack Obama was elected to the office on a platform that promised “change” inside the Beltway. One federal office where ‘change’ is both needed and is long overdue is the Office of National Drug Control Policy, commonly known as the ‘Drug Czar’s’ office. continued...

[DdC]

Republic . . .
it means people can live free, talk free, go or come,
buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose.
-- John Wayne

Granny Storm Crow's MMJ List



CrazyCalvinaFay

I replied at Phelps facebook and its getting boring.
So instead of rewriting the SOS to different idiots...

(fill in the blank) stop spreading gossip. You would have told Michael not to sit in the front of the bus. You would continue to gladly enter through back doors. As a woman you would stay obedient without voting. As an American you would have sold out the forefathers. You would have sided with the racist and the industrialists and their Pinkertons.

The only reason we even know about this is because of lies. Lies you feel comfortable with, enough to blame Michael. If cannabis was truthfully examined it would prove safer than what is legal and what no one would be even discussing. Ooooo Michael had a sip of liquor!

Nixon lied to schedule Ganja #1.

So stop demonizing natures plants, used for 10,000 years safely by cultures outside of your DEA handbook. Their is no shame in smoking pot. There is immense shame in lies that cage sick people and stigmatize young athletes.

Sorry Michael, but your swimming skills lack a lot for a role model when our economy is so easily burgled by professional crooks. The honest ethical people need to step up and speak out as role models. Not the party groupies and people pleasers. When lies are so profitable and the cost is only the suffering of poor Americans, whats the problem they say? Kids need more than empty words or cardboard cereal.

High on Hemp

The same (fill in the blank)s jerk their Iraqi crude oil plastic flags made by kids in sweatshops, at kids going off to die in the sand for political lies forwarding fascist ambitions. These same low life self appointed moralists blaring the terrorists buzz word after every sentence. Fear mongers protecting the interests of Americans they claim. These same hypocrites are terrorizing millions of Americans voting for safe access to Ganja. Not knowing from one day to the next if some zealot politicians will try to stop them or if cops will obey the laws when confiscations are so easy.

THE POLICE STATE COMETH by Rep.Ron Paul

The same prohibitionist abortionists spraying poison on the farmlands, same liars clear cutting forests when Hemp has greater tensile strength and cellulose. Cotton's 90 million pounds of poison, when Hemp grows wild and another lie keeps it lumped into a mix with crack and pcp. Comprising 98% of the so called eradications saving the kids from burlap and canvas. But (fill in the blank)s don't DARE question. They blame and shame as the obstructionists trying to stifle more for the Banksters and shame the workers for wanting a living wage.

Granny Storm Crow's MMJ List

Kids need role models who teach truth and that won't cut it on Wall Street or in D.C. How many more research studies on cannabis have been shelved Brain tumors or cancer or the known benefits of using RxGanja. Hidden and information censored from the TV and print. Thanks to shills like (fill in the blank) and the other lemmings marching off to the orders of the talking head idiots.

The Drug Czar is required by law to lie

Stop Persecuting Americans (fill in the blank)!

"I have never seen a situation so dismal
that a policeman couldn't make it worse."
-- Brendan Behan (1923-1964)

Why is Ganja illegal

"In a republic like ours, people often think that the proper response to an unjust law is to try to use the political process to change the law, but to obey and respect the law until it is changed. But if the law is itself clearly unjust, and the lawmaking process is not designed to quickly obliterate such unjust laws, then the law deserves no respect — break the law."
- Henry David Thoreau

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and MMJ Prohibition

"One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.



Congressman Ron Paul: Archives

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.



"There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.



Drug War Distortions

"By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments ... The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments ...that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity."
--John Hospers

The Elkhorn Manifesto Why Hemp is Illegal



How Pot Became Demonized

Nazism or Drug Cops

SCAPEGOATING - Blaming social problems on a cultural, racial, or behaviorial group. PREJUDICE - Selling the public on the idea that all members of the targeted group are 'bad' people. LIES - 'Facts', which cannot be verified, and pseudo scientific studies are used as propaganda against the targeted group. History is rewritten. NO PUBLIC DEBATE - "These people have no right to have their viewpoiunt aired." and " Anyone who disagrees or questions us must be one of them!" DEHUMANIZATION - Characterizing all members of a targeted group as subhuman and typically capable of monstrous deeds and/or crimes. PROTECT OUR CHILDREN - "They corrupt, seduce and or destroy our children." CIVIL LIBERTIES SACRIFICED - "We must give up some of our freedoms, liberties, and rights in order to combat this menace to society." LEGAL DESCRIMINATION - Laws criminalize members of targeted group and they may be denied jobs, the right to own property and/or be restricted as to where they may live or go. INFORMERS - Citizens are urged to 'turn in' friends, neighbors, co- workers and family members. SECRET POLICE - Non-uniformed police squads set up to wage war on targeted groups utilizing deception, infiltration, espionage and entrapment.
CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY - Property and assets are seized from people who are members of targeted group. Property may be divided between the informer and the state. REMOVAL FROM SOCIETY - Prisons, rehabilitation camps,'hospitals', executions and genocide...
("Kill Them All" "Zero Tolerance")

[DdC]

Official: Obama To Name Seattle Chief Drug Czar By Philip Elliot
CN Source: Associated Press February 12, 2009 Washington, DC

President Barack Obama has selected Seattle's police chief to be the nation's next drug czar, an administration official said Thursday.

Gil Kerlikowske will lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position that has in past administrations been a Cabinet-level post, according to an official who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made. continued...

Treat Drugs as a Public Health Problem
That is why our smart, new president said on the campaign trail that the war on drugs "has been an utter failure" and we need a new paradigm "so that we focus on a public health approach." President Obama is tapping Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to be his new drug czar (he was also onetime chief of police for the Florida cities of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie). He's known as someone who supports research-driven public policy, but we'll see if that means real change.

"I, as a responsible adult human being, will never concede the power to anyone to regulate my choice of what I put into my body, or where I go with my mind. From the skin inwards is my jurisdiction, is it not? I choose what may or may not cross that border. Here I am the Customs Agent. I am the Coast guard. I am the sole legal and spiritual government of this territory, and only the laws I choose to enact within myself are applicable"
Alexander Shulgin, PhD, Chemist and author,
DPF Conference, November 1996





SSDP: Take Action!

President Obama has finally selected his "Drug Czar," Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. It's our job to educate him about the failures of the Drug War and the need for change!

Step 1: Sign the Petition

0-25 of 1410 signatures

Dear Police Chief Kerlikowske,

Congratulations on your nomination to direct the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

You certainly have a big job ahead of you. 76% of Americans know that the Drug War is failing. We are looking for serious answers to our nation's drug problems, but the government has thus far refused to change course.

We are hopeful that you will be more receptive to sensible reforms than your predecessors have been. After all, it was under your watch that the city of Seattle embraced harm reduction principles, openly discussed alternatives to prohibition, protected the rights of medical marijuana patients, and made marijuana possession a lowest law enforcement priority.

Over the past several years, we've been pleased to see your police force tolerate open marijuana use at the city's Hempfest, which draws more than 300,000 people annually. By refusing to arrest these peacefully assembled citizens, you stood with the 76% of Americans who support the decriminalization of marijuana.

As you direct the nation's drug policy, we urge you to follow through on the promises that President Obama has made, including:
-Ending the racially unjust disparity in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine.
-Ending the practice of prosecuting patients in states with medical marijuana laws.
-Supporting harm reduction programs such as needle exchange.
-Shifting drug policy toward a public health approach.

Ultimately, effective drug policy should be grounded in science, public health, racial equality and human dignity. We hope that you'll be the Drug Czar who finally gets it right.

step 2...