It's just a softball game ...vs. the Drug Czar's team

SSDP is the official sponsoring organization for The One Hitters, a co-ed recreational softball team in the Congressional League in Washington DC, established in 2002 our team is comprised of individuals who work for or support marijuana and other drug law reform. This year, we're officially 2-1 so far, but if I do say so myself, we're not too shabby.

Being in the Congressional League, we play some interesting teams, such as those who work for various Congressional offices, government institutions, advocacy groups, law firms, and others. Perhaps the most unlikely match up for a league softball game would be The One Hitters vs. The Czardinals, which is the Office of National Drug Control Policy's team. We were thrilled earlier this season when our respective coaches scheduled a game between the two teams! But then for some reason, The Czardinals cancelled on us ...again.

The One Hitters is a co-ed softball team established in 2002

in the Congressional League in Washington, DC comprised of individuals

who work for or support marijuana and other drug law reform.

contact: OneHittersSoftball@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2011

One Hitters Burned Again By Timid Czardinals

Office of National Drug Control Policy Backs Out of Softball Game with Drug Policy Reformers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Once again, the softball team representing the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has backed out of playing a Congressional Softball League game against the One Hitters, a team consisting of members of several drug policy reform organizations and others who support ending the “war on drugs.” A game between the two teams had been scheduled for May 25, but the ONCDP Czardinals pulled out shortly after scheduling the game, with ONDCP public liaison coordinator Quinn Staudt citing an “accidental double-booking.”

This is not the first time the Czardinals have refused to play the One Hitters. In 6 years, the team found one reason or another to avoid taking the field against this team of individuals dedicated to reforming the out-of-date and ineffectual policies promoted by the ONDCP.

This behavior is being mimicked on the national stage by the ONDCP as well. While drug czar Gil Kerlikowske has stated that he will no longer use the rhetoric of a “war on drugs” and President Obama said that he wants to move to treat drug abuse as a health problem rather than a criminal justice problem, little has been seen in the way of action in that direction. The President has also said that he does not support the legalization of any drug, even marijuana, despite the inarguable damage marijuana prohibition does to society, individual users, medical patients that benefit from marijuana treatments, governmental budgets, and respect for the rule of law.

"It is really disappointing that the ONDCP not only refuses to have an honest debate with drug policy reformers about the absolute failure of drug prohibition, but also keeps ducking out of softball games with us,” said One Hitters team captain Jacob Berg. “We think it would be a great opportunity to advance the discussion between drug law reformers and the people ostensibly in charge of drug policy in this country. I wonder if they are afraid to have that conversation. The drug czar said ‘legalization’ isn't in his vocabulary, but it's just a friendly softball game!"

The One Hitters hope the Czardinals will put aside ideological differences and accept their invitation to play a softball game this summer on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Video: SSDP Confronts Drug Czar

This morning, SSDP member Daniel Pacheco presented our Just Say Now petition with 52,000 signatures calling for an end to marijuana prohbition to Gil Kerlikowske, the U.S. Drug Czar during a press conference for Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.

Daniel, a student at Georgetown University and originally from Colombia, asks why the ONDCP continues to deny that legalizing marijuana would take away drug cartel's massive profits. When Dir. Kerlikowske says that marijuana is only a small part of their income, Daniel tells him he's downplaying marijuana's role in the black market drug trade and disrespecting the 28,000 people murdered in Mexico's drug prohibition violence. He then hands the petition to Director Kerlikowske. You have to watch this video.

Kerlikowske is basically discrediting the findings of his own department, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, by saying that their report citing that 60% of cartel revenue is coming from marijuana is from 2006 and used data from 1997 and therefore is too old to be trusted. He flat out lies by saying that legalizing marijuana would only take away a small part of DTO profits (and essentially admitting that legalization would take away some profit). But we don't have to go all the way back to 1997 for this information. In 2008, the FBI released a report with these findings:

Mexico is the number one foreign supplier of marijuana abused in the United States. In fact, according to a 2008 inter-agency report, marijuana is the top revenue generator for Mexican DTOs—a cash crop that finances corruption and the carnage of violence year after year. The profits derived from marijuana trafficking—an industry with minimal overhead costs, controlled entirely by the traffickers—are used not only to finance other drug enterprises by Mexico’s poly-drug cartels, but also to pay recurring “business” expenses, purchase weapons, and bribe corrupt officials.

So basically, ONDCP now has to discredit their own findings and ignore those of the FBI in order to defend their backwards stance on marijuana legalization!

SSDP is the only student organization putting political leaders on the spot about marijuana legalization and drug policy reform. Help us continue this important work by making a donation today.

AP Slams the Drug War

The Associated Press has hit the drug war hard with a piece that examines U.S. drug policy's efforts and claims that 40 years and $1 trillion later, we're actually worse off than we were before this thing started.

Even ONDCP Director Gil Kerlikowske admits that "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified." Attempting to grasp onto his fading limelight and defend the drug war is Kerlkowske's predecessor John Walters, who firmly disagreed.

"To say that all the things that have been done in the war on drugs haven't made any difference is ridiculous," Walters said. "It destroys everything we've done. It's saying all the people involved in law enforcment, treatment and prevention have been wasting their time. It's saying all these people's work is misguided."

That's exactly what is being said. Though he's simply lumping in treatment and prevention professionals to try and save face. Many people involved in that field feel that the war on drugs has been misguided and that it makes their jobs, which is to help people overcome addictions and get back on their feet, much harder. 

 

The money spent on law enforcement of the drug war dwarfs what is spent on treatment and prevention leaving many facilities understaffed. Treatment and prevention specialists have long criticized the far reaching implications of having a drug conviction. After completing treatment, one of the most important things a person can do to help avoid relapse is to stay busy. That's kind of hard to do when you've lost your job after being arrested and can't get a new one because of the conviction on your record. If you were getting financial aid for college at the time of your arrest you can forget about going back to school. Need food stamps or public housing? You can forget about that too.

Walters continues to live in a fantasy world for people who believe that the devastating drug war violence occurring in Mexico is actually a victory for U.S. drug policy. He lives next door to Michelle Leonhardt, acting DEA Director and they both get their paper delivered by Andrea Barthwell while they watch a TV station where Asa Hutchinson actually wins debates. Living in this drug war utopia, they're able to ignore and distort facts like the ones the AP dug up:

Using Freedom of Information Act requests, archival records, federal budgets and dozens of interviews with leaders and analysts, the AP tracked where that money went, and found that the United States repeatedly increased budgets for programs that did little to stop the flow of drugs. In 40 years, taxpayers spent more than:

- $20 billion to fight the drug gangs in their home countries. In Colombia, for example, the United States spent more than $6 billion, while coca cultivation increased and trafficking moved to Mexico - and the violence along with it.
- $33 billion in marketing "Just Say No"-style messages to America's youth and other prevention programs. High school students report the same rates of illegal drug use as they did in 1970, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drug overdoses have "risen steadily" since the early 1970s to more than 20,000 last year.
- $49 billion for law enforcement along America's borders to cut off the flow of illegal drugs. This year, 25 million Americans will snort, swallow, inject and smoke illicit drugs, about 10 million more than in 1970, with the bulk of those drugs imported from Mexico.
- $121 billion to arrest more than 37 million nonviolent drug offenders, about 10 million of them for possession of marijuana. Studies show that jail time tends to increase drug abuse.
- $450 billion to lock those people up in federal prisons alone. Last year, half of all federal prisoners in the U.S. were serving sentences for drug offenses.

Does the new drug control strategy and budget go far enough to make the changes that we need to reduce drug abuse and the violence associated with the illegal drug trade? No. But did anyone really expect it to? It is a step in the right direction with modest increases in funding for treatment and prevention and we have an administration that is at least able to acknowledge the fact that drug war hasn't solved the problem. 

 

Our focus now should be to urge the Senate to not confirm Michelle Leonhart as DEA administrator.  

Straight From the Whitehouse: Marijuana is Dangerous

First, Seattle Hempfest congratulates him for his new title and commends him for being one of “Seattle’s finest”.

Then, he calls for an end to the “war on drugs".

And for a couple of months, he manages to remain completely silent about drugs, using the excuse that he's still finding his way around the office.

But finally, last week, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske shocks the nation during a speech in California, stating that,

Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit [The Fresno Bee]

Seriously. Even after the Obama administration promised to stop raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, Kerlikowske manages to somehow convince himself that it’s a good idea to tell hundreds of Californians that medical marijuana is bullshit. So much for the “science based approach to drug policy rather than the scorched earth policies of the previous administration” Seattle Hempfest claimed Kerlikowske so obviously respected.

If you’re as outraged as I am, please take a second to fill out this form to send an e-mail to President Obama about Kerlikowske’s statement. We can't just let such appalling and offensive lies slide unnoticed.

Kerlikowske vs. Walters

While the newest director of the ONDCP, Gil Kerlikowske, isn't likely to be advocating for legalization anytime soon - I think he may be taking us in the right direction - toward actually caring about substance abuse.

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

For the past 8 years the focus of the ONDCP has been honed on marijuana. And we've most certainly been at war with people that use drugs. Marijuana, then drug czar John Walters would say, is as dangerous as crack. He opposed state medical marijuana laws (again comparing it to "medical crack") and has spoken out against states making marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority. But Kerlikowske is different. In this interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kerlikowske was asked:

What's the number one drug problem?

Well [illegal] prescription drug use is rising and one problem I want to shout about. At the federal level it's easy to look at things nationally but drug issues are different depending on the geography. In some places meth may be far more serious, even though on a national scale it doesn't appear that way. In Appalachia Oxycotin may be far more serious. I want to look at things regionally and in a narrower focus than in a national focus.

Without a doubt, Walters would have answered marijuana to that question. He may have thrown meth in their too but not without claiming that marijuana leads to meth. Kerlikowske doesn't even mention marijuana. He states the truth - prescription drugs and their diversion are a serious problem. He's also smart to look at this regionally rather than create a blanket campaign against a single drug.

Check out this 2003 article from the Seattle Times concerning Seattle's lowest law enforcement priority ballot question. You'll see that Kerlikowske opposed the initiative for an almost sensible reason: Arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use, says Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, is not a priority now. Officers aren't now bringing in everyone they see smoking a joint, he said.

Kerlikowske at least promises to take his job more seriously than Walters. He doesn't have to support legalization for me to get behind policies that make sense. Furthermore, I don't think full out legalization is necessary for us to make improvements with treating drug addiction (though it sure would help a lot) because as LEAP's Peter Christ says "Legalizing drugs is not the answer to our drug problem. Legalizing drugs is the answer to our crime problem." The drug problem, unfortunately, isn't going anywhere - its here to stay - legalized drugs or not. But we can stop throwing gas on the fire now.

If Kerlikowske is ready to put our money where his mouth is - we'll see a campaign from the ONDCP that shows needle exchange programs work to reduce disease transmissions and provide places where addicts can go to get help and eventually - off drugs. We'll see funding for law enforcement decrease and treatment funding increase (you'll see here that Obama's budget, while increasing treatment funding, also decreases prevention funding and unfortunately calls for more $$ for law enforcement). Talking dogs and flying aliens warning our kids about pot will be replaced with realistic drug education that focuses on America's real drug problems - not support for a witch-hunt of marijuana users.

Deprioritization is key at this point. We can't focus on marijuana anymore and I think our new drug czar knows this. At least that much leaves me optimistic.

Former Drug Czar to Adult Marijuana Users: "Knock Yourself Out"

Look out! The sky is falling! Pigs are flying!

Barry McCaffrey just said something sensible. Actually, he says a few sensible things about the importance of drug treatment in this interview from 2000. McCaffrey came around to see that treatment access and quality needed to improved in the U.S. Unfortunately little has been done to actually shift law enforcement resources to treatment and education.

It makes sense to me. If you earn a high school degree, become an adult, smoke marijuana responsibly, and don't hurt anyone else... who cares? Not Barry McCaffrey thank goodness!

Ask the Drug Czar a Question!

True. Drug Czar John Walters will be replaced shortly. But lets not make these last two months any easier for him. Take just a few minutes to ask him a question or two about U.S. drug policy with this nifty form on the White House website. 

Some topics to ask him about: 

• Crack/Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
• HEA Aid Elimination Penalty
• Prohibition Related Violence in Mexico
• Increasing Accessible/Affordable Substance Abuse Treatment
• Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
• Student Drug Testing
• State Wide Good Samaritan Policies 

Of course there is plenty more to ask and you'll want to be specific. It will only take a few minutes and SSDP would love for you to post your questions to SSDP talk, facebook, and the comments section of the blog! Feel free to contact me to strategize about questions if you'd like!