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John Walters

Press Release: Wed (10/29/08) in Albany: White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at Summit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 27, 2008 CONTACT: Jennifer Kern, Drug Policy Alliance, (415) 373-7694 White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at Summit in Albany on October 29 Largest Study, Leading Health Groups Call Random, Suspicionless Drug Testing Harmful and Ineffective ALBANY - The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is conducting a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to begin drug testing students - randomly and without cause. This policy is unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health. The latest summit will be held in Albany on Wednesday, October 29 at the Crown Plaza Albany, State & Lodge Streets from 8:30 am -1:00pm. Studies have found that suspicionless drug testing is ineffective in deterring student drug use. The first large-scale national study on student drug testing, which was published by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2003, found no difference in rates of student drug use between schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. A two-year randomized experimental trial published last November in the Journal of Adolescent Health concluded random drug testing targeting student athletes did not reliably reduce past month drug use and, in fact, produced attitudinal changes among students that indicate new risk factors for future substance use. "Drug testing breaks down relationships of trust," said Jennifer Kern, Youth Policy Manager for the Drug Policy Alliance. "All credible research on substance abuse prevention points to eliminating, rather than creating, sources of alienation and conflict between young people, their parents and schools." Random student drug testing is opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals, and the National Association of Social Workers, among others. These organizations believe random testing programs erect counter-productive obstacles to student participation in extracurricular activities, marginalize at-risk students and make open communication more difficult. "Our schools should stay focused on education, prevention and health, not invasive drug testing programs that have never been proven safe or effective," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "New York students deserve comprehensive, interactive and honest drug education with assistance and support for students whose lives have been disrupted by substance use." A December 2007 policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse and Council of School Health reaffirmed their opposition to student drug testing, holding: "Physicians should not support drug testing in schools ... [because] it has not yet been established that drug testing does not cause harm." Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators are Saying No, published by the Drug Policy Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union, can be found online at www.safety1st.org.

Press Release: Hell Freezes Over -- Drug Czar Backs Decriminalization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
OCTOBER 27, 2008

Hell Freezes Over:
White House Drug Czar Backs Decriminalization

John Walters Backs a Mexican Proposal Far More Sweeping Than U.S. Measures He Has Opposed

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-668-6403 or 202-215-4205

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Marijuana Policy Project today congratulated White House "drug czar" John Walters for backing a Mexican government proposal that would remove criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

    "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but John Walters is right," said MPP executive director Rob Kampia. "We heartily second his support for eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana users in Mexico, and look forward to working with him to end such penalties in the U.S. as well."

    On Oct. 22, The New York Times reported Walters' public support for a drug decriminalization proposal by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, quoting Walters as saying, "I don't think that's legalization." Under Calderon's proposal, individuals caught with small quantities of marijuana would receive no jail sentence or fine and would not receive a criminal record so long as they complete either drug education or, if addicted, drug treatment. Unlike proposals supported by MPP, the Mexican president's proposal would also decriminalize possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

    "It's fantastic that John Walters has recognized the massive destruction the drug war has inflicted on Mexico and is now calling for reforms there, but he's a rank hypocrite if he continues opposing similar reforms in the U.S.," Kampia said. "The Mexican proposal is far more sweeping than MPP's proposals to decriminalize marijuana or make marijuana medically available, both of which John Walters and his henchmen rail against."

    In a March 19, 2008, press release from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, deputy director Scott Burns called a New Hampshire proposal to impose a $200 fine rather than jail time for a small amount of marijuana "a dangerous first step toward complete drug legalization."

    With more than 25,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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Press Release: Data Quality Act Complaint Filed Against Drug Czar

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
OCTOBER 17, 2008

Data Quality Act Complaint Filed Against Drug Czar
MPP Charges White House Office with Distributing False Information; Charge Is Latest of Many Controversies Surrounding ONDCP

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ................................. 202-215-4205

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Marijuana Policy Project has filed a formal request for correction of erroneous information distributed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, pursuant to the law commonly referred to as the Data Quality Act. The petition seeks correction of false information contained in ONDCP's 2008 Marijuana Sourcebook, released in July.

    The petition, filed late Thursday afternoon pursuant to Pub. L. 106-554, amending Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. §§ 3501 et seq., focuses on the Sourcebook's title, "Marijuana: The Greatest Cause of Illegal Drug Abuse," a claim that is not supported by scientific data, including the data in the Sourcebook -- and is actually contradicted by some of its contents, as well as by other ONDCP materials.

    "The claim that marijuana is 'the greatest cause of illegal drug abuse' is blatantly false," said Aaron Houston, MPP's director of government relations. "Marijuana is widely used, but any claim that it actually causes drug abuse -- much less that it's the greatest cause -- rests on the so-called 'gateway theory,' which has been debunked so often it's hard to believe drug czar John Walters can still mention it with a straight face."

    MPP's complaint notes that guidelines adopted by the Office of Management and Budget and ONDCP pursuant to the Data Quality Act require that information disseminated must be "accurate, reliable and unbiased" and presented in an "accurate, clear, complete, and unbiased manner" -- tests the Sourcebook clearly fails.

    Walters has been the subject of multiple controversies in recent days. A report released this week by the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform found that Walters attended 19 events suggested by Karl Rove's office in order to help Republican candidates, in apparent violation of the ban on use of public funds for partisan activities. And a study published online Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health found that ONDCP's anti-marijuana campaign had failed to change teen attitudes about marijuana despite expenditures of hundreds of millions of tax dollars.

    For a copy of the full complaint, contact Dan Bernath at 202-462-5747 ext. 2030 or [email protected].

    With more than 25,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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ALERT: #365 Drug Czar Walters Exaggerating Again

[Courtesy of DrugSense] Well if we didn't already know it was the month of May, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in Washington DC led by Drug Czar John Walters is doing their best to remind us - again. For the eighth year in a row under Walters' lead, the ONDCP has used the first half of May to release their annual "latest scary facts about marijuana" press release. Packaged and carefully crafted in the guise of a scientific study, the ONDCP has again done nothing more than take a few correlative facts about teenagers and marijuana use and then 'conclude' that the pot use creates causative and inescapable debilitating health effects for our youth. This year, it's "depression." Citing the results of a dubious survey from New Zealand wherein teenagers who acknowledged feeling depression also often cited use of marijuana, the ONDCP report concludes that teenagers who use cannabis face an increased likelihood of being depressed. Sadly, this is as scientifically causative as saying that many people who feel pain also use aspirin. And that therefore aspirin use causes pain. Even more grim is that such junk science press releases are used to add fuel to the fiery federal insistence that all marijuana use - even for adults, and even for appropriate medical use with a doctor's recommendation (currently legal in 12 U.S. states and Canada) - should remain a criminal offense - an offense worthy of arrest, prosecution, incarceration and a lifetime criminal record. Fortunately, based on our 11+ years of covering drug policy news at MAP, we've come to see that an increasing number of newspaper reporters and editors view information coming from the Drug Czar's office with a cocked eyebrow and/or even a smirking dismissal. That's in large part due to their receiving a steady diet of more honest and truthful information about marijuana - both it's negative effects and it's positive benefits. That flow of alternative personal and professional testimony comes from people like you - the users of MAP and the people most interested in a public drug policy that is founded on facts rather than emotionally driven misinformation. MAP has been archived news clippings that resulted from the ONDCP press release over this past weekend and will continue to add more as newshawks like you find more. All the clippings found so far start with a subject line of "US" and may be found here: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/depression Please consider writing and sending a Letter to the Editor to the listed newspapers of your choice and the newspapers people read where you live. If you write to more than one newspaper, we strongly suggest at least some modification of your message so that each newspaper receives a unique letter. Often the best targets for response are Opinion items (Editorials, OPEDs and other LTEs) which may be printed during the days ahead. Please recheck the link above during the week for additional targets for letters. Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do it's what YOU do. ********************************************************************** Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Or contact MAP's Media Activism Facilitator for tips on how to write LTEs that are printed. [email protected] ********************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list ( [email protected] ) if you are subscribed, or by e-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ( [email protected] ) will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

Drug Czar Walters Testifying in Congress on 2008 Drug Control Strategy; DPA Statement

[Courtesy of Drug Policy Alliance] For Immediate Release: March 12, 2008 For More Info: Tony Newman (646) 335-5384 or Bill Piper (202) 669-6430 Drug Czar John Walters Testifying in Congress Today in Support of Bush’s 2008 National Drug Control Strategy Drug Policy Alliance: Walters is Covering Up a Record of Failure Fatal Overdoses on the Rise, Transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C from Injection Drug Use Continues to Mount, 1 in 100 Americans Now Behind Bars Drug Czar John Walters will testify today at 2pm before the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee. He is expected to defend the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s 2008 Drug Strategy, which continues to fund failed supply-side strategies at the expense of more effective prevention and treatment. Below is a statement from Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. Every year the drug czar tries to put a good spin on the failure of the drug war, and this year is no exception. Americans should ask themselves, ‘Are drugs as available as ever?’ Answer: Yes. ‘Do our communities continue to be devastated by astronomical incarceration rates and death and disease related to drug abuse and drug prohibition?’ Again, yes. Despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars and incarcerating millions of Americans, experts acknowledge that illicit drugs remain cheap, potent and widely available in every community. Meanwhile, the harms associated with drug abuse—addiction, overdose and the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis—continue to mount. Add to this record of failure the collateral damage of drug prohibition and the drug war—broken families, racial inequity, wasted tax dollars, and the erosion of civil liberties. The evidence is clear and it is foolish and irresponsible to claim success. What matters most is not whether drug use rates go up or down but whether we see any improvements in the death, disease, crime and suffering that are associated with both illegal drugs and drug prohibition. The current approach, with its “drug-free America” rhetoric, and over reliance on punitive, criminal justice policies costs taxpayers billions more each year, yet delivers less and less. It’s time for a new bottom line in drug policy, one that focuses on reducing the harms associated with both drug misuse and the collateral damage from the drug war.

Press Release: White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at Summit

[Courtesy of DPA] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2008 CONTACT: Jennifer Kern, DPA (415) 373-7694 or Zeina Salam, ACLU (904) 391-1884 White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at Summit in Jacksonville on January 29 Largest Study, Leading Associations Call Random, Suspicionless Drug Testing Harmful and Ineffective Concerned Citizens to Provide Educators with Missing Information; Experts Available for Interviews Jacksonville, FL — The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is conducting a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to start drug testing students -- randomly and without cause. This policy is unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health. The third summit of 2008 takes place on Tuesday, January 29th in Jacksonville at the Jacksonville Marriott, 4670 Salisbury Road at 8:30 a.m. The Drug Policy Alliance and American Civil Liberties Union are providing attendees with copies of the booklet Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators Are Saying No, which presents research showing that such testing is ineffective and provides resources for effective alternatives. Studies have found that suspicionless drug testing is ineffective in deterring student drug use. The first large-scale national study on student drug testing, which was published by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2003, found no difference in rates of student drug use between schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. A two-year randomized experimental trial published last November in the Journal of Adolescent Health concluded random drug testing targeting student athletes did not reliably reduce past month drug use and, in fact, produced attitudinal changes among students that indicate new risk factors for future substance use. “Drug testing breaks down relationships of trust,” said Jennifer Kern, Drug Testing Fails Our Youth Campaign Coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance. “All credible research on substance abuse prevention points to eliminating, rather than creating, sources of alienation and conflict between young people, their parents and schools.” A group of concerned citizens will also attend to provide educators with important information missing from the summit, such as the objections of the National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers to testing. These organizations believe random testing programs erect counter-productive obstacles to student participation in extracurricular activities, marginalize at-risk students and make open communication more difficult. A December 2007 policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse and Council of School Health reaffirmed their opposition to student drug testing, holding: “Physicians should not support drug testing in schools … [because] it has not yet been established that drug testing does not cause harm.” Schools in Florida have so far rejected the policy. In November 2006 the Citrus County School Board turned down a $317,000 federal drug testing grant, as board members were not convinced that testing would discourage drug use. Members felt subjecting students to drug testing was a misuse of authority and objected that the grant made them test subjects as part of a federal study of student drug testing. The following month the Hernando County School Board rejected a federal drug testing grant of at least $183,289. “Subjecting students to unsubstantiated searches makes a mockery of the values taught in our nation’s classrooms, undermining respect for the Constitution among its future caretakers,” said Zeina Salam, ACLU of Florida Northeast Regional Staff Attorney. “Random drug testing must not become a rite of passage for America’s youth.” Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators are Saying No can be found online at www.safety1st.org. An excerpt from the booklet is included below: Comprehensive, rigorous and respected research shows there are many reasons why random student drug testing is not good policy: - Drug testing is not effective in deterring drug use among young people; - Drug testing is expensive, taking away scarce dollars from other, more effective programs that keep young people out of trouble with drugs; - Drug testing can be legally risky, exposing schools to potentially costly litigation; - Drug testing may drive students away from extracurricular activities, which are a proven means of helping students stay out of trouble with drugs; - Drug testing can undermine trust between students and teachers, and between parents and children; - Drug testing can result in false positives, leading to the punishment of innocent students; - Drug testing does not effectively identify students who have serious problems with drugs; and - Drug testing may lead to unintended consequences, such as students using drugs (like alcohol) that are more dangerous but less detectable by a drug test.

DrugSense FOCUS Alert: John Walters Caught Lying - Again

[Courtesy of DrugSense] One of the U.S. government's most persistently dishonest appointed officials - John Walters, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) - has been caught in yet another outright lie to the North American media. His office's first major press release of 2008 made a disturbing announcement. According to Drug Czar Walters, there is a "dangerous new drug threat coming from Canada." The drug? - so called "Extreme Ecstasy." In a news release distributed in the U.S. and Canada, Walters warned that the use of ecstasy is being fueled by Canadian producers smuggling the illegal designer drug -- which is increasingly laced with crystal meth -- into the U.S. "Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," Walters said in the release. Scott Burns, the primary spokesperson for Walters' ONDCP office, echoed the alarming cry with "They are remarketing and packaging it and trying to glamorize it." Certainly gives the guise of being important information for Americans - especially parents of teenagers, right? Unfortunately, it seems that John Walters and the ONDCP created "extreme ecstasy" out of their own imaginations. The U.S. Drug Czar has been caught lying - again. And this time, the direct rebuttal of his lies comes from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Less than two weeks after the January 4th ONDCP press release, the head of the RCMP's national drug branch sternly rebuked the ONDCP claims. Supt. Paul Nadeau said he doesn't know why Walters would make such fictional statements without checking facts with Canadian officials. He added that he himself has never heard of "extreme Ecstasy.... it would appear that it's a term that somebody came up with in a boardroom in Washington, D.C." Please write a letter to newspapers that carry coverage of the false claims. Let your local and state or provincial media know that the United States Drug Czar is a very unreliable and frankly dishonest source of accurate information.