New Drug Czar Doesn’t Even Know What Legalization is

Submitted by smorgan on
What better way to blow off the debate over legalization than to pretend there's no such thing?

On his first trip outside Washington since assuming his new role, Kerlikowske told a law enforcement crowd Wednesday that marijuana should remain illegal, but public health officials — not police — should lead efforts to reduce illegal drug use.

"Legalization isn't in the president's vocabulary, and it certainly isn't in mine," he told 300 police, federal agents and law enforcement officials. [USA Today]

As supremely lame as it is to find the drug czar sucking up to law enforcement by sneering at the legalization debate, there's something interesting happening here. He says legalization is a foreign concept to him, but he's talking about it onstage days after taking office.Sounds like somebody's feeling the pressure.

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Source URL: https://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2009/may/22/new_drug_czar_doesn’t_even_know