U.S. Drug Czar calls for end to "war on drugs"

As I talked about in an earlier post, I'm very excited to have Gil Kerlikowske as our new drug czar. On Wednesday, we finally got some good news in the so-called "War on Drugs." In a Wall Street Journal article, new head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, said that the "war on drugs" was a, "barrier to dealing with the nation's drug problem."

"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."

FINALLY some progress and someone who sees the nation's drug problem as something that can't be fixed by putting more and more people in prison. The more people we funnel into treatment as opposed to prison, the better the solution is going to get. I also like how the Obama administration is going to change the policies surrounding the major criminal disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, thus hopefully closing the racial barrier. The administration is also planning on changing the current federal rules that allow federal agents to raid state-run medical marijuana facilities based on federal law. This would allow states that legalize medical marijuana to operate freely as opposed to being under constant threat from the federal government. All of this is progress. As much as we can do to keep people out of prison for unnecessary reasons and put them into treatment when needed, the better we'll be off.

Here's a video about Barack Obama's stance on drug policy:



Here's a video from Ron Paul about ending the war on drugs:



And here's the famous episode of Different Strokes where Nancy Reagan talks about the war on drugs and just saying no:




Here's something funny.

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