Salute!Kevin Drum has a
post about the retreat from (possible) legalization of pot. In particular, he cites this:
The federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday in Fresno...."Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine," he said.
...."Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing Operation SOS — Save Our Sierra — a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County.
Who is Gil Kerlikowske? Here's a snippet from his
Wikipedia bio:
Kerlikowske was drafted into the Army in 1970, and was stationed in Washington, D.C.. part of his responsibility was saluting then-President Richard Nixon as he boarded the presidential helicopter.
posted by Quiddity at 7/24/2009 03:19:00 PM
Not much of a point, Quiddity. Every soldier has to salute the President no matter what.
Gil made some good noises early on -- "the War on Drugs is over" -- see here -- but I guess the trial balloon didn't get much love.
No politician is going to borrow trouble by advocating marijuana legalization until there's an overwhelming grassroots movement for it -- which I guess is happening in California.
This post is a little misguided, but I do love the way you bring up strange little points that nobody else does. You don't seem to be a superstar blogger, but you chug along in an exemplary way, and I cannot conceive ever dropping you from my regular list.
Thanks, is what I'm getting at.
it's not the mega farmers i worry about. it's the senseless practice of throwing people in jail for personal use. we need to put an end to the double standard of poor people busted with pot getting thrown in jail while rich people get to walk for enrolling at some posh spa masquerading as "rehab."
you don't need on the books legalization to achieve decriminalization. for example, in holland weed is not legal.
