What a fuckin concept. The fact that someone in the government actually has to say this is pretty sad, but the fact that its finally being said is awesome. Oh, and guess who said it…the new Drug Czar.
Yeah, thats right – the guy Obama selected to lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, used his first interview since taking the job to announce that he wants to end the War on Drugs by focusing more on rehabilitation and treatment rather than incarceration:
“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.”
Thank you. While we say we’re in a war against drugs, drug use and trafficking are prolific while we are incarcerating more of our own people than any other country in the world. Sounds like a war on our own people to me. So, its refreshing to hear hear a key member of the Obama administration taking a rational 
approach. Among the changes Kerlikowske would like to implement are lifting a federal ban on funding for needle-exchange programs and ending the sentencing disparities for crack and powder cocaine convictions.
But, blogging giant Ariana Huffington is worried that the Obama administration isn’t doing in practice what it has now begun to preach, pointing out that the ‘09-’10 budget is disappointingly loaded with money for a drug war approach.
The Obama administration needs to deliver on its promises. Senator Jim Webb makes a great point about what our current approach says about the way America sees itself. “With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world there are only two possibilities: Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different–and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter.”
Lets do something! Tell the Drug Czar to back up his words with action!
As Arianna Huffington says, “With three-quarters of the drug offenders clogging our state prisons there for nonviolent offenses — and a disproportionate number of those young men of color — the time has come to wage a full-scale war on the war on drugs.”
