cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar Condemns Pot Decriminalization





Drug Czar Condemns Pot Decriminalization
Posted by CN Staff on October 10, 2002 at 08:31:34 PT
By Eric Weslander, Tucson Citizen
Source: Tucson Citizen
"Despicable," "cynical," and "shameful" were some of the words the country's drug-control chief used yesterday to describe an Arizona ballot initiative that would decriminalize marijuana.Standing at a lectern in a midtown drug-rehab center, U.S. drug czar John P. Walters claimed Arizona residents don't understand the dangers of Proposition 203.
The ballot initiative this November would make small amounts of pot punishable by a civil fine and make it harder for courts to send people to jail for using any illegal drug."It's a kind of cynical insult to the citizens of this state," said Walters, speaking at Vida Serena, 2835 N. Stone Ave., a drug treatment center.The spokesman for Proposition 203 responded that Arizona voters know what they're doing. Voters passed a pro-marijuana initiative in 1996 and shot down the Legislature's attempts to repeal part of the law in 1998."I think it's an insult for him to be here saying the voters of Arizona are misinformed," said Sam Vagenas, a former Arizona deputy secretary of state.Walters' visit to Arizona came a week after a Northern Arizona University poll found that 53 percent of likely voters support the initiative, with 33 percent opposed and the rest undecided.Walters was joined by Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon, who denounced the proposition as "a scam." Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Napolitano also condemned the initiative yesterday, but independent candidate Dick Mahoney is one of the measure's outspoken supporters.Walters, whose official title is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, cited a national household drug-abuse survey that shows 3.6 million Americans "need or could benefit from" treatment for marijuana dependency. That's more than twice as many as are dependent on the next most prevalent drug, cocaine, Walters said.He said studies show today's marijuana is many times more potent than what was smoked by baby boomers in the 1960s and 1970s."Americans do not understand this, and these initiatives depend on that ignorance," said Walters, who stood in front of a sign adorned with red stop signs, marijuana leaves and the message "Don't Buy the Lie."Walters also took aim at medical marijuana. The proposition would require the state police to give confiscated marijuana free to people with a doctor's recommendation, though cops say there's no way they'd do that.Walters acknowledged there are some benefits to THC, a psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but he said synthetic THC is already available in the prescription drug Marinol."Those who claim marijuana is medicine are lying," Walters said. He called medical marijuana "the 21st-century version of snake oil."A handful of marijuana advocates held signs and waved at cars outside the treatment center during Walters' speech. The group included Kimberley Swanson, a Libertarian candidate for the state Senate in midtown District 28. Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/elect02/10_10_02drug_czar.htmlSource: Tucson Citizen (AZ)Author: Eric Weslander, Tucson Citizen Published: October 10, 2002Copyright: 2002 Tucson CitizenContact: letters tucsoncitizen.comWebsite: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/Related Articles:Hopefuls Decry Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14409.shtmlDrug Czar Opposes Prop 203 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14403.shtmlDrug Czar Blasts Arizona Pot Proposition http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14399.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by canaman on October 10, 2002 at 18:20:56 PT
BGreen
I had been playing around with some cool wingdings and was triing to cut and paste them in a message. But I guess they revert to whatever font the webpage is written in, correct?At least I know how Hispanics do the upside down question mark now. ¿señor que comprende?
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Comment #14 posted by BGreen on October 10, 2002 at 17:01:38 PT
canaman
You'd normally use the character map for the font you're using. In most cases the characters are the same regardless of which font you're using, and cut and paste doesn't affect which font is used, so if it shows up correctly on the preview page that's all that matters.
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Comment #13 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on October 10, 2002 at 14:58:51 PT
LTE
Sirs,  John Walters' use of the words "despicable," "cynical," and "shameful" is complete hypocrisy. Last month's raids on the WAMM hospice center in California, where terminally ill patients were handcuffed to their beds - now that's shameful. Spending vast amounts of our federal tax dollars to fight state initiatives, then saying the other side has more money because it is financed by three wealthy citizens - that's cynical. And the shooting death of Clayton Helriggle in Ohio earlier this month, when an armed SWAT team raided his house looking for a misdemeanor's worth of marijuana - that's despicable.  Marijuana is not the problem. Prohibition is. Despite our harsh laws, Americans who want marijuana can still find it easily. Marijuana is not going to go away - the only question we have to answer is how we deal with those who would use it.
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Comment #12 posted by canaman on October 10, 2002 at 11:35:38 PT
BGreen
¿Que Pasa? Whats up with character map? Can you only use Arial to cut and paste too messages? 
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Comment #11 posted by cactus on October 10, 2002 at 11:08:36 PT
Oh My GOD!!!!
My experiences fighting pain have no bearing, and I am a LIAR, oh my god, let me the hell out of here
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on October 10, 2002 at 10:57:00 PT
Thanks Sam
It has little square blocks in the comment and I never saw them before I don't think. I'm sure it is ok. Nothing to worry about.
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on October 10, 2002 at 10:53:42 PT
Blocks?
Not sure what you're referring to - I don't see any special characters on my screen. I had to go through and put an extra Return in to get it to separate the paragraphs. Definitely did not do anything w/ HTML. 
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 10, 2002 at 10:37:05 PT
Thanks BGreen
I'll check it out later on when I have some time. I learn something new everyday. Thanks again!
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Comment #7 posted by delariand on October 10, 2002 at 10:32:03 PT
...
Jeez, can you believe this guy? He does nothing but bash the initiative, makes no valid points about any real merits of flaws, provides absolutely zero evidence to back any of his claims, and even has a big visual aid to make sure everyone who can't follow remembers to vote no on the Evil Devilweed Scam.Mr. Vanegas is exactly right. It's insulting for the government to come into Arizona, tell the voters they are misinformed (polite talk for "you are stupid"), and fill their heads with the Correct answer that somehow slipped under the collective radar of the populus.And this is taxpayer money funding this! I can't believe my taxes are being used to paste stop signs and pot leaves onto a piece of cardboard like some stupid school project to trick the sheep into voting against the initiative.Someone should go to the ACLU about the abuse of the constitution... if some civil cases could get to the supreme court, maybe it could bring about some change.
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Comment #6 posted by BGreen on October 10, 2002 at 09:57:19 PT
It's not hard to do, FoM
Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Character Map and open it up. You'll see a whole bunch of possible symbols, letters and numbers, many of which can be directly accessed by keys on the keyboard.Let's assume you want to put a copyright symbol in a post. There's no key on the keyboard for it, but you can still insert it.Look on the keyboard map for the © symbol (they're incredibly small, but if you left click on it and hold the button down it'll enlarge the graphic.)Now, you have two options: You can double click on the © symbol and click "copy," then paste it into your post, or; you'll see "Keystroke: Alt+0169" in the lower right hand corner, which is entered by holding down the "Alt" key while entering 0169 on the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 10, 2002 at 09:45:03 PT
BGreen
Thanks. I didn't understand what you said but that's ok. As long as isn't isn't html I don't need to be concerned. 
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Comment #4 posted by BGreen on October 10, 2002 at 09:40:08 PT
Here's how, FoM
 is done by clicking on that symbol in the character map in Windows and copying it, then pasting it into the window here. Certain symbols can be entered by pressing ALT plus a 4-digit number on the numeric keypad.Any character not on the keyboard can be entered this way.For example: Ò Æ £
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Comment #3 posted by malleus on October 10, 2002 at 09:18:27 PT
Keep talking, John, keep talking
It's downright hysterical. I had an old driver's ed teacher in high school who used to say that you shouldn't point fingers at anyone, as you'd have three of your own pointing back at you.Ol' John keeps saying words that can be used by his opponents against him. His words about us PERFECTLY describe the fed witch hunt against cannabis.If attacking the sick and dying as they have been doing (and in the WAMM raid, they handcuffed a paraplegic and left her manacled after learning she was no threat to them; she's lucky she didn't have to go to the can) is not "Despicable," "cynical," and "shameful" (let's see, that's three fingers back at him) then I don't know what is.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 10, 2002 at 09:14:34 PT
Sam
How did you get the blocks in the comment? Is that html? Thanks.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on October 10, 2002 at 09:00:20 PT
the rest
Walters said he'd never smoked marijuana or used any other illicit drug, but he said that's beside the point. Just because an adult used marijuana in the past doesn't mean he or she is off the hook for warning children about the drug's dangers, he said.
"This isn't a gotcha game," he said.
Walters accused the proposition's supporters of refusing to debate him and hiding their true agenda: legalization of drugs. The initiative is being bankrolled in large part by three businessmen: University of Phoenix founder John Sperling, New York financier George Soros and Cleveland businessman Peter Lewis.
"They want to hide behind consultants. They want to hide behind their money They want to buy advertisements that are misleading," Walters said.
He accused the trio of spreading false conceptions about the war on drugs, such as the image that jails are full of nonviolent offenders caught with small amounts of marijuana.

Walters said that in reality, fewer than one-half of 1 percent of people in state prisons are there for marijuana possession, and many of them pleaded guilty to avoid more serious charges. Much the same is true in federal prisons, he said.
Vagenas said he wasn't aware that Walters had challenged Proposition 203's supporters to a debate.
Vagenas denied trying to mislead the public about the number of nonviolent drug users in jail, and he argued the state will save millions of dollars on probation costs if it stops treating small-time marijuana users as criminals.
If Proposition 203 passes, someone caught with less than 2 ounces of marijuana for personal use would be required to pay a $250 civil fine.
The money would go into the state's drug treatment and education fund.
Vagenas said he believes police officers, prosecutors and people such as Walters are reluctant to end marijuana prohibition in part because their careers depend on it.
"All of them have the same religion, and that religion is drug-war money," Vagenas said.
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