cannabisnews.com: Rebellion Against the Drug Czar Rebellion Against the Drug Czar Posted by CN Staff on December 03, 2002 at 12:44:37 PT By Brian Doherty Source: Reason Magazine Drug Czar John Walters wants us all to make the right decisions. Not just about what chemicals we choose to put in our body, but about how we choose to vote. He campaigned against Nevada's ballot initiative this November that would have legalized marijuana possession in that state. It might seem a trifle unfair—and possibly in violation of campaign finance law—for someone with a $180 million ad budget and the full power of the federal government behind him to explicitly throw his weight around in a state election. The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) thinks so, and on December 4 they intend to file an official complaint with the federal Office of Special Counsel, charging that Walters violated both the federal Hatch Act (which prohibits federal employees from indulging in certain campaigning activities) and Nevada campaign finance laws, since he didn't report his anti-initiative activities as campaign contributions. MPP chief Robert Kampia is calling for Walters to be removed from office for his "illegal and dishonest activities." This isn't the drug czar office's first attempt to extend its propagandizing beyond traditional public service ads. The Clinton-era drug czar's office launched a program of paying off networks to include anti-drug messages in entertainment programs. While it's undoubtedly true that campaign junkets by bureaucrats and very special episodes of TV shows aren't major decision-making factors for most Americans, the drug czar office's shameless attempts to use money they've stolen from us to tell us what to think and how to vote—and what TV characters we should be pitying—shows a lack of respect for democracy and culture that's galling, to say the least. While the thin props that hold up John Walters sad little propaganda dreamworld are collapsing almost daily—see the recent study from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center debunking the notion that marijuana is always the first step on the road to junkiedom—it's unsurprising that he desperately inserts himself into every situation where an American might get to think for herself about drugs and drug laws. The Drug Czar office has certainly violated a basic American notion of government—that it should protect our lives and property, not propagandize us at election time. The MPP is challenging that the office is violating the law as well. If so, the full force of the law should weigh on Walters, just as he advocates it weigh on users of a certain selection of herbs and chemicals. Brian Doherty is an associate editor of Reason.Source: Reason Magazine (US)Author: Brian DohertyPublished: December 03, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Reason FoundationContact: letters reason.comWebsite: http://www.reason.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Cannabis 'Not Linked To Harder Drugs' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14884.shtmlGateway Effect of Marijuana Doubted http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14881.shtmlMarijuana Rights Group Wants to Sue Drug Czar http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14790.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #14 posted by FoM on December 04, 2002 at 09:48:07 PT druid You're welcome. Canaman remembered but I had to do a news search because I forgot. Here's an excerpt from this article.Meanwhile, DEA Deputy Administrator John B. Brown III is expected to be named as acting head of the agency when Mr. Hutchinson leaves, probably in January. Mr. Brown also has emerged as a leading contender for the top job. A 30-year DEA veteran, Mr. Brown is a key figure in the agency's day-to-day operations and has held several top positions within the agency.DEA's Boss Says Homeland His Calling: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14860.shtmlmayan, I don't want to miss the O'Reilly Factor tomorrow either! [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by druid on December 04, 2002 at 09:16:57 PT: thanks! FoM and cannaman! My wife said she was watching the news and they announced someone as the new Administrator and he was talking about how they are going to be cracking down on drugged driving. She couldn't remember the name of the guy though so thanks again! [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by afterburner on December 03, 2002 at 21:41:21 PT: Myth-Making Machine, N. & S. of the Medicine Line While the thin props that hold up John Walters sad little propaganda dreamworld are collapsing almost daily—see the recent study from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center debunking the notion that marijuana is always the first step on the road to junkiedom—it's unsurprising that he desperately inserts himself into every situation where an American might get to think for herself about drugs and drug laws.This is encouraging, but as we know the propaganda of yesterday, even when dead and buried by scientific fact, rises like a mindless zombie to be repeated, ad nauseam. Don't be afraid to repeat the truth. As long as the prohibitionists repeat lies, even discredited ones, they fool some of WE THE PEOPLE. We need to keep repeating the truth until all have heard and understood.Here is an interesting article on "a myth-making machine, one that magically combines perpetual motion and eternal life." The topic is medicare, not medical cannabis, but wouldn't legal access to medical cannabis cut the costs of medicare? Myth-makers in full throat http://www.thestar.com/search for JAMES TRAVERS [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by mayan on December 03, 2002 at 18:39:18 PT Thanks, FoM! I'll have to check out Kampia thursday on the O'Reilly Factor! That is one frightening link, kap'n! It is amazing how people can have so little regard for the Constitution. These intellectually bankrupt,insecure control freaks have crossed the line! I believe you are right about them coming to round us up. If we go to war with Iraq there will be massive protests. Don't be surprised when these protesters are thrown in federal detention camps. The neo-nazis will then come for drug users & sellers. Then they will come for anyone who questions the state. All of the pieces are in place for totalitarianism. For some reason that sentence I just typed made me think of some comments I posted in an old C-News thread from November 17,2001. I can't believe my search found the link! My comments may have seemed pretty far-out then but as you all well know, nothing is too far-out now. Some pretty interesting comments by C-Newsers from over a year ago. How so much has happened in that time! Anyway, here's the link...From Election Loss, Ashcroft Goes To Top: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11370.shtmlI hear jackboots -Homeland Security Act: The Rise of the American Police State - http://www.scoop.co.nz/archive/scoop/stories/fc/d9/200212031127.009a36df.htmlBush gives CIA license to kill American citizens: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/1686801Why the Pentagon will watch where you shop: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1203/p01s01-usgn.htmlRice appoints Iran-Contra figure Abrams to head NSC's Mideast section: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/12/02/national2032EST0775.DTLAntiwar effort gains momentum: http://www.msnbc.com/news/841891.asp?pne=msntv&cp1=1NY Times Sounds Alarm on Kissinger Appointment: http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/12.03A.nyt.kiss.htmHitchens' Call To Action Re. Chairman Kissinger: http://www.scoop.co.nz/archive/scoop/stories/b4/e1/200212021129.e24039c3.htmlSELECTION OF KISSINGER TO HEAD 9/11 COMMISSION A HUGE MISTAKE: http://www.judicialwatch.org/2806.shtml9/11 "Conspiracies" and the Defactualisation of Analysis: http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq37.html9/11 Skeptics Unite: http://www.osamaskidneys.com/links.htmlPaul Thompson's Complete 9/11 Timeline: http://cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/The People's Investigation of 9/11: http://www.911pi.com/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by canaman on December 03, 2002 at 17:30:34 PT druid from an earlier post:DEA Deputy Administrator John B. Brown III is expected to be named as acting head of the agency when Mr. Hutchinson leaves, probably in January. Mr. Brown also has emerged as a leading contender for the top job. A 30-year DEA veteran, Mr. Brown is a key figure in the agency's day-to-day operations and has held several top positions within the agency. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 03, 2002 at 15:05:33 PT Wolf Blitzer poll as of 5PM Do you think marijuana is a "gateway" drug? Yes - 14% - 351 votes No - 86% - 2195 votes Total: 2546 votes [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on December 03, 2002 at 14:51:47 PT druid I did a quick news search and couldn't find anything about who might take his place but I'll keep my eyes open for an article. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by druid on December 03, 2002 at 14:34:13 PT: does anyone know? Who will or has become the new Administrator of D.E.A.th? [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by markjc on December 03, 2002 at 14:13:40 PT wolf blitzer poll http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/wolf.blitzer.reports/vote [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by pokesmotter on December 03, 2002 at 13:58:50 PT: delariand said it best walters is undeniably unbelievably audacious. take it to him kampia!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on December 03, 2002 at 13:12:26 PT: More credit for CNEWS! All surreptitious, of course.Where else did you first hear of people naming the Feds as defendents in violating the Hatch Act? Only here, friends, this is where it started. Nowhere else. And it's becoming the issue that could, for once, hurt the antis instead of us.But it will also demonstrate something else: if this suit is struck down as 'frivolous' when it so obviously, clearly, unmistakenly has merit, then all hopes for any justice in the States is dead and it's time to move before they come for you. Things will have become too politicized and too corrupt to hope for any republic-saving changes to take place to prevent final curtain fall on the rest of uor tattered liberties.If you have any doubts as to whether that is the ultimate aims of the DrugWarriors, then have a look at a statement made by one of them on their own Website, DEAwatch:http://members.aol.com/deawatch/daily.htm03 Dec 2002, 10:52 PST, 2nd EditionRecruiting CI's:A recent law permits military recruiters to go on to high school campuses to obtain contact information on any student. My question is, why aren't we using this same law to get the same information military recruiters are getting? We can use this information to make direct, confidential contact with the children of known drug users and sellers.and chiming in with another such gem of fascist wisdom is another shill for the SS wannabes:"In conclusion, I don't think that we really need to obtain contact info from high schools. We can find other ways of contacting kids should we need them. Besides, we cannot trust teachers or school administrators to ensure that they won't give information to a criminal posing as an undercover DEA agent. We all know that most teachers and school administrators are dumber than the kids they supervise. Take Arizona, for example. There is an school administrator there who says he can't understand why kids in Arizona experiment with marijuana and drugs more than kids in any other state. Duuuh. Where was that school administrator when his governor, Gary Johnson, was making more speeches on legalizing drugs than W. has made on attacking Iraq... and W. talks about Iraq every day! Any state where its governor preached drug legalization for many years should have been expected to have higher numbers of youthful drug experimenters and users.No, I don't think that DEA joining the fray of perverts and recruiters going after our kids is the right thing for us to do. Maybe if we spend more resources on arresting and jailing their drug using/selling parents we will curtail a lot of young drug users."Aside from the facts that this goof can't tell Arizona from New Mexico, it also illustrates that these people couldn't care less about the Constitution they were sworn to uphold. They want it trashed. With the Homeland Security Act, it almost is. And they want you, dear cannabist, in jail. Or dead. No matter what. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by delariand on December 03, 2002 at 13:04:36 PT P.S. oops, forgot to mark that quote... pulled it from the link in FoM's comment below mine.http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=2088 [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by delariand on December 03, 2002 at 13:01:35 PT unbelievable audacity When told about the Marijuana Policy Project's interest in bringing legal charges against his office for campaigning, Walters said, "That's fine, if that's how they want to spend their resources - if there's anything the government has plenty of, it's lawyers." Translation: Challenge my authority? Ha! Bring it on, you can't beat the government.The way he reacts to this, he's not trying to deny any wrongdoing, he's just saying that challenging the government is futile. Sounds like a power-hungry republican who knew exactly what laws he was breaking during the anti-truth campaign preceding the midterm elections. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 03, 2002 at 12:50:38 PT Heads Up: Rob Kampia on O'Reilly Factor - 12-05 This Thursday, December 5, the Marijuana Policy Project's Rob Kampia will appear on FOX News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," which airs at 8 p.m. Eastern. (The program is repeated at 11 p.m. Eastern; please check your local cable listings for channel and non-Eastern airtimes.)At approximately 20 minutes after the hour, Kampia will be featured in a 5-minute, one-on-one interview with host Bill O'Reilly, discussing the formal complaint that MPP is filing against Drug Czar John Walters for his illegal campaigning against Question 9, MPP's recent ballot initiative in Nevada. (See MPP's media advisory below for details.)For background on the drug czar's illegal involvement in campaigning against Question 9, see the following links.http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=2088http://www.mpp.org/NV/news_2089.htmlhttp://www.nrle.org/news/lvrj091802.htmlhttp://www.nrle.org/news/lvs091802.htmlhttp://www.nrle.org/news/lvs091902.htmlmedia advisory:http://www.mpp.org/releases/ma120202.html Original Post [ Post Comment ] Post Comment