cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar Calls Seattle Pot Initiative a 'Con' 





Drug Czar Calls Seattle Pot Initiative a 'Con' 
Posted by CN Staff on September 11, 2003 at 07:55:43 PT
By Beth Kaiman, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Source: Seattle Times
White House drug czar John Walters yesterday condemned a Seattle ballot initiative aimed at making marijuana possession the lowest law-enforcement priority, calling it a "con" and a "silly and irresponsible game." In Seattle yesterday and today to meet with local officials involved with drug treatment, law enforcement and homeland security, Walters talked of the dangers of marijuana, of increased pot use among teenagers and what he views as society's too-frequent attempts to forgive and condone.
The initiative on Tuesday's ballot, he said, is "designed to send a message that marijuana is a trivial matter." Backers are promoting Initiative 75 as a way to save limited law-enforcement money for crimes more serious than marijuana possession. The initiative would not decriminalize marijuana. I-75's call for making possession the "lowest law-enforcement priority," with no specific direction on how to do that, would change little about what police do on the street, critics say. Possession of 40 grams or less is a misdemeanor and police and prosecutors spend little time pursuing such cases, according to City Attorney Tom Carr and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, two of the most public critics of the measure. Walters' visit, less than a week before the election, represents what has become almost reflex in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy — to go to communities considering easing up on marijuana laws, and come down hard. Last year in Arizona, Nevada and Ohio, Walters made election-time visits to argue against loosening of marijuana laws. He was criticized for using taxpayer money to campaign against local initiatives and for not filing campaign-disclosure forms. Dominic Holden, a leader in the I-75 campaign, called Walters' visit a "federal intrusion" and an attempt to scare people about marijuana. Walters maintains that speaking out against drugs is his job, and yesterday he painted the government as the underdog in getting the word out in these local campaigns. He said he was being forced to fight "big, big money," from people such as the owner of Ohio-based Progressive Auto Insurance, Peter Lewis, who has donated $40,000 to I-75. "The money here (in the pro-I-75 campaign) is a drop in the bucket," Holden said, "compared to the White House's swimming pool." Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Beth Kaiman, Seattle Times Staff ReporterPublished:  Thursday, September 11, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/Related Articles:Drug Czar Blasts City's Initiative 75 on Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17269.shtmlYes To Initiative 75: Free Up Police, Courtshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17261.shtmlNo To Initiative 75: Proponents Use Scare Tacticshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17260.shtmlI-75: a Dopey Idea - Seattle Timeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17252.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on September 16, 2003 at 20:38:32 PT
Current Results on Vote on Initiative No. 75
They just posted the returns so here they are!City Of Seattle Initiative No. 75 Marijuana Offenses  Yes - 22853 - 55.67% No - 18198 - 44.33% http://www.metrokc.gov/elections/2003sep/respage9.htm
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on September 16, 2003 at 08:31:55 PT
News Brief -- Associated Press 
Seattle Votes on Coffee and Pot, Spokane on Jail TaxPublished: September 16, 2003-- It's primary election day in Washington state. Voters will narrow the field for local elections in November. Property tax levies and a few other issues are on the ballot. In Seattle, voters will decide whether to pay a dime more for an espresso to pay for child care. And they'll vote whether to make marijuana possession the lowest priority for police. In Spokane County, voters are being asked to renew a jail sales tax. The one-tenth of a cent sales tax raises about six (m) million dollars a year for the jail and juvenile detention center. Spokane voters also will pick from multiple choices about how their city is governed, including whether to return to a council-manager system after three years under a strong mayor -- who's seeking re-election. Copyright: 2003 Associated Press 
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Comment #8 posted by OverwhelmSam on September 11, 2003 at 14:03:42 PT:
The Only "Con" Going On Here, Is By Walters.
ONDCP seems to be screwing up by the numbers. Ya think the Bush Administration is on the legalization side by conducting such ludicrous actions as campaigning, busting medical patients, and locking up Tommy Chong? The media attention is great!
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Comment #7 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on September 11, 2003 at 12:59:21 PT:
NOW THE FEDS ARE INTRUDING ON EDUCATION!
H.R. 1078 is a Bill to require civics and history teachers to attend FEDERAL programs to make sure they teach gun control and whatever else [Anti-Hemp???]. This Bill has been fast-tracked so that it will be heard THIS WEEK!!! The law cases hold that there is NO federal constitutional right to an education! Instead, the courts have held that there is a STATE Constitutional Right to an education. You have a Right to an education under your respective State Constitution, but NOT the United States Constitution! Justice Brandeis commented in Whitney v. California that the way to prevent crime is EDUCATION and punishment. The federal government is once again sticking their noses into affairs they should not be involved with. The present status of our "education" is that the textbooks for children in the 1850s are considered COLLEGE LEVEL at present day, according to www.johntaylorgatto.com. Government schooling was intended to enrich the State and indoctrinate love of the government, nothing more!David Boaz, of the Cato Institute, lectured at the NORML Conference, that NOWHERE in the United States Constitution is the federal government allowed to create Marihuana laws. Richard Paul Zuckerman, Box 159, Metuchen, N.J., 08840-0159, richardzuckerman2002 yahoo.com.
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Comment #6 posted by lilgrasshoppah77 on September 11, 2003 at 11:53:28 PT:
What an evil man!
Seattle, to my understanding, isn't doing anything revolutionary... they're just making cannabis arrests their lowest priority... in other words, no more, "I'm sorry ma'mam, we would have caught your rapist, but we had to stake out a suspected grow-op..." or "I'm sorry about your car, sir, but we simply don't have the manpower to investigate something as trival as stolen vehicles... what with all the potheads doesn at the college."
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on September 11, 2003 at 11:20:09 PT:
When ignorance speaks, it sounds like dogs barking
*John Walters says Canada's political leaders are failing when it comes to controlling drug movement.* "Down, Johnny! Down, boy! Heel, you ignernt sumbich!" (A hopeless dream, I know, but don't you just wish he would listen and not open his mouth and make the verbal equivalent of messes on the carpet? He embarasses all thinking Americans every time he opens his biscuit chute.)Johnny, it's no wonder why a common Canadian phrase denoting insanity contains the words 'barking mad'.Ever since the border tightened up, the Canux are keeping the supposed 'crack of marijuana' to themselves. And as to just how good it actually is? Well, I was up there in bee-yoo-tee-ful BC a few months ago, and what I had, at a *major event*, sure wasn't ANYWHERE near the reputation it has gained in the States; some of the stuff I had up there made Mex brickweed seem good. "Wheelchair weed"? "Couchlock"?. (A-hem) Not quite. For an event specifically for stoners, I was all too sober, during the entire time. And certainly not from lack of trying.Sure, it was seedless, was cured really well and had a smooth taste. Yepper, and 'Blueberry' really does have the incredible fruity scent of its' namesake...but the buzz was a sharp disappointment. I've had homegrown stuff from Arizona that had more oomph.Johnny really, REALLY doesn't know what he's talking about...but then, he's the DrugCzar, so that's a given.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 11, 2003 at 10:59:10 PT
The Other Drug War: Globe and Mail News Update 
Later Today: Canada Caught Up in Drug War Mathew Ingram is globeandmail.com's business columnist. Here's what he's working on, to be posted by 4:30 p.m. EDT.  
 
 
Canadians have access to it (in fact, it's cheap and plentiful) but U.S. residents don't. Since many Americans want it quite badly, some of them find ways around their laws in order to get access to it -- which is where the Internet comes in. Is it marijuana? Illegally downloaded MP3 music files? No. It's prescription drugs.The freewheeling nature of the Internet produces some pretty strange combinations, but in business terms one of the oddest has to be the "industry" that has grown up over the past year or so to supply cheap Canadian prescription medication to U.S. residents through Internet pharmacies based primarily in Manitoba. 
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 11, 2003 at 10:48:42 PT
News Brief -- Associated Press
Drug Czar Criticizes Political Leadership in CanadaSeptember 11, 2003Seattle-AP -- The White House drug czar is comparing Canada's border with Mexico's -- as far as illegal drug smuggling is concerned.John Walters says Canada's political leaders are failing when it comes to controlling drug movement. He said during a visit to Seattle that a multi-(b) billion-dollar industry has formed in British Columbia to produce marijuana for distribution in the U-S. And he says more drugs labs have popped up toward Toronto, which helps send more drugs south.The U-S has been increasing emphasis on cutting off the drug trade across the Canadian border.Walters' visit came days before Seattle's citizens vote on an initiative that would declare marijuana possesssion the lowest priority for police. He calls that a "con" to promote legalizing marijuana.Copyright: 2003 Associated Press
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on September 11, 2003 at 08:57:57 PT:
Billions and billions for lies
Not one penny for the truth: that's Uncle for you.Billions and billions spent every day in Iraq and Afghanistan; zippo for soon to be dying veterans when they come back. (Expect to see more Gulf War Syndrome, but the VA has been cut to thr bone.)Billions and billions for new weapons systems meant to fight huge armies of comparable technological capability (there simply aren't any right now) but no moolah for unemployment bennies for previously employed Americans whose Republican-arse-kissing bosses made jobless courtesy of their moving the factory to Meh-hee-co.Billions and billions of laughably ineffective law enforcment interdiction of illicit drugs; not one red cent for a decent healthcare system, which could fold in addiction treatment effortlessly.I doubt that Johnny Pee's jaunt out there cost a billion, but it makes little diff if you are a mentally disturbed homeless man or woman in need of the shelter, food and medical care that that little day trip would have nicely paid for several hundred times over.Every night I pray for the political meteor that will kill off these bloody dinosaurs, like the real one did to the earlier bunch of noisy, greedy, dangerous monsters.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on September 11, 2003 at 08:02:44 PT
Lewis
How interesting that Walters would bring up the $40,000 that Peter Lewis donated. If I were the US Federal government, I would avoid any mention of money like the plague. For instance, I'm sure that the tab for Walters' trip to Seattle alone was over $40,000. The government gulps down money like nothing else in the world. The WOD won't end until Joe Average Citizen wakes up and realizes that they're working until June of each year for our government masters.
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