cannabisnews.com: Republican Congressman to Head Drug Agency 





Republican Congressman to Head Drug Agency 
Posted by FoM on May 08, 2001 at 17:34:16 PT
By Ron Fournier, AP White House Correspondent
Source: Washington Post
Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, one of the House prosecutors in former President Clinton's impeachment trial, is President Bush's choice to head the Drug Enforcement Administration. Three administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hutchinson's nomination as head of the agency is expected to be announced in several days, barring a last-minute hitch in the background review process. Hutchinson, 50, would succeed acting Director Donnie R. Marshall. The position is subject to Senate confirmation. 
Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor, is serving his third term from a heavily Republican district in northwest Arkansas. He is the brother of Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., who faces a stiff re-election campaign. Asa Hutchinson found himself center stage during the impeachment of Clinton as one of the House prosecutors, and was among the managers of Clinton's Senate impeachment trial. Clinton was acquitted by the Senate. A former chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Hutchinson attended the University of Arkansas where he received a law degree. The Drug Enforcement Agency is a part of the Department of Justice, and is at the forefront of U.S. drug interdiction efforts. It is separate from the Office of Drug Control Policy, which is a White House-based policy office. Politically, Hutchinson's record in the House has been that of a fiscal and social conservative, and he graduated from a fundamentalist Christian institution, Bob Jones University. However, he also has favored an overhaul of campaign finance laws, and that put him at odds with House GOP leaders on a key issue. John C. Lawn, a former DEA administrator, has been reported under consideration by the Bush administration as a candidate to succeed Louis J. Freeh as FBI director.Source: Washington Post (DC) Author: Ron Fournier, AP White House CorrespondentPublished: Tuesday, May 8, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.comCannabisNews DEA Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DEA.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on May 09, 2001 at 04:05:48 PT:
Leading pigs
Know how you do it? By pushing the pig in the opposite direction of where you want it to go. Pigs are such contrary beasts that they will naturally move opposite of where they are directed.The American government's behavior over the last few days has brought that to my mind: the rest of the planet have signalled loud and clear that they are through...finished...fed up with the autocratic American-style DrugWar. They've had it. They've known for many years the hypocrisy endemic in a nation which rants against cannabis, which has not killed a single person in 5,000 years, and that nations' subsidizing of the growth and now-vigorous exportation of a plant product that has killed tens of millions throughout the world - tobacco.The health ministries of poorer nations are up-in-arms at the aggressive marketing conducted by American tobacco companies and their indiginous proxies. And they look at our war against cannabis, and are amazed at the bald-faced hypocrisy of it all. It's there for all to see. And the rest of the world isn't blind, friends; indeed, 'the whole world is watching' America very closely now. And they don't much care for what they see.But this particular pig just hasn't understood. In fact, if anything, to show how contrary it is, it is going out of its' way to continue and intensify an already worsening policy. The latest appointments of The Shrub are indicative of that mindset.Things are rapidly reaching a breaking point. It's America against the world, now. And what that really means is a service economy almost totally dependant upon imports of manufactured goods standing against the producers of those goods. Which greatly outnumber it. A nation with trade deficits making demands of nations with trade surpluses. Who can find other markets for their wares. A very, very dangerous tightrope to walk, friends. Very dangerous. Because the other nations involved in this wouldn't have done it if they didn't think they could get away with it.As the old curse goes, "May you live in interesting times." Things are going to get real interesting this summer.
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Comment #4 posted by Josh on May 08, 2001 at 22:17:27 PT
.....?!
"....that's the ultimate goal and young people get these signals." ?Great, now my children, if I have n e when I get there, will be supporting policies that will worsen an already messed up system? I ain't gonna have my children grow up the way I did, constantly looking for helicopters, police, drug dealers, and living in fear as I did as a kid. Even if I gotta go to capitol hill myself, they will get this message," Stop this insanity! We need to change this, or else more of the freedom seeking and innocent individuals in this nation will be convicted of using the substances of their choice!" It should be a guaranteed right because it deals with peoples right to expression and personal privacy.
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Comment #3 posted by Josh on May 08, 2001 at 22:16:19 PT
.....?!
"....that's the ultimate goal and young people get these signals." ?Great, now my children, if I have n e when I get there, will be supporting policies that will worsen an already messed up system? I ain't gonna have my children grow up the way I did, constantly looking for helicopters, police, drug dealers, and living in fear as I did as a kid. Even if I gotta go to capitol hill myself, they will get this message," Stop this insanity! We need to change this, or else more of the freedom seeking and innocent individuals in this nation will be convicted of using the substances of their choice!" It should be a guaranteed right because it deals with peoples right to expression and personal privacy.
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on May 08, 2001 at 20:23:02 PT
from bad,to worse
I remember Hutchinson in the Clinton hearings.He was an arrogant,smug,butthead.He was also on Politically Incorrect a while back.He's a true narrow minded southernpolitical professional.We add yet another radical,imbalanced demagog to the bush regime.I wonder what'snext?......This is not good.......Dark times for freedom and sanity............Indeed....................dddd
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Comment #1 posted by observer on May 08, 2001 at 19:58:57 PT
Gestapoführer Hutchinson
 [Politician] Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, one of the House prosecutors in former President Clinton's impeachment trial, is President Bush's choice to head the Drug Enforcement Administration . . . Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor, is serving his third term from a heavily Republican district in northwest Arkansas. I belive I understand this ideological/political appointment.GOP STANDS FIRM AGAINST DRUG LEGALIZATIONWASHINGTON -- A free-wheeling debate on drug legalization broke out in Congress this week, but only after Republican leaders made it clear that a hard-line approach to drug issues -- including the medical use of marijuana -- still prevails on Capitol Hill.Several members of a House Government Oversight subcommittee, chaired by Republican John Mica of Winter Park, Fla., pressed federal drug-control director Barry McCaffrey at a Wednesday hearing to redirect much of a $185 million TV and radio anti-drug ad blitz to counter campaigns in several states to allow the medical use of marijuana.``Why can't we target these states?'' asked Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark.GOP Stands Firm Against Drug Legalization (6/1999)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n660/a01.htmlDuring a brief question and answer period, Dennis Hawver, an Ozawkie lawyer and the Libertarian candidate for Congress in the 2nd District, which includes Topeka, said he favored the legalization of methamphetamine and other drugs. He said while the federal war on drugs has succeeded in filling the nation's prisons, it has failed to curb drug use."It's like another Vietnam," Hawver said. "We're not winning."Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., who chaired the hearing, responded that drug use declined in the early 1980s when the nation's anti-drug effort was better funded and focused."I just don't see that our country can go in that direction," Hutchinson said of legalization.He noted that both of the former addicts who testified at Tuesday's hearing said they wouldn't have stopped using meth if they hadn't been arrested.State 'Threatened' By Meth, (8/2000)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1140/a01.htmlHUTCHINSON: Well, there's two problems. First of all, there is not sufficient consequences to encourage the treatment. Secondly, our young people are guided by symbols in our land. And even though this does not deal with legalization, that's behind the motivation of many people who support these type of propositions, and that's the ultimate goal and the young people get these signals.What's working in California, and we need to do more of, are drug courts, where the prison sentence is hanging over a person's head, an addict's head or a user's head, and because of that, they are mandated to have drug testing every week . . .Crossfire: Can The War On Drugs Ever Be Won? (9/2000)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1285/a01.html 
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