A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER

Kucinich - His New Chairmanship Could Signal A Change
In Drug Enforcement Policies.

The Democratic sweep in the 2006 mid-term elections has done more than
finally install a woman as Speaker of the House. It also has put one
of the most vocal critics of the ill-starred "war on drugs" in a
position to affect federal drug policy.

On January 18, Ohio Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis
Kucinich, one of the most progressive Democratic voices in the House,
was appointed as chair of the new House Government Reform and
Oversight subcommittee on domestic policy, causing drug reform
organizations coast-to-coast to rejoice in hopes that a moment for
significant change may have finally come.

This subcommittee replaces the now-defunct Criminal Justice, Drug
Policy and Human Resources subcommittee, which was headed up by
staunch drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-Indiana). Kucinich will
assume many of his oversight duties, including policy oversight of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and appointed Drug
Czar John Walters. One commentator on Stopthedrugwar.org crowed that
"the responsibility of overseeing the ONDCP has effectively been
transferred from Congress's most reckless drug warrior to its most
outspoken drug policy reformer."

"He is certainly the polar opposite of his predecessor, Mark Souder,"
says Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. "Since the time the [ONDCP] was
created in 1988, there have always been friendly people in that
subcommittee and the ONDCP has always been able to get what they want
under the guise of protecting children and saving America from drugs.

But Kucinich doesn't believe any of that. Any of it!"

For instance, St. Pierre notes, Kucinich is a supporter of industrial
hemp, the non-psychoactive product of the cannabis sativa plant.

He is also a supporter of medical marijuana and of the federal
rescheduling of marijuana, where it is currently illegal as a Schedule
I drug, classified as having "no medical value." This classification
clashes with states such as California (there's a dozen in all), which
have legalized medical use of marijuana, and leads directly to the
current rash of raids on medical marijuana dispensaries by the federal
Drug Enforcement Agency. Kucinich is expected, St. Pierre says, to be
a sponsor of a new bill to be introduced in March that would
decriminalize pot.

Washington insiders, however, are not holding their breath for great
upheaval in federal drug policy. Sources close to the appointment, who
asked not to be named, say that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members
of the Democratic leadership have effectively embargoed major crime or
drug policy legislation for the next two years, to avoid looking soft
on crime in the 2008 election.

Kucinich, however, is promising a couple years of entertaining and
edifying hearings.

"We're going to open up the discussion to new hearings," says
Kucinich, interviewed recently in Culver City, California where he
presented his bill for Universal Health Care. "We want to explore the
federal government's policies and the Department of Justice's policies
on medical marijuana, for example.

We need to also look at the drug laws that have brought about
mandatory minimum sentences that have put people in jail for long
periods of time. I think it's an appropriate time to look at the
proliferation of drugs in America, and how that fits in with our
health care crisis, and how that fits in with law enforcement."

The ONDCP did not reply to several requests for comment. That office,
however, which is a function of the executive branch, has been deeply
involved in pushing heavy sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and
resisting medical marijuana by buying big-money ad campaigns attacking
marijuana in states trying to legalize it. Controlling that ad money
could be a key to reform.

When asked if his subcommittee has any budget oversight or other
muscle, Kucinich shook his head and added, "No, this committee does
not have control of the budgets, but it does have control of the
policy, and it can ask questions and get documents that others
couldn't get."

That can make a difference, says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director
of the Drug Policy Alliance, one of the nation's biggest drug policy
reform organizations. His group plans to push for incremental slices
of legislation that can move a progressive agenda while not upsetting
Democratic unity, adding that Kucinich can "hold hearings on some of
the subjects that haven't been addressed in, you know, decades.

Like a hearing on America having the highest incarceration rate in the
world. Or maybe a hearing on why the DEA has jurisdiction over medical
issues.

"One can obviously empathize with the Democratic leadership's desire
to be cautious when it comes to supporting drug policy reforms and
other sentencing reforms," he adds. "But when you have a growing
number of Republicans supporting sentencing reform, this might be a
good time for the Democrats to show a little leadership."

In fact, several activists point out, the new Congress may be the most
sympathetic to drug-law reform that America has ever seen.
Progressives like Sen. Richard Durbin and Reps. Pelosi, George Miller,
John Conyers, Barney Frank, Henry Waxman, Kucinich and Bobby Scott
have all turned up in leadership positions.

"If we had to pick out our 40 best friends in Congress, they'd be
disproportionately in leadership positions," says Nadelmann. He
includes Sen. Patrick Leahy on that list, but cautions: "Mind you,
seven years ago, Leahy said that sentencing reform was one of the top
priorities, but now it's not even a top-10 priority. Part of that's
because there's so much other stuff to deal with."

Still, action on several fronts is expected.

Sentencing reform should get some attention, with an aim of reducing
the number of non-violent drug offenders currently getting long prison
sentences, which has given the U.S. the highest per capita
incarceration rate in the world.

One such change would be to make sentences involving crack cocaine
equal to those given for powdered cocaine.

Hearings might also bring new media scrutiny to decades-long marijuana
rescheduling motions and several Data Quality Act petitions, which
force bodies like the Food and Drug Administration to make decisions
based on science rather than ideology, and which have been roundly
ignored by the Bush administration.

St. Pierre points out another potential point of influence: High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, or HIDTAs. Congress funnels millions
of dollars to local law enforcement for use in these areas, and
activists have long argued they are wrongly prioritized.

"That's a very obscure acronym, but when it comes down to the billions
of dollars that get channeled out to local governments and their law
enforcement, HIDTA is the battleground. That's where Dennis can come
in and say, "Mr. Walters, we the Congress, and clearly, your own
constituents, want methamphetamines as the number one priority, not
marijuana, and certainly not in the states that have medical marijuana
laws.' A couple of weeks ago, Walters was out in Fresno giving awards
away for busting buyers' clubs.

Dennis can clip those wings. It all depends on how he's going to want
to pull the trigger."