D.C. DIARY: NEWS AND NOTES ABOUT MINNESOTANS IN WASHINGTON

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., and the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML) have something in common: They both oppose the
nation's new drug czar.

Just days before its August recess, the Senate voted 98-1 to confirm
Arkansas Republican Rep. Asa Hutchinson to head the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

NORML issued a news release headlined: "Drug War Ultra-Hawk Confirmed as
DEA Chief." NORML noted that Dayton cast the lone dissenting vote.

Dayton called Hutchinson "a very distinguished man" but said he had
disagreements with the Bush administration on the direction of the nation's
drug enforcement policy. He cited Hutchinson's support for an escalated
drug war in Colombia.

Said Dayton: "He also evidenced no understanding of the effect on our
criminal justice and our penal system of draconian fixed sentencing for
possession of small amounts of drugs. And he rejected outright the
possibility of decriminalization of marijuana for strictly medicinal purposes."