Subject: Helms, Weld and Drug Policy

With enemies like this . . .

by Robert Scheer

OH, to be blessed with an enemy the likes of Jesse Helms, that bilious
spewer of hate who stains all that he embraces with his trademark brand of
verbal toxic waste.

It was Sen. Helms, RN.C., who derided the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "the
single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress"
and later opposed a national holiday for that "pervert" Martin Luther King Jr.

And it was Helms who, while millions throughout the world faced death from
AIDS, sought to block finding for medical research on that dread disease to
punish the "revolting conduct" and "unnatural acts" of gays.

Whomever this must be given the oaf attacks respect due those on the side
of decency. So it was when Helms threatened that President Clinton would
need a "bodyguard" to enter He1ms state after Clinton dared to differ with
the senator on gays in the military.

And so it is now with Helms' efforts to block the appointment of former
Massachusetts Gov. William Weld as ambassador to Mexico.

Surely Weld, a superbly qualified Republican nominated by a Democratic
president, should sail through the confirmation process. And he would if
only the full Senate could vote. But the Senate hasn't acted because the
Republican leadership has ceded dictatorial powers over foreign policy to a
man whose only claim on his position is the length of his stay on Capitol
Hill.

That the Senate remains an old boys' club dominated by bizarre, even
kinky, ritual is evidenced by the advice of Sen. John McCain, RAriz., that
Weld "kiss Jesse's ring or some part of his anatomy. That's the way
Washington works."

What's at stake, as Weld stated, is a "battle for the soul of the
Republican Party."

Is there room in that "big tent" that party leaders evoke at election time
for a moderate prochoice Republican leader who believes gays have
constitutional rights? Not according to Bill Bennett, the Republicans'
selfdesignated Mr. Virtue, who said of Weld: "His positions are so far to
the left on stuff like gay rights, I don't think he'll be a persuasive
witness for winning the hearts and minds of Republicans."

That's the real issue: Will the party puritans who want a Big Brother
government to force us to be "virtuous" accommodate those of a more
libertarian bent who do believe individuals should have some sovereignty
over their own lives?

But instead of facing up to the irreconcilable differences of conservative
politics, the reeking red herring of the drug war has been dragged in to
foul the debate. Quoting Bennett again: "You want to send a clear signal
about drugs; whatever Weld is, he's not a clear signal."

Weld, as governor of Massachusetts, approved needle exchange programs that
have curtailed the transmission of the HIV virus crime of crimes. He also
supports a physician's right to prescribe marijuana if it serves the
medical needs of a patient.

Better add to the list of criminals Dr. William Beaver of Georgetown
University School of Medicine, who last week reported the unanimous
conclusion of a panel of eight health professionals appointed by the
National Institutes of Health that "marijuana looks promising enough to
recommend that there be new controlled studies.

Weld is not "soft" on illicit drugs. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan to
be chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, and John C. Lawn,
then head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, points out that drug
prosecutions and convictions rose more than 40 percent during Weld's tenure.

Weld resigned in protest over charges of corruption against his boss,
Attorney General Ed Meese, who is pushing Helms to block Weld's appointment.

Is the medical use of marijuana so extreme a threat that it would force
one into an alliance with the Senate's point man for the tobacco lobby,
which claims 400,000 American (and God knows how many foreign) lives a year?

Bennett should know that tobacco is a far more powerfully addictive drug
than marijuana, having been a chain smoker for most of his life. Yet not
only does he oppose Weld's nomination, but as drug czar in 1990 he
campaigned for the reelection of Helms, Mr. Tobacco, to the Senate.

It's outrageous that tolerance of the medical use of marijuana could bar a
man from serving as ambassador to Mexico especially when his nemesis is a
fanatical advocate for the drug that most clearly threatens the health of
the world's people.

Helms' position gives him veto power over the entire range of U.S. foreign
policy. This is no longer a matter of one man's vile buffoonery, but
represents a dangerous degradation of the nation's politics.