CZAR STRUCK: OBAMA'S BRILLIANT PICK FOR DRUG CZAR

Obama choosing Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to become the
next drug czar in Washington, D.C., at first, looks like the same old
beltway logic: cops and prison terms are the snake-oil cure for drug
addictions. Some change, Obama. Right?

Under Clinton's and Bush's drug czars, the United States experienced
the steepest spike drug arrests in its history (contributing to the
fattest swell of anti-drug spending). Drug arrests jumped over 80
percent since 1992. And despite the effort, the White House reports
that drug use has Risen

But Kerlikowske, since he became chief in 2000, has been at the
police department's helm while Seattle made some of the most
aggressive to drug enforcement allowed under federal law. He never
stood in the way. And now Kerlikowske is poised to become the most
influential person in federal government to set new drug laws.

The needle-exchange test: The Obama administration has already
identified this as its most pressing drug issue. Last week, Obama
sent American negotiators to the UN orders to reverse Bush's block on
needle exchange. He wants to allow clean needles-in Europe and in the
US. What's Kerlikowske's record?

"There has been long-standing support in the community as a whole and
from SPD for our continued operation of the needle exchange," says
James Apa, a spokesman for Seattle King County Public Health, which
runs one of first and the nation's largest needle-exchange programs.
Seattle IV drug users have some of the lowest HIV-infection rates in
the country, he says. But acceptance of the controversial program
hasn't been that long standing.

"What we would find is that police would hang around the exchange
site and watch who came and went," says Kris Nyrop, former director
of Street Outreach Services, a pioneering needle exchange group that
operated a table in downtown Seattle in the late 1980s. "Their
presence itself would be somewhat intimidating ... people would see
four police officers halfway down the block and they would turn
around and go home," he says. "Harassment like that happened
routinely up until the mid '90s."

But under Kerlikowske, "It has been a laissez-faire thing and the
police basically leave needle exchanges alone," says Nyrop.

Pot arrests have plummeted under Kerlikowske's watch. When he took
office in 2000, Seattle police arrested 332 people for misdemeanor
marijuana possession; by 2006, the number had dropped to 148. Some of
that decline is likely due to Seattle passing Initiative 75, which
made marijuana enforcement the city's lowest law-enforcement
priority. But Kerlikowske didn't try to block I-75. While City
Attorney Tom Carr joined Bush's Drug Czar John Walters at a press
conference to oppose the measure-and Carr campaigned against the
measure for months-Kerlikoske was mum. And after voters passed the
law in 2003, SPD told a City Council Marijuana Policy Review Panel
that "officers [had] been verbally advised during their roll calls
that investigation and arrest of adults for possession of cannabis
intended for personal use is to be their lowest priority." At
Hempfest-where tens of thousands of people smoke pot in unison-SPD
sergeant Lou Eagle told a reporter, "We are not out there to enforce
the marijuana laws." And medical-marijuana patients, who could still
be arrested despite the state's medical-pot law, found Kerlikowske
fair. Had Kerlikowske chosen, SPD could have maintained or increased
pot arrests. But he didn't.

In striking contrast, Walters's number-one priority was marijuana.
"[N]o drug matches the threat posed by marijuana," his office wrote
in a letter telling federal attorneys to ratchet up prosecutions. And
under Walters, the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal
prosecutors made a point of busting medical pot collectives in
California. But for Kerlikowske, pot was his lowest priority.

Hold on-Obama's not about to legalize pot.

The bigger issue-and safer issue, politically-is replacing
enforcement with public services. On that issue Kerlkowske has
incubated a revolution. Seattle implemented two programs that get
drug users off the street before they get arrested. Most notably, the
Get Off The Streets (GOTS) program hatched in the Central District
when Lieutenant John Hayes (now a captain) set up a table as an
arrest-free area that people with criminal warrants could visit for
health and human services.

"That was, at that time, a very edgy approach, and the chief was
willing to let one of his people staff the program," says City
Council Member Nick Licata, who soon seized on the idea, passing
legislation to fund the project permanently. "It was a stage where
Gil could have stopped it from [getting funding], but he allowed it
go forward," he says.

"He's not saying we should do away with the drug war, but I think he
recognizes that it has not been a success and I think he is open to
other strategies," Licata continues. "That may be due to some of his
experiences here. Seattle may get some credit for exposing him to
real-time experiments, such as I-75, as to what could happen nationally."

And nationally, Kerlikowske could be a drug czar who pushes to lift
the federal ban on funding needle exchange, stops the medical pot
raids in California, overhauls our nonsensical anti-drug commercials,
and enthusiastically seeks funding for drug-treatment programs.

The brilliance of Obama's pick for drug czar is not just finding
someone who is open to new strategies, but someone who nonetheless
holds undeniable qualifications as a cop. Nobody can claim
Kerlikowske is a public-health nut who doesn't know the impact of
drugs on the streets. Like many Americans, he agrees that drugs
should be illegal. But he understands the place for low priorities
and public health-and he's willing to step back where enforcement
alone has failed.