OBAMA DROPS 'WAR ON DRUGS' RHETORIC FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGES

The Obama administration signalled today that it was ready to
repudiate the prohibition and "war on drugs" approach of previous
presidents, and steer policy towards prevention and "harm reduction"
strategies favoured by Europe.

David Johnson, an assistant secretary of state, said the new
administration would embrace policies supporting federally funded
needle exchanges. The aim, he said, was to establish a policy based
on public health needs. "This will result in a policy that is broader
and stronger than the one we had in the past," Johnson said on the
sidelines of a UN drug strategy conference in Vienna.

His words come days after the nomination of the Seattle police chief,
Gil Kerlikowske, to the post of director of the Office of National
Drug Control Policy, the nation's drug czar. Kerlikowske has built a
reputation in Seattle for pursuing drug policies based on harm
reduction. The state has an established needle exchange programme,
has legalised marijuana for medicinal purposes and has made marijuana
among the lowest priorities for law enforcement.

In a further sign of a new approach in Washington, congressional
committee hearings last week heard lawmakers argue for a shift in
national drug policy, largely in response to the rising drug-related
violence seeping into the US from Mexico.

Those hearings followed a report by the former presidents of Mexico,
Colombia and Brazil, which dubbed the war on drugs a "complete
failure". Ernesto Zedillo, Cesar Gaviria and Henrique Cardoso, all
conservative politicians, blamed the US emphasis on criminalisation
for the continuing toll caused by drug trafficking, and called for an
approach based on public health, including the legalisation of marijuana.

Johnson said the latest shift came as a result of a direct
instruction from the new administration. "There was very much an
official directive from Washington," he told Reuters. "There was no
confusion whatsoever. The [switch on] needle exchange was the clear
signal of that."

Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drugs Policy Alliance,
which lobbies for alternatives to the war on drugs, welcomed the change.

"These statements really indicate a significant shift," he said.
"It's not just a repudiation of the Bush administration, it's a
repudiation of the Clinton administration. This signals a new
direction in US drug policy. This is about all the leading scientists
and all the public health people pushing in the same direction and
Obama saying he's putting science above politics."

In a statement last week announcing the nomination of the new drug
czar, Obama said: "With escalating violence along our Southwest
border and far too many suffering from addiction here at home, never
has it been more important to have a national drug control strategy
guided by sound principles of public safety and public health."

Kerlikowske faces bruising confirmation hearings in the Senate. After
his name was floated for the position, it emerged his stepson has
been arrested several times on drug-related charges. Kerlikowske
alluded to this at the announcement of his nomination. "Our nation's
drug problem is one of human suffering," he said, "and as a police
officer, but also in my own family, I have experienced the effects
that drugs can have on our youth, our families and our communities."