WAITING TO INHALE

Drug Czar/Ex-seattleite Gil Kerlikowske's Still A Real Prude When It Comes
To Pot.

Former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske appears to be ever more
out of sync with progressive thinking on drug policy, after the
American Medical Association's recent announcement that it is asking
the federal government to consider legalizing medical marijuana.

Over the past few months, Kerlikowske, now the nation's drug czar, has
repeatedly stated he is opposed to any such thing.

"Using smoked marijuana as a way to administer some type of drug isn't
something that is approved through medicine," Kerlikowske told NPR (by
medicine, he apparently means medical science). He acknowledged that
scientific research is looking at the medicinal uses of cannabis, but
said that conclusive results are needed.

His remarks sounded a note of caution in the aftermath of U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that his office would
de-emphasize medical-marijuana cases.

But don't get carried away, says Kerlikowske. "Attorney General Holder
issued very clear guidelines to U.S. attorneys about the appropriate
use of Federal resources," he notes in a written statement. "He did
not open the door to legalization." Furthermore, at a conference last
month of the International Association of Chiefs of Police,
Kerlikowske cited a Washington Post op-ed by Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition (LEAP), a national pro-legalization group comprising
current and former law-enforcement officials, punctuating his remarks
by saying, "All of us in this room are far too familiar with the lost
promise of a child and the spiraling tragedies resulting from addiction."

Kerlikowske's position puts him at odds with a prominent LEAP
advisory-board member: Norm Stamper, Kerlikowske's predecessor as
Seattle Police Chief. In light of the AMA's announcement, Stamper
asks: "Will our drug czar now find room in his lexicon, or time on his
schedule, for a debate on medicinal cannabis?"

"Better yet," Stamper continues, "let's have Gil sit down with a dying
patient suffering from a wasting disease, facial melanoma, or other
crippling pain. Let him talk with a person whose intolerance of
opioids has made his or her life, what's left of it, a living hell.
Until you've actually listened to the story of ailing people who've
clearly benefited from smoking pot, you can't really appreciate how
maddening and stupid and arrogant it is for our leaders to inform
these patients that they're criminals if they seek relief from a
naturally occurring weed."