CANADA LEGALIZATION PLOT UNCOVERED; DRUG CZAR NOT SURPRISED

There are softball interviews. And there are cream puff interviews. But
those dismissive descriptions don't convey what happened last week in Detroit.

The Detroit Free Press printed an interview with drug czar John Walters on
Wednesday - see http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1759/a03.html

The answers are bad enough, but the questions expose the limited knowledge
base of the reporter.

Among the probing queries: "What are your thoughts on Canada's efforts to
legalize marijuana?"

Legalize? Hmm, I must have missed that news, and I try to pay attention to
this stuff. Maybe he was talking about the unfortunate decrim plan that has
been kicked about by the Canadian government for more than a year. Instead
of correcting the record, Walters carries on with the pot hype spiel unfazed.

"I've talked to Canadian officials about this. I think we have somewhat
conveyed some of the ignorance we've had in America about marijuana --
calling it the soft drug, the drug that everybody uses. But the increase in
potency and the beginning use at a younger age has contributed to the fact
that 23 percent of Americans we have to treat for dependency or abuse are
teenagers and the vast majority is dependent on marijuana. The biggest
concern we have is not to tell another sovereign country about how to
handle their domestic policy. We're here to share information."

There's a couple funny things here. First, Walters' claim that he's
concerned about telling a sovereign country what to do. Very concerned,
I'm sure.

More startling is this phrase: "I think we have somewhat conveyed some of
the ignorance we've had in America about marijuana..."

It borders on honesty. Of course, the drug czar conveys some of the
ignorance we've had in America about marijuana everywhere he goes, and he
does it again here. I'm surprised to hear him admit it.

But let's give credit where credit is due. He couldn't convey that
ignorance so effectively without his friends in the mainstream press.