White House Drug Czar Calls for End to 'War on Drugs' | Hacker News Reader

White House Drug Czar Calls for End to 'War on Drugs'

online.wsj.com

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Kerlikowske Says Analogy Is Counterproductive

So much for that. Maybe the title should be "Calls for end to 'War' on Drugs" as a way to emphasize that he's talking about spin, not substance.

federal authorities would no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states where voters have made medical marijuana legal.

Sounds substantive to me.

Kerlikowske presided over some real, substantial reforms in his previous job as Seattle Police Chief. It's not certain that he'll be able to do the same as part of the Obama administration, but at least his past record is good. Our local alternative weekly wrote an ambivalent editorial about this: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/good-luck-and-good-riddan...

This and the "war on terror" are perfect examples of not creating actionable, measurable goals for an initiative. The equivalent of this in business strategy are projects with goals like, "Make the best iPhone App ever" and "Make the company more social".

How do you know when to stop? How do you know when you're done?

I think it's more of a continuum than that: Let's make the best program ever Let's make a great calendar Let's make a calendar that makes it easy to share files Let's make a calendar with ftp

Also, it's interesting that treatment center admissions are in the 200K-300K range for pot (10% of the population uses), cocaine (2% uses) and heroin (.1% uses).

The heroin numbers look a little low, though: the number of stories on Erowid doesn't imply a 20:1 ratio of cokeheads to smack users, especially when you figure that someone coked-up is more likely to write than someone on heroin.

The heroin number appears to be lower because it's a more addictive drug than cocaine. Users are less likely to try to quit.

What's more important to consider is that treatment is not always voluntary. A sentence for a marijuana-related offense frequently requires that the convicted seek treatment and pay for it out-of-pocket. Treatment rates influenced by compulsory attendance cannot be trusted as accurate public health data.

I remain skeptical, but this article sounds like generally positive news.

When it comes to large, slow-moving beaurocracies, baby steps are a good thing. Generally the topics mentioned in the article are good first steps.

We are in desperate need of clear thinking on this topic. Beyond the people cost of incarceration of those who should be in treatment programs, there is the cost to the rest of us of building and operating prisons. In CA we have a billion dollar prison construction bond. A federal judge plans to grab billions from the state to reduce prison overcrowding. The prison guards union is the biggest lobbying/corrupting group in the state.

Perhaps it's more about de-politization than clearer thinking. Sounds like some intelligent moves have been made here, but just for political or financial gain.

I'm hopeful we get more policies that are results-driven, rather than ideology-driven.

And while most of this is just talk so far, I'm encouraged that they're going to begin deferring to State's Rights in at least the case of medical marijuana.

Shouldn't this be on reddit instead? Seems a bit off topic.

From the HN Guidelines:

Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.

This is evidence of an interesting new phenomenon. It's a big shift.

Indeed. The state of inner city life and relations with Latin America are very closely tied to drug policy.

It's a new policy direction. I think the phenomena are familiar.

Most stories about politics, not all.

Smart move. Washington ought to remember that the War of the Laws was the watershed event in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Laws

The Federal Soviet government insisted upon laws that the satellites found unacceptable, and so they broke away. While the US has a stronger social norm of Federal control, the same scenario is possible here as the economy continues to decline.

"States' Rights" is no longer merely the battle cry of bigots. Its a necessary part of holding this nation together.

I wish the graphs of weight seized had been normalized to some sort of dose unit. That I can't do so with my own knowledge shows how far removed I am from the issues.

If you look at the chart, you can kind of see that the percentage of users in the past 12 months decreases with potency and risk of the drug.

marijuana (10%), cocaine (2.3%), meth (0.5%), and heroin (0.1%)

I'm curious though, why more people use Meth than Heroin, but fewer seek treatment. 23x more people have used cocaine as have used heroin, yet the same number seek treatment for marijuana, cocaine and heroin. What is that about I wonder...

Does this mean that I will be able to buy pseudoephedrine at the drug store without having to show my Papers? (I imagine pigs will fly first. When has the government ever repealed a law after noticing that it didn't work?)

The end of prohibition is one obvious example.

The 55 mph speed limit is arguably another.

However, those are the exceptions. IIRC, we still have a mohair subsidy for troop clothing even though we don't use it any more.

True. If i could write constitution 2.0, I'd include a requirement that all legislation come with an expiry date.

I'm curious as to the percentage of Americans that drank alcohol illegally during the prohibition years.

What percentage level is required for legalization to be a politically sound move?

Well, that's high time.

This place has no sense of humor! It's funny, I'll up you.

Take my karma! Laughter must be erradicated forever!

What works here for puns is something that you can deadpan. The "straight" interpretation of a double-entendre has to be enough to potentially fool the average HN reader, but also elicit a double-take.

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