Just Say Now Petition Delivery to Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske

By: Jane Hamsher
Source fdlaction.firedoglake.com



This morning I joined with members of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and delivered 52,000 petition signatures to drug czar Gil Kerlikowske on behalf of the Just Say Now campaign.
Daniel Pacheco, a Georgetown University student from Colombia and a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, handed the petition to  Kerlikowske at a press conference held by his office at the National Press Club.  The petition asks President Obama to end the war on drugs and legalize marijuana.
Daniel asked Kerlikowske why he opposed legalizing marijuana, since President Calderon of Mexico has said it could be helpful in fighting the Mexican drug cartels. Kerlikowske said that since marijuana comprised such a small percentage of drug cartel profits, legalizing marijuana would not have any impact on their activity.


“I don’t think that if they lose a small part of their revenue from legalizing marijuana that they’re going to go to work for Coca Cola or Microsoft,” he chuckled.
Daniel cited a statistic mentioned in a report from Kerlikowske’s own office in 2006 (PDF), offered by Kerlikowske’s predecessor John Walters in testimony before Congress, to the effect that “over 60% of Mexican drug cartel profits from the United States are from marijuana.”
Kerlikowski said that those statistics are “old” and no longer valid, but did not offer any other estimates.
Kerlikowske also implied that Calderon was an enthusiastic drug warrior, when in fact he has called for a discussion of legalizing marijuana with President Obama, which Kerlikowske rebuffed as a “non-starter.” Evidently he missed the three days of debate that Calderon hosted on Mexican TV recently to discuss drug policy and the possibility of legalizing marijuana.


The entire event, supposedly a “press conference,” had almost no press and was full of people from Kerlikowske’s office. When Daniel asked if he could approach Kerlikowske and hand him the petition signatures, the staff yelled “no!” (you can hear it at the end of the video).
Afterwards, the HHS press person dragged Aaron Houston, the Executive Director of SSDP, into the hall and told him he looked “nefarious.”
It was great to be there with Daniel, who was superb, and watch him penetrate the bubble that the culture warriors have ensconced themselves in. Daniel is amazingly courageous, having organized a march in Bogota, Colombia against President Uribe’s attempts to roll back the country’s rules allowing personal drug use.
A bunch of aging culture warriors living in a vacuum were no match for Daniel’s conviction and intelligence.  I hope the people who signed the petition can watch the video and take pride that their voices were heard by the White House.


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