Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Fact Based Drug Policy? - It’s A Myth

After reading a Mother Jones article titled This Is Your War on Drugs, which is subtitled

Since 1998, the drug czar has been mandated to lie to the American people. So what would a fact-based drug policy look like?

the Orwell quote I posted yesterday, in regards to political language, is even more apt.  From the Mother Jones piece.

AMONG OUR LEADERS in Washington, who’s been the biggest liar?...Give up? It’s the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a.k.a. the drug czar, who in 1998 was mandated by Congress to oppose legislation that would legalize, decriminalize, or medicalize marijuana, or redirect anti-trafficking funding into treatment. And the drug czar has also—here’s where the lying comes in—been prohibited from funding research that might give credence to any of the above. These provisions were crafted by Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and pushed for by then-czar Barry McCaffrey, best remembered for being somewhat comically obsessed with the evils of medical marijuana…

I do not agree with the writer’s conclusions, but none-the-less, the piece is an interesting read.

Via Fred Lapides’ GoodShit.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/07 at 06:52 AM
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