Community Policing Defines Nominee to Lead Drug Office

Since I have never lived in Seattle, I’ll admit to not knowing much about Gil Kerlikowske. So I was surprised to read this..

Ten months after R. Gil Kerlikowske became Seattle’s police chief, two of his officers arrived at the home of JoAnna McKee, where she ran a co-op giving medical marijuana to patients and teaching them to grow their own. Neighbors, the police told her, had been complaining. Soon, a “cease and desist” order was tacked to her door.

But instead of shutting down the Green Cross Patient Co-Op, Kerlikowske’s director of police-community partnerships made a suggestion: Move it from her West Seattle house to a commercial area. She found a nearby storefront, and under Washington state’s medical marijuana law, people could once again bring doctors’ orders to get relief from pain. “The police could have come in here like gangbusters,” McKee said. “But they didn’t. It was a case of let’s see whether we can work this out so everybody could get what they want.”

I can’t think of any other Police Chief (except Norm Stamper who has a blog here on NORML here) who would make such a reasoned approach to such a situation. More telling to us on a national level is how he handled “lowest priority”.

In 2003, Seattle residents placed on the ballot an initiative to make marijuana possession the Police Department’s lowest priority. John P. Walters, the Bush administration’s drug policy director, flew out to lobby aggressively against the initiative. Kerlikowske opposed it, too, but more mildly. The law was needless, he argued, because his officers already deemphasized marijuana arrests. It passed anyway.

“We believe it speaks to the man’s integrity that after it became law, he chose to follow it,” said a statement issued following Kerlikowske’s nomination by the producers of Seattle Hempfest, a two-day “protestival” that bills itself as the world’s largest gathering to support legalizing marijuana. City police are assigned to the event, where people smoke openly, but arrests are rare.

I can now see why many of our Northwest friends were pleased by the pick of Gil for the post.

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Tonight: Interview with Kerlikowske predecessor Norm Stamper on Drug Czar appointment – 4:20pm

Download today’s Daily Audio Stash at 4:20pm Pacific when I discuss the potential appointment of Chief Kerlikowske as Drug Czar with his predecessor, former Seattle Police Chief and current member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Norm Stamper.

(Seattle P-I) Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has accepted a job in the Obama administration, most likely overseeing the nation’s drug policies, according to sources familiar with the chief’s plans.

Kerlikowske, who has led the department for more than eight years, has told the department’s top commanders he expects to leave to take a top federal position, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t officially authorized to disclose the information.

Sources say Kerlikowske is expected to be named head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a Cabinet-level position otherwise known as the drug czar. The office, established in 1988, directs drug-control policy in the U.S. It’s subject to Senate confirmation.

Kerlikowske had also expressed an interest in the top job at the federal Drug Enforcement Administration but apparently has not been tapped for that post, one source said.

Kerlikowske won credit for stabilizing the police department after the stormy departure of Norm Stamper as chief in the wake of the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, as well as the department’s initial failure to unearth a detective’s alleged theft of money at a crime scene. A genial Kerlikowske reached out to citizens. In addition, crime rates dipped during his time as chief, reaching historic lows in recent years.

Kerlikowske lists one of his accomplishments as the development of less-than-lethal force options for officers, equipping dozens of officers with Tasers. He also oversaw the installation of cameras in the department’s patrol cars.

He has been an advocate of gun control and fought to pass the assault-weapons ban and has championed closing the background-check loophole at gun shows.

Kerlikowske’s possible role in shaping drug policy for the Obama administration was applauded Tuesday by local medical-marijuana advocates.

In 2003, Kerlikowske opposed a city ballot measure, approved by voters, to make marijuana possession the lowest law-enforcement priority, saying it would create confusion. But in doing so, he noted that arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use was already not a priority.

“Oh God bless us,” said Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, a medical-marijuana patient-advocacy group. “What a blessing — the karma gods are smiling on the whole country, man.”

McKee said Kerlikowske knows the difference between cracking down on the illegal abuse of drugs and allowing the responsible use of marijuana.

Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney and advocate for medical-marijuana patients, said his first preference would be for a physician to oversee national drug policy.

But Kerlikowske would be a vast improvement over past drug czars, who have used the office to carry out the so-called “war on drugs,” Hiatt said.

Kerlikowske is a “very reasonable guy” who would likely bring more liberal policies to the job, Hiatt said.

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