Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-02-12

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So you’re fast asleep in the early Pacific Northwest morning when a reporter from the Associated Press on the East Coast calls you to ask about the appointment of your police chief to the position of Drug Czar and whether police have a barbecue at the world’s largest marijuana festival hosted in your city every year.  Such is today in the life of Seattle Hempfest Director Vivian McPeak, as Chief Kerlikowske was named Drug Czar today.  It’s just not right for you East Coasters to wake us Cascadians up at your 8am before we’ve had our IV drip of caffeine.  Have you been to this part of the country in February?  We’re in month three of five months worth of “40 degrees and cloudy with rain likely”!  Viv joins us to talk about the Chief, the relationship of Seattle Police Dept. and Hempfest, the Chief’s response to the I-75 lo-pri initiative, and a look at the newly expanded, “18 and barely legal” Hempfest this summer.

Chris Goldstein is churning out excellent short essays on drug war subjects for public radio exchange at PRX.org.  You can register and download these and many other readers and subjects for your podcast or public radio show.  Today Chris tackles the Boycott Kellogg’s movement and how the only people who might get hurt from Michael Phelps toking a bong are Kellogg’s workers in already economically depressed Battle Creek, Michigan.

(And The Donnas playing kick-ass rock’n'm’f'n’roll!  Urb, you down with The Donnas, or too light for ya?)

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My interview with NORML Advisory Board and LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Advisory Board Member Norm Stamper, who was the police chief prior to Gil Kerlikowske in Seattle, Washington, on Kerlikowske’s rumored selection as President Obama’s next head of the cabinet-level position of director of Office of National Drug Control Policy.

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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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Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-01-12

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Wow, I got the Stash in with one minute to spare!  What do you suppose the chances are of that?  (Uh, zero, since I modified the post date.  But I wouldn’t want to mess up the RSS feed for Tuesday, would I?)

Today’s Stash features a two-part interview with former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper who was kind enough to talk at length about Barack Obama’s lack of response to the Change.gov questions on legalization, and why cops are saying yes to the formerly unthinkable “L”-word.

And now, I go off to bed to make some more platelets.  ’Night!

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