The New Czar in Town
Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 12:39 pm | By: Justice
So you think Gill is all about the decrim? Think that because of his son he’s gonna get his steel backbone back after having to sell out to those liberals in Seattle? Well read this article and get some insight on this most important position that will have the most impact on the Marijuana Community.
If Kerlikowske’s record is any indication, he is just the man to clean up this mess. From a personal standpoint, he has experience with the issue: A son from a previous marriage has a history of arrests, some of them drug-related. (This could lead to some awkward questions at his confirmation hearing.) Professionally, his record of lowering crime rates gives him instant credibility. Speaking approvingly of Kerlikowske, Barry McCaffrey, drug czar under Bill Clinton and a retired general, told Fox News: “If you really want to understand the drug issue, go talk to any police officer with more than five years on the force.”
Yet Kerlikowske is no get-tough-on-drugs zealot. When asked to help design a new police station as police chief in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Kerlikowske recommended making room for a library instead of a jail. He has long been a proponent of community policing, which he defines as “problem solving, decision making … and the utilizing and leveraging of the community.” And as police chief in Seattle, he instructed his officers to stand by during the annual HempFest, while thousands of civil disobedients smoked pot in the streets.
Gill is a committed prohibitionist, but he’s pragmatic not dogmatic. He’s shown respect for the legalization movement by enforcing the laws that are handed to him and not ignoring them to fit his own ideology. In order to succeed legalization needs an opportunity to work and Gill may just be the man to respect the law enough to give it that chance. We just have to do the hard work needed to seize the moment given to us.
Topics: Chief Gil Kerlikowske, Drug Czar, ONDCP
