Two Videos, Two Questions, Too Stupid Answers
Drug czar John Walters isn’t really a free-exchange-of-ideas kind of public servant, so MPP’s Aaron Houston and I took the opportunity to ask him a couple questions last week at his press conference announcing the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
In Walters’ mind it’s bad that kids perceive marijuana as less harmful than methamphetamine, his disreputable anti-marijuana ads work like a charm, and the latest statistics prove that the only way to reduce drug use is by prohibiting marijuana. Oh, but great news – nobody goes to jail for marijuana, and we don’t arrest 800,000 Americans for marijuana each year.
Watch how he dodged our questions. First Aaron’s …
… and then mine:
Note to the next drug czar, if we must have one: You can do way better than this. The bar is set pretty low.
Tagged with: drug czar and drug war and drug warriors and junk science and MPP by the author
13 comments
So he’s saying we shouldn’t get arrested for possession?
If you get the chance to talk to him again
http://www.nyclu.org/node/1736
The NYPD arrested and jailed nearly 400,000 people for possessing small amounts of marijuana between 1997 and 2007, a tenfold increase in marijuana arrests over the previous decade and a figure marked by startling racial and gender disparities, according to a report released Tuesday at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
That’s in N.Y. alone
What a moron. If you want to talk about “unicorns”, show me the group that is pushing for free and open use of marijuana for children and “I’ll buy you a steak dinner”… We want laws reformed so that responsible ADULTS can enjoy MJ in the privacy of their own homes without fear of being a criminal. I believe it is very much so illegal for a minor to be in possession of alcohol right? If someone of age buys alcohol for some teenagers it’s still a crime right? Amazingly (well, not really) ask any teenager and they will confirm that its much easier to get pot than it is to get a case of beer. The drug czar will be the dinosaur and lucky if it takes a whole 5 years…
Sorry, but unless you’re in a position to rebut the “answers” from Mr. Walters you are at a disadvantage. He was able to take your questions, wander off in a skewed direction of his choice, and completely denude the gist of your questions. Your inability to point out that he was evading answering your question means he won this sorry excuse for a ‘debate’. And obviously he was on his turf and preaching to the choir in the room. I realize the DEA and the ONDCP are unwilling to debate marijuana prohibition on neutral ground. But asking questions on their turf without proper follow-up or the chance for rebuttal is lose-lose — no matter how stupid their answers.
An interesting figure to have would be the nationwide numbers on non-violent possession arrests. Do you have the data for that sort of analysis?
I think an interesting rebuttal to some of his statements would be, “So what about people who are in jail for second time non-violent possession offenses? Third time? How many times does an otherwise law-abiding adult have to do something that endangers no one before they get put in jail?”
There’s the argument that creating a market for marijuana fuels the violent crime to supply it, but it begs the question of why the much larger market for alcohol doesn’t drive an increase in violent crime, and the only apparent difference is that marijuana is illegal.
You might also look into creating (or publicizing if they’ve already been done) drug-related violent crime statistics for countries that either cracked down on or decriminalized drugs. Surely there is a correlation there. Most people will not deal in the criminal market if they can avoid it since they have no desire to forgo the safety that law-abiding society provides. These markets can only exist if there is a larger societal pressure to force people to use them.
Posted over on Daily Kos.
Keep up the good work!
I was arrested with .90grams in my car!! Let me check for my horn. Hey I am a unicorn. You can see me in my new movie, Mr. Unicorn Goes to Washington.
wow! i have never witnessed anything more infuriating. this guy must be high when he was answering the questions, because i am 16 years old, and honestly, i conducted surveys in my school and only 7% of the people I polled said they agreed with the policies and 32% stated that they know that they are being lied to by asses like this and the only reason they tried pot is because they wanted to find out for themselves what was so terrible about it. TRUTH should be spoken to children and adults alike, because without it, we live in a hollow existence as mere pawns of the government’s mind-washing propaganda
oh, and i am friends of 7 adults that have been arrested of miniscule possession charges and spent weeks and months in jail, so i guess that means Mount Juliet is flooded with fucking unicorns.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.-abraham lincoln
89% of people are not in htere for violent crimes.more like 25% are in for violent crimes.the rest are in because of drugs.then when they do get busted,in most cases they have to click up with a gang.now they are drug using bangers.and these people love that the jails are packed.brings more money for them.prison is americas biggest cash crops.
So, John, you say we don’t arrest 800,000 people for marijuana use?
Are you saying that the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report is presenting false information?
walters is saying that there is no first time pot possesion arrestee doing time – post conviction – and he’s probably on safe groung there. Unfortunately (for us – not pigs like him) most people arrested for first time pot possesion do the majority of their time prior to being ajudicated on the charge.
anyhow I’m sure alot of people would prefer jail (as horrible as it is) to the devastating collateral consequences that often follow a pot arrest and/or conviction!
I found a unicorn mien drug czar! A man paralyzed from age four doing something that made him feel better and you hypocrites killed the poor young man. When you die you will be haunted by the souls of men like this one.
Can you find one? The drug czar said anyone jailed for possession was a unicorn and did not exist?
Help end the War On US (drugs)
Twenty-seven-year-old Jonathan Magbie died while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession in a Washington, D.C., jail. Magbie, a quadriplegic since age 4, used his chin to operate a motorized wheelchair and required a ventilator to help him breathe. The jail could not provide the medical help he needed, and by the time he was taken to a hospital, he was dead. Magbie was a first-time offender who told the judge that marijuana made him feel better and that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with using it.
Cherokee Fred Hussein
Fighting this war daily please help THEY LIE WE FIGHT!
hood1@hoodstuff .com
Can you find one?
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