A New Drug Czar

Newly minted drug czar Gil Kerlikowske will bring fresh perspective to the job, including that of a family's personal experience with drug use and incarceration. Kerlikowske alluded to his family's connection to drug laws in his remarks after VP Joe Biden introduced him Wednesday, and we’ve learned more over the interwebs in the days since. Kerlikowske’s stepson has served time in prison for drug possession and other convictions, and is currently in jail without bail for a parole violation.

This experience, while surely trying for Kerlikowske’s stepson and family, could provide the awareness that has been so sorely lacking from the position. There is a great deal of hope, based on Kerlikowske’s record in Seattle and elsewhere and the record of the new president who appointed him, that Kerlikowske could lead us on the very beginning of a path to a new drug policy in the United States.

Compared to George W. Bush’s drug czar, John Walters (who said medical marijuana “makes no more sense than medical crack”), Kerlikowske is a dream pick. Walters was a staunch drug warrior unwilling to examine alternatives to incarceration or a focus on demand and Kerlikowske will undoubtedly bring a more nuanced approach to the challenge. Neither Kerlikowske nor Biden used the phrase “war on drugs” in the press conference. That’s a start.

Kerlikowske’s office won’t have the weight it had under Walters’. In appointing him to the office, President Obama also demoted the position from the cabinet, reversing another Bush policy. This is step forward because we’ll be less focused on the drug war, but also a little worrisome. It means Joe Biden will be taking an active role on drug issues, and he hasn’t been the best friend of harm reduction policies himself. Biden created the drug czar position and has sponsored repressive and destructive policies like the RAVE Act.

Below, a clip from Rachel Maddow’s interview this week with Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project, which helms its own blog right here on change.org. I think Mirken puts Kerlikowske’s appointment in the right perspective when he says he’s optimistic, but “in the best of all possible worlds (the drug czar) should be a public health person.”