by Mark Silva
The Obama administration has a new drug czar, according to the hometown police force of Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske.
Kerlikowske's appointment as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which ABC News today says it also has confirmed, was first reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, citing an administrator in the department who said the chief had notified his staff of his appointment to the post commonly known as "drug czar.''
Kerlikowske, 59, chief in Seattle since 2000, is president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and a former deputy director for the Justice's Department's COPS program, or the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which provided grants to put more police officers on the streets under President Clinton and was championed by Vice President Joe Biden, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Kerlikowske, a proponent of gun control, also has argued in favor of increased police use of Taser stun guns. And he was part of a panel of researchers who released a report concluding that tracking terrorists through data-mining "is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology development efforts" since false positives will result in the inaccurate flagging of "ordinary, law-abiding citizens and businesses.''
We're betting he's paid his taxes.
(Gil Kerlikowske photo by Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Comments
Find out why more and more cops, judges, and prosecutors who have fought on the front lines of the "war on drugs" are standing up and saying we need to legalize and regulate all drugs to solve our economic, crime, and public health problems: http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com
Posted by: Tom | February 11, 2009 3:54 PM
Oh for GODS SAKE LEGALIZE and TAX the BEAR WHIZ out of everything.
Posted by: and put the cops to work building roads outta porous concrete | February 11, 2009 6:02 PM
If drugs were legalized, you'd take the corruption right out of it. Tax it like liquor and cigarettes. Use the money from the taxes to get people treatment when they want it. Keep the jails full of real criminals not drug addicts.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | February 11, 2009 7:34 PM