Jeff Sessions Hearts Michele Leonhart

[RainDog]

And proves they're both part of the problem.

The hearing into the confirmation of (currently Acting Director) Michele Leonhart as head of the DEA is underway.

Leonhart is a holdover from the Bush administration who does not support medical marijuana laws for the citizens of 15 states and DC that have voted to make medical marijuana available to people with debilitating illnesses. She has been the Acting Director for 3 years now.

Working for the DEA can be very profitable, as a 2003 report from the DrugWarRant noted. Leonhart had a long and (at least for him) profitable relationship with serial perjurer Andrew Chambers - a man who made more than 2 million dollars while lying under oath to obtain drug convictions for the DEA. He was found guilty of perjury in 1993 in California - a ruling with which a St. Louis court agreed in 1995. When the St. Louis Dispatch investigated Chambers, Leonhart was quoted as saying,

“The only criticism (of Chambers) I’ve ever heard is what defense attorneys will characterize as perjury or a lie on the stand.”

Of course, that was enough to get a president impeached, but why should the DEA let that stand in the way of a little "justice?" It's sort of like that WMD lie from Bush - who cares if the evidence is there or not - you want something... what's a little perjury among friends?

A report at StopTheDrugWar.com has this to say:

Her time in St. Louis coincided with a perjuring informant scandal, her time in Los Angeles coincided with the beginning of the federal war against California's medical marijuana law, and as acting administrator, she blocked researchers from being able to grow their own marijuana for medical research, effectively blocking the research. As head of the DEA last year, Leonhart (or her staff) spent more than $123,000 of taxpayer money to charter a private plane for a trip to Colombia, rather than using one of the 106 airplanes the DEA already owned.

We already waste 88 BILLION tax dollars on the failed war on drugs. What's another $123,000? Is this what we, as American citizens, want from the DEA -- when 70% of American citizens have supported medical marijuana for more than a decade? I don't think so.

Oh, but Jeff Sessions? He thinks she's great.

From The Daily Caller:

“I’m a big fan of the DEA,” said Sessions, before asking Leonhart point blank if she would fight medical marijuana legalization.

“...You’re absolutely correct the social costs from drug abuse, especially from marijuana,” Leonhart said.“

Really? Is it any wonder that Leonhart was such a big fan of the liar, Chambers, when she can "dissemble" and ignore statistics that demonstrate the value of harm reduction and decriminalization policies in Portugal?

While Sessions and Leonhart agreed on the precedent failures of drug legalization policies in places such as Alaska, drug policy analysts do not.

“None of the nightmare scenarios touted by preenactment decriminalization opponents — from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for ‘drug tourists’ — has occurred,” read a 2009 white paper that the Cato Institute released eight years after Portugal decriminalized illegal drugs.

The report on the value of decriminalization done last year is available in a link below, for anyone who cares to read it. Here's one thing the report has to say:

“Although postdecriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug-related pathologies — such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage — have decreased dramatically,” the study found. “Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens — enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization.”

Law Enforcement Officers Against Prohibition aren't as fond of Leonhart as Jeff Sessions. (Via STDW)

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) was more than disappointed by the nomination. "This nomination is disconcerting, to say the least," said LEAP media relations director Tom Angell. "It's hard to see how giving the DEA directorship to someone who went out of her way to block medical marijuana research aligns with President Obama's pledge to set policies based on science and facts."

Democratic Senator Herb Kohl isn't too fond of her either. Via The Daily caller:

Democratic Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin calmly lit into Leonhart, an alumna of the Bush administration, for regulations adopted during her tenure that prohibit nursing home employees from dispensing prescription pain medication to chronic pain sufferers in their care.

Due to a change in policy under Leonhart, said Kohl, “nursing homes unable to administer pain medication to residents in a timely manner. The time that it takes for a nursing home to comply with the DEA’s new enforcement policy can be an eternity to an elderly patient who is in agonizing pain.”

I guess she's worried about all those seniors who might not sit around in unnecessary pain - wouldn't want to have a nation that now supports torture indicating they're soft on nursing home citizens' pain.

Sessions doesn't have a problem with that war, either (I wonder if Sessions has ever met a war he didn't like - especially when he doesn't have to fight it), in fact, he attacked Kagan's judicial nomination by noting she, rather than the lies that led to that war, were a problem for our troops. You can read about it below, at Crooks and Liars.

Some doctors were not too happy with the DEA attacks on their profession in relation to pain management for patients. The DEA seems to think they, rather than trained physicians, should be able to diagnose proper treatment.

That's an under-reported part of the war on drugs that escalated during the Bush years, but you can read a little about it via The Village Voice - along with numerous links about this subject at this one: http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-11-04/news/the-dea-s-war-on-pain-doctors/1/

Some of those on the front lines of the war against over-zealous drug warriors are trying to remain hopeful and look for ways Leonhart can be brought into the 21st century - and in line with President Obama's stated objective to focus on harm reduction - tho the President also maintains the anachronistic federal policy regarding marijuana scheduling/medical use. Saving tax payer money by calling a truce in the failed drug war, however, doesn't seem to be on the federal radar. Especially when social security is sitting there allowing dead beat seniors to obtain pain medication via medicare... those bums.

Via STDW:

Eric Sterling, director of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. "I don't know that they should argue she should be blocked, but that her role in these matters needs to be examined. That's a politically smarter way for us to approach her nomination."

"To the extent that she has a reputation on the street that she promoted or used a perjuring informant, that is a terrible signal within the agency -- if that is really the case," Sterling continued. "I think it is extremely important that the Judiciary Committee inquire into this before they vote on her nomination. I can only hope that the Obama administration has vetted her more scrupulously than some of their earlier nominees whose tax problems were either undiscovered or ignored. This is a much more sensitive position, and both good judgment regarding truth telling and punishing those who violate that trust by tolerating perjury are essential features of this job."

But Sterling also hopes it is possible that Leonhart will step back from the Bush-era arrests of Tommy Chong and the raids on medical marijuana facilities - he notes that careerists are not going to choose to buck the system that has promoted them. Interestingly, this observation was the same one that Sy Hersh made when he discussed the failure of career officers to stand up to the lies of the Bush administration that resulted in the failed decisions to invade and occupy Iraq. Those generals who did tell the truth were removed from their positions.

...And this is why we continue to support failed policies in the drug war, as well - those in positions to reduce the harm have no incentive to do so when wars, whether they're wars against cannabis or against non-existent WMD, are so profitable and careerism takes precedence over truth and ethics - no matter the harm these policies do to the people of a nation, including this one.

-----

DrugWarRant: http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/dea-bad-girl-michele-leonhart/
StopTheDrugWar.com: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/jan/29/feature_obama_nominates_drug_war
The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/18/michele-leonhart-one-step-closer-to-officially-heading-up-the-dea/#ixzz15siuCAWm
Crooks and Liars: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/jeff-sessions-hysterical-attacks-elena
Cato Institute Portuguese Decriminalization Report: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080

[Archae]

1. Quote sounds familiar...

“...You’re absolutely correct the social costs from drug abuse, especially from marijuana,” Leonhart said.“

Sounds exactly like one of Harry Anslinger's comments.

[RainDog]

4. It's sad to see how entrenched the lies are in our society

Especially considering all the issues we face with sustainability and cannabis hemp's value to our society as a sustainable permaculture crop - aside from the issue of prohibition.

Sometimes it makes me think about Jared Diamond's opening to Collapse when he asked what, if anything, those on Easter Island thought as they cut down the last tree.

A society that makes such stupid decisions seems like a self-destructive society, to me.

[Hawkeye-X]

2. Senate should reject Ms. leonhart

and nominate someone who's pro-MMJ.

It'll be legal sooner or later!

Hawkeye-X

[RainDog]

3. Our federal govt will not nominate or confirm anyone who is pro-mmj

change is going to happen, and has happened, and is happening, from the ground up - and from there, to the state level, and, eventually, the the federal govt - after making people's lives more difficult for as long as they can.

you should read the links, esp. the one to Stop The Drug War.

In other news, California moves to license cannabis growing businesses...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/calif-cities-move-license-industrial-marijuana-growing-operations/

[Bandit]

5. The Senate does not nominate, Obama does

This is the person Obama wants...I am sure Democrats will defend him and his appointee completely even though the person is demonstrably wrong for the job.

[RainDog]

7. Yes, she's being vetted by them.

Some activists have suggested questions to ask to clarify her position to see if she is willing to abide by Obama's stated stance regarding harm reduction and his statement that science, rather than religion, should determine policy. (that's at the Stop the Drug War link.)

of course, we haven't seen that stated position in other areas - such as allowing federal funding of religious groups that claim homosexuality is a "curable" state of being - despite thousands of years of evidence that puts the lie to this.

Sessions' questioning of her indicated she continues to support lies about cannabis' harm to individuals and society.

There is, imo, a synergy between GBLT rights and cannabis prohibition - the AIDS crisis of the 1980s was a HUGE factor in bringing all sorts of people to the cause of medical marijuana as pain relief and end-of-life care for people dying of cancer. People who had never really been part of cannabis culture began to grow mj to provide relief to those who were suffering and dying.

And, just as with so many issues in this nation in the last 40 years, religious conservatives are generally found on the wrong side of history on both issues as well.

[asdjrocky]

6. This is one of Obama's worst and most telling decission.

This is a perfect example of Obama saying one thing and doing another.

[RainDog]

8. Some activists hope she was just "following orders"

in her zealousness during the Bush years...and the Clinton years.

But you don't, generally, go into this profession if you have a "live and let live" attitude toward people in regard to things like prohibition.

The thing is - if we were able to go back in a time machine to the 1920s, we'd be hearing the same sort of b.s. from the same sort of functionaries that we hear now in regard to cannabis. Yet, we see that in that case, just as in this one, the prohibition was worse than the product.

That she and Sessions continue to deny this just undermines anything they say.

Sessions was all dewy-eyed waxing nostalgically on the Reagan era drug war. I guess cannabis activists should also thank Reagan for creating a situation in which botanists created the numerous hybrids that now fuel a multi-million dollar industry across the world. Reagan WAS good for the cannabis business, iow. Prices were much higher...international alliances were forged to bypass the prohibitionists... Northern California established itself as one of the centers of an industry...

That she stood in the way, that she pro-actively denied research capabilities, however, speaks to the Reagan-era mindset too, when he and then Bush Sr. tried to get libraries to DESTROY research that had been done. This smacks of Stalin-era Lysenko stupidity... or biz as usual among those who are willing to deny scientific work as well as affordable and effective medicine to people because of their idiotic ideology.

[asdjrocky]

9. And let's not forget the fact she's the one that put Tommy Chong in jail.

This woman is a zealot of the worst sort and it's good you're keeping an eye on her.

[RainDog]

10. Tommy Chong was an obvious threat to the free world

:eyes:

That DEA operation was, appropriately, called "Operation Pipe Dreams." -- the irony of a "pipe dream" - a hopeless wish that is impossible to achieve - a vain quest for the unattainable - was lost on those who thought up the bright idea of wasting tax payer money by harassing people for selling a product that is ignored in most states... which is why the DEA worked so hard to get Paris Chong to send them supplies to a fake head shop in Pennsylvania, one of two states that actually have laws against paraphernalia.

Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Justice Department...in the middle of its highly self-publicized war on terrorism, found itself with enough time and badges to raid 55 individuals and head-shop businesses under an obscure statute banning the sale of drug paraphernalia.

...Title 21, Section 863(a), of the U.S. Code, which, among other things, makes it a crime “to sell or offer for sale drug paraphernalia” ...was a study in taxidermy collecting dust until 1994, when the Supreme Court, in Posters ’N’ Things v. United States, ruled that head-shop owners did not have to know that their smoking pipes, roach clips and coke spoons were being used for illicit purposes to be prosecuted.

(Just to note... this was during the Clinton administration - an administration that also reacted to California's medical mj law by starting a failed drug war campaign that backfired and resulted in an increase in usage among teens... or maybe that increase in usage had to do with all those labor jobs being imported to Mexico via NAFTA.)

...Ashcroft’s Department of Justice did not find many takers among state law-enforcement agencies as it prepared its ban-the-bong crusade and filed most of the cases in willing Iowa and in western Pennsylvania, whose U.S. attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan, received her appointment from the Bush administration days before 9/11.

(again, most states did not want to waste taxpayer money going after people selling pipes online - but Ashcroft was determined to keep the internet safe from chillums!)

http://www.laweekly.com/2003-12-04/news/chong-family-values/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/arts/16iht-flik17.1986747.html?_r=1

"With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," said Attorney General John Ashcroft the day agents came knocking at the Chongs's door. "This illegal billion-dollar industry will no longer be ignored by law enforcement."

As Gilbert pointedly notes in his film, when Ashcroft resigned in November 2004, he released another statement. This one read, in part, that "the objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." By that time Tommy Chong was out of jail and working again, appearing in a play about pot and making plans to return to the television series "That '70s Show," on which he played - what else? - an old hippie with nice dreams.

pipe dream, indeed.

tho I, for one, feel better knowing that Ashcroft (and Leonhart) were making the world safe from glass pipes. It's a wonder it isn't illegal to sell apples.

:eyes:

But this history does demonstrate that it doesn't matter if someone knows from personal experience (Clinton, Bush, Obama) that cannabis is a relatively safe product - when the govt. over which they preside is such a study in failure for the American people for whom it supposedly exists to serve.

[asdjrocky]

11. You totally rule.

Apples? Lol. I swear I think I'm the only person I know who has never smoked out of an apple.

[RainDog]

12. not me. but this person has...

[asdjrocky]

13. You both rule. nt