Seattle’s Top Cop to be new Drug Czar?

Posted by admin on February 12, 2009 under Crime, Politics, news | Comments are off for this article

The Seattle Post Intelligencer is reporting that Gil Kerlikowske has been tapped as President Obama’s new drug czar.

Kerlikowske has been chief of police in Seattle since 2000, and has reportedly notified senior staff that he’ll be taking the position of director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy upon confirmation. The drug czar is a cabinet level position, and requires Senate confirmation.

Kerlikowske was the former deputy director for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. As such he was involved in doling out funds for community policing to local agencies. Prior to that he served as the police commissioner for Buffalo, New York. He has apprently been successful as a Chief for some time winning the Attorney General’s Crime Prevention Award when he served as the chief of police of Port St. Lucie, FL and again at Fort Pierce, FL.

Drug reform groups are watching Kerlikowske’s nomination with some hope for improved dialog.

“A less confrontational and reefer madness-driven drug czar is really the best case scenario from a drug policy reform perspective.”-StopTheDrugWar.org

Time will tell if Kerlikowske does in fact get the nod, and win Senate approval, but for people seeking a more sane drug policy there appears to be hope. “My gut instinct is that after several drug czars from hell, a guy from Seattle doesn’t sound so bad.” (Source) says one drug reform blogger at least.

Given the bizarre mandate that Congress saddled the drug czar with any efforts at rapprochement will be difficult. The drug czar is is mandated to oppose any efforts at legalization of anything even if it makes sense medically, (e.g., medical marijuana). [Additional Info]

Hopefully Kerlikowske can find some way to bring sanity to an otherwise insane job.