New Direction, Sez Kerlikowske

The Obama administration’s new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting “a war on drugs,” a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation’s drug issues.

“Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” he said. “We’re not at war with people in this country.”
…
Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports legalization of medical marijuana, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about Mr. Kerlikowske. “The analogy we have is this is like turning around an ocean liner,” he said. “What’s important is the damn thing is beginning to turn.”

Nadelmann nailed it. At least things have started to turn around. According to the WSJ article, the White House has also called for a change in the disparity of severity between crack- and cocaine-related offenses, and has ended federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states that have legalized medical marijuana. That was one of those inanely simple things Obama could do immediately which I was waiting to see happen. Huzzah.