Who is the United States Drug Czar?
In looking through my referral logs today, I realized that an unusual number of people today were googling the phrase "Who is the United States Drug Czar?" And they're coming to my site looking for this information. Perhaps it's an assignment for a class? Well, I thought I'd help out.
Who is the United States Drug Czar? John P. Walters, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). He received his training working with a former drug czar turned gambler, William Bennett (they also wrote a book together, sort of a fantasy novel called "Body Count.")
What is a czar?
We turn to the dictionary:
czar: A male monarch or emperor, especially one of the emperors who ruled Russia until the revolution of 1917.
Hmmm... let's look further...
czar: autocrat
autocrat: a ruler having unlimited power; despot
despot: a person who wields power oppressively; a tyrant.
tyrant: an oppressive, harsh, arbitrary person
What is a drug czar?
A harsh and oppressive person, who arbitrarily wields power to determine what Americans must believe about some drugs.
So what does he do? It is his job to spend taxpayer money to tell pot smokers that they are terrorists. It is his job to ignore science and distort facts. It is his job to campaign against local elections. It is his job to threaten Canada for considering enlightened laws. It is his job to justify a failed government policy.
He has some assistants called Component Deputy Directors.
Andrea Barthwell, MD, Deputy Director of Demand Reduction. She helps the drug czar ignore medical science, so that sick and dying people who depend on medical marijuana can die quicker and in greater pain. Extra credit: Go to this website and send Andrea a fax! It's fun and free!
Scott Burns, Deputy Director of the Office of State and Local Affairs. He gathers together distortions, exaggerations, and false information and sends it out to local prosecutors and district attorneys. So his job is to make sure that local officials are spreading lies.
Barry Crane, Deputy Director for Supply Reduction. He goes to other countries and tells them that they, too, should bow down to the Drug Czar, and that they should also believe what the czar tells them to believe. Barry makes sure that foreign countries pass laws that the czar likes.
Now, you can go to the ONDCP site to get more information, but if you'd just like to put the short answer in your homework assignment, here it is:
John P. Walters is the United States Drug Czar, also known as the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He is the government's minister of drug policy disinformation, insuring that historical experience and scientific data do not interfere with the propagation of government policies on select drugs.
Update (9/20/04): Andrea Barthwell resigned to go run for Senate in her home state of Illinois, but the state republican committee selected Maryland's Alan Keyes, instead. Barry Crane retired. There are acting deputies in their place (Addison "Tad" Davis IV, and Len Wolfson) as of this date.
8:10:30 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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