Doublespeak

The Drug Czar says he supports medical marijuana research—insert hypocrisy here

By Jasen T. Davis

Steven Cohen is a member of Congress from Tennessee who is a co-sponsor for HR 2306, the Ending Federal Marijuana Act of 2011. In September, he wrote a letter to the Obama administration Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske requesting that the administration reschedule cannabis as a Schedule I prohibited drug and respect state laws in regards to medical marijuana.

Cohen writes, “There is no evidence that marijuana has the same addictive qualities or damaging consequences as cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine, and should not be treated as such.”

In a letter that is unequivocal in its support for legalization, Cohen’s logic is razor sharp. “We should not deny the thousands of Americans who rely on the benefits that marijuana provides.”

Cohen concludes “I strongly recommend that this administration allow states that have chosen to legalize medical marijuana to enact strong regulations without fear of prosecution. We should not interfere with the will of the people to enact these compassionate laws.”

On Monday, Oct. 3, Kerlikowske wrote a response and told the congressional representative that he shouldn’t be concerned because, according to Kerlikowske, “We ardently support research into determining what components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine.”

To read the letter, you’d think the Obama administration wasn’t treating dispensaries throughout California as if they were a Columbian cocaine cartel, especially given the 45-day threat some collectives and dispensaries are currently facing from several aggressive U.S. Attorneys.

He added that, “The federal government is the largest source of funding for research into the potential therapeutic benefits of marijuana, and every valid request for the use of marijuana for research has been approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration.”

Lyle E. Craker, a professor of plant sciences at the University of Massachusetts, has been attempting to legally grow a marijuana plant for scientific study for nearly a decade, but has been repeatedly snubbed by the federal government.

In numerous interviews with newspapers such as The New York Times, Dr. Craker has stated, “All I want to be able to do is grow it so that it can be tested.”

But the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDS) has made it clear that it isn’t very interested in making that happen. In 2010, Shirley Simon, a spokesperson for NIDS, said, “Our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use” and, that “we generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana.”

The National Drug Control Strategy implemented by the White House in 2011 only permits 14 researchers to study cannabis in the United States, half of which work for organizations that are against the legalization of cannabis.

The hypocrisy is obvious, unless the Drug Czar and the NIDS are just saying whatever they want to say, independent of the policy of the Obama administration. What is clear is that members of the medical marijuana community who voted for Obama back in 2008 aren’t getting change. They are getting a message that is at the best, murky and at the worst, duplicitous.

Know Your Enemy

In 1982, United Press International coined the term “Drug Czar” to describe the then-new role of the federal official who would have overall responsibility for the country’s drug policy. Little did UPI know, the term would become a mainstay and last over 30 years. Currently the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy is referred to as the Drug Czar, and since 2009 that role has been bestowed upon Richard Gil Kerlikowske, who assumed office in May.