Drug Czar Kerlikowske Interviewed in Foreign Policy Magazine

Drug War goes international in a big way.

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy--a.k.a. the Drug Czar--finds himself in a curious position. Kerlikowske can be forgiven for feeling a little like J. Edgar Hoover, when the FBI director found that domestic security at home seemed to require some rather active investigations into Cubans and other Communists abroad. Kerlikowske is now riding a horse he never had much say in buying. The U.S. is in the midst of launching a new international drug strategy consisting of “interlocking plans” in Central and South America aimed at “transnational criminal groups.”

AFP reporter Jordi Zamora wrote that “the strategy will merge a handful of existing programs, including Plan Colombia, which has received more than $6 billion in U.S. aid since it was launched in 2000, and the Merida Initiative for Mexico, for which Congress has appropriated $1.5 billion since 2008.” Kerlikowske said that the global nature of the drug threat “requires a strategic response that is also global in scope.” With various crackdowns and battles over smuggling routes, the drug trade in the region has led to thousands of deaths, and has created “complex and evolving threats” from crime syndicates,” according to Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield.  However, “progress in Central America will only push drug traffickers elsewhere if we do not support strong institutions throughout the hemisphere,” he said.  It seems like the Office of National Drug Control Policy continues to be internationalist in scope.

With all that as background, Foreign Policy magazine spoke with Kerlikowske in search of more detail, and got some--including a strange paean to America’s ability to produce and distribute its own illegal drugs, with no help from Mexico, thank you very much. Kerlikowske seems almost to be bragging. And if he’s right, what are all those border killings about, anyway?

FP: What's your big-picture sense of the drug situation in Latin America?

GK: It used to be fairly easy to categorize countries as production countries, transit countries, or consumer countries. I think those lines have been--if not completely obliterated--generally blurred. The amount of drug use in Mexico is significant. It's also clear from my most recent trip to visit drug treatment centers in Colombia that they're concerned as well. 

FP: U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual was forced to leave his position in Mexico two weeks ago because of comments he made in WikiLeaks cables about the perception that the drug war in Mexico is failing and about pervasive corruption in Mexican law enforcement. Are those concerns you share?

GK: As a police officer, I can say that cynicism just comes with the territory, and it's pretty easy to adapt that kind of attitude to Mexico. I'm not overly optimistic, but I think there has been some progress and we have an administration that's courageously taking on these criminal organizations, who are now involved in so many other kinds of crimes.

FP: It does seem that there have been a number of recent scandals involving U.S.-Mexico drug partnership: the Pascual resignation, the reports of the ATF allowing cross-border gunrunning, the controversial use of drones over Mexican territory. Has that relationship become more difficult lately?

GK: In my two years of dealing with this on a closer level, I'd say these last two months are more strained than during the rest of the time I've been here, but I don't see it as a significant bump in the road or a glitch that's going to stop things.

FP: What do you say to those in Latin America who say that it’s useless to crack down on the drug trade as long as the demand persists from the United States?

GK: For one thing, we've become much better at producing drugs in the United States: hydroponic marijuana with a very high THC content -- public lands produce a lot of marijuana. And we don't get any prescription drugs smuggled in to any great extent--which, right now, are our No. 1 growing drug problem in the United States, and also methamphetamine. We're getting much better at making our own, albeit in small amounts.

FP: How do you respond to the growing number of former Latin American leaders--former Mexican President Vicente Fox, most recently--who have come out in favor of legalization or at least a radical overhaul of the current policy?

GK: Isn't it funny how people who no longer have responsibility for anyone's safety or security suddenly see the light? I think it's not a lot different from what we've heard in recent years in the United States, which is: We've had a war on drugs for 40 years and we don't see success. If we have a kid in high school, they can still get drugs or there's drugs on the street corner. So legalization must be an answer…. Heaven knows, we're not very successful with alcohol. We don't collect much in tax money to cover the costs. We certainly can't keep it out of the hands of teenagers or people who get behind the wheel. Why in heaven’s name do we think that if we legalize marijuana, we'd have a system where we could collect enough tax revenue to cover the increased health-care costs? I haven't seen that grand plan. “

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If You’ve Seen One Drug Czar....

The language of drug politics.

In a May 29 post on his Salon blog, Drug WarRant, Peter Guither deftly deconstructs the language of drug czarism, and its corrosive effect on rational dialog over drug policy:

--So far, there has been little or no discussion of marijuana from the newest drug czar, Obama’s man Gil Kerlikowske, now director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “I've got to admit that it's a nice change from the reefer madness reign of Walters,” Guither writes. “Maybe Kerlikowske is following my mother's age-old advice... If you can't say something nice (and he can't by law), then don't say anything at all.”

--Prescription drugs are “the new crack.” To his credit, Guither worries about this new emphasis, and where it is likely to lead: “The prescription drug "epidemic" will be an excuse to further crack down on diversion, which will end up continuing the focus on pain doctors who prescribe large amounts of pain medication, with DEA agents deciding they know more than doctors. The result will be even more people suffering, unable to get the pain medication that actually makes life possible for thousands of people.”

--Drugs cause crime. As proof, Kerlikowske cites the statistic that half the men arrested in ten major U.S. cities tested positive for some sort of illegal drug, as reported by USA Today. From this data, Kerlikowske concludes that there is “a clear link between drugs and crime.” Guither notes that “There's a lot of reasons that people who have been arrested would tend to test positive for illicit drug use than the general population..... A very large percentage of arrests are for drug crimes, which naturally skews the population. Then there are socio-economic factors and a lot more.”

However, what the new drug czar is implying, writes Guither, is that drugs cause crime. “But implying that drugs cause crime is a lie. And that's what drug czars do.”

Kerlikowske has also come out in favor of greater use of drug courts as an alternative to prison sentences. Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance Network, told USA Today he agreed that drug use should be seen as a public health issue, but that “people shouldn't have to get arrested to get treatment."

Photo Credit: Lifehype Magazine

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Obama Set to Name New Drug Czar

Seattle police chief gets the nod.

Drug reformers, hoping for the appointment of a public health official, expressed initial dismay at the news that President Barack Obama will nominate Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as the nation’s new “drug czar.”

As the president’s evident choice to head up the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Kerlikowske is not known for highlighting drug issues in national law enforcement circles, notes the Drug War Chronicle. “While we’re disappointed that President Obama seems poised to nominate a police chief instead of a major public heath advocate as drug czar,” said Drug Policy Alliance’s Ethan Nadelmann, “we’re cautiously optimistic that Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske will support Obama’s drug policy reform agenda.”

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “He’s likely to be the best drug czar we’ve seen, but that’s not saying much,” Nadelmann said. “At least we know that when talk about needle exchanges and decriminalizing marijuana arrests, it’s not going to be the first time he’s heard about them.”

For those worried about a radical change in the nation’s drug policy, Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata sought to assure citizens that Kerlikowske is “not on a platform arguing for decriminalization of drugs or radical drug reform measures.”

A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) told the Post-Intelligencer: “I would imagine that being a chief law-enforcement officer makes it very difficult for someone to speak out in favor of more progressive drug laws and drug policies.” However, former Seattle Police Chief and drug reform advocate Norm Stamper insisted that Kerlikowske was more inclined to support “research-driven and evidence-based conclusions about public policy.”

In “Advice for the New Drug Czar,” an article for the online edition of The American Prospect, drug policy experts Mark Kleiman of UCLA and Harold Pollack of the University of Chicago laid out their recommendations for Kerlikowske. Here is an example of their thinking:

--“You’ll be told that we have a national strategy resting on three legs: enforcement, prevention, and treatment. Don’t believe it. There is no coherent strategy. Enforcement, prevention and treatment are the names of three quarrelling constituency groups whose pressures you will sometimes need to resist....”

--“There are some real ‘drug wars’ raging: in Afghanistan, in Columbia, and in northern Mexico. Those wars matter terribly to the countries involved, but no outcome of those wars is likely to make the drug situation in the United States noticeably better or worse.”

--“Treatment needs to be more accessible and more accountable. Good news: even lousy treatment has benefits greater than its costs. Bad news: much of the treatment actually delivered is, in fact, pretty lousy. Demand to see results, and insist on rigorous evaluations. Focus resources on effective programs. It’s an outrage to have addicts dying of overdoses while on waiting lists for methadone treatment.”

--“Most primary care providers never perform highly cost-effective screening and brief intervention, because they’re neither trained for it nor paid for it. Many don’t think that dealing with drug abuse is in their job description; it needs to be.”

--“’Drug Czar’ is a silly title.”


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