A brand new day
Spring is here. I've got all my stuff moved into the new house and am in the process of organizing. Despite all my whining, this move is SO good for me. And the worm has turned in Congress.
It feels like a brand new day.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n121/a07.html
A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER
Progressive Dennis Kucinich takes over a new House subcommittee, signaling changes in national drug policy.
The Democratic sweep in the 2006 mid-term elections has done more than finally install a woman as speaker of the House. It has also put one of the most vocal critics of the ill-starred "War on Drugs" in a position to affect federal drug policy. On January 18, Ohio Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, one of the most progressive Democratic voices in the House, was appointed as chair of the new House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on domestic policy, causing drug reform organizations coast-to-coast to rejoice in hopes that a moment for significant change may have finally come.
This subcommittee replaces the now-defunct Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources subcommittee, which was headed up by staunch drug warrior, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN). Kucinich will assume many of his oversight duties, including policy oversight of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and appointed Drug Czar John Walters. One commentator on Stopthedrugwar.org crowed that "the responsibility of overseeing the ONDCP has effectively been transferred from Congress's most reckless drug warrior to its most
outspoken drug policy reformer" [his emphasis].
"He is certainly the polar opposite of his predecessor, Mark Souder," says Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. "Since the time the [ONDCP] was created in 1988, there have always been friendly people in that
subcommittee and the ONDCP has always been able to get what they want under the guise of protecting children and saving America from drugs. But Kucinich doesn't believe any of that. Any of it!"
more.....
It feels like a brand new day.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n121/a07.html
A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER
Progressive Dennis Kucinich takes over a new House subcommittee, signaling changes in national drug policy.
The Democratic sweep in the 2006 mid-term elections has done more than finally install a woman as speaker of the House. It has also put one of the most vocal critics of the ill-starred "War on Drugs" in a position to affect federal drug policy. On January 18, Ohio Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, one of the most progressive Democratic voices in the House, was appointed as chair of the new House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on domestic policy, causing drug reform organizations coast-to-coast to rejoice in hopes that a moment for significant change may have finally come.
This subcommittee replaces the now-defunct Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources subcommittee, which was headed up by staunch drug warrior, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN). Kucinich will assume many of his oversight duties, including policy oversight of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and appointed Drug Czar John Walters. One commentator on Stopthedrugwar.org crowed that "the responsibility of overseeing the ONDCP has effectively been transferred from Congress's most reckless drug warrior to its most
outspoken drug policy reformer" [his emphasis].
"He is certainly the polar opposite of his predecessor, Mark Souder," says Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. "Since the time the [ONDCP] was created in 1988, there have always been friendly people in that
subcommittee and the ONDCP has always been able to get what they want under the guise of protecting children and saving America from drugs. But Kucinich doesn't believe any of that. Any of it!"
more.....
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