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	<title>NORML Blog, Marijuana Law Reform &#187; 000</title>
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	<link>http://blog.norml.org</link>
	<description>Working to reform marijuana laws</description>
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		<title>The Irony And The Idiocy</title>
		<link>http://blog.norml.org/2008/09/16/the-irony-and-the-idiocy/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.norml.org/2008/09/16/the-irony-and-the-idiocy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:42:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[ACTIVISM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LITIGATION]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[000]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Drug Czar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Walters]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! You can now listen to the archived audio of my Sept. 16th appearance on Dr. Drew Pinsky&#8217;s radio show by visiting: westwoodone.com or by clicking here. We discuss the record number of pot arrests for 2007, the presidential candidates&#8217; positions on drug policy, and debate whether Drug Czar John Walters is a &#8220;reasonable&#8221; man. Just days before the FBI released statistics indicating that police in 2007 arrested over 872,000 Americans &#8212; the most ever reported in law enforcement history &#8212; for violating pot laws, reigning Drug Czar (and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.cannabisculture.com/library/images/uploads/4891-Walters_is_Pinocchio.jpg" align="right" height="153" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" /><strong>UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!!</strong></p>
<p><strong>You can now listen to the archived audio of my Sept. 16th appearance on Dr. Drew Pinsky&#8217;s radio show by visiting: westwoodone.com or by clicking <a href="http://www.westwoodone.com/drew">here</a>.  We discuss the record number of pot arrests for 2007, the presidential candidates&#8217; positions on drug policy, and debate whether Drug Czar John Walters is a &#8220;reasonable&#8221; man.</strong></p>
<p>Just days before the FBI released statistics indicating that police in 2007 arrested over <a href="http://blog.norml.org/2008/09/15/872721-marijuana-arrests-in-2007-up-52-from-2006/">872,000 Americans</a> &#8212; the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/98952">most ever reported </a>in law enforcement history &#8212; for violating pot laws, reigning Drug Czar (and pathological <a href="http://blog.norml.org/2008/05/12/how-to-tell-if-the-drug-czar-is-lying-his-lips-are-moving/">liar</a>) John Walters alleged on C-Span, &#8220;We didn&#8217;t arrest 800,000 marijuana users.  &#8230; That&#8217;s [a] lie.&#8221;</p>
<p>(Watch the video of Walters&#8217; remarks <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WNpQQeYELs">here</a>.)</p>
<p>The Czar&#8217;s nose grew another six inches when he uncorked this whopper: &#8220;The fact is today, people don&#8217;t go to jail for the possession of marijuana. Finding somebody in jail or prison for possession of marijuana is like finding a <a href="http://stash.norml.org/2008/09/16/pass-the-stash-find-the-marijuana-unicorns/">unicorn</a>. It doesn&#8217;t exist.&#8221;</p>
<p>(The video can be seen <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fBA_L9B2go">here</a>.)</p>
<p>Question: Why does the Drug Czar feel obligated to go to such absurd lengths to hide the fact that the criminal prohibition of cannabis is responsible for the arrest of hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding Americans every year?</p>
<p>After all, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy typically issue <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/la090508.html">chest-thumping press releases</a> when they achieve record busts for offenses involving cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine? Why then do they shy away from making <a href="http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7071">similar proclamations for pot</a>?</p>
<p>Perhaps it&#8217;s because, deep down, even the Drug Czar knows that the use of cannabis does not pose <a href="http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6415">anywhere near the health and safety threat</a> as does the use of other intoxicants, including alcohol, and that most Americans &#8212; rightly &#8212; would be outraged to learn that our nation&#8217;s so-called war on drugs is really just an assault on <a href="http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6474">young adults</a> caught with small bags of weed.</p>
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