Unfortunately, it’s the name he doesn’t like, not the policy. […]
According to the Journal, “Mr. Kerlikowske’s comments are a signal that the Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate—and likely more controversial—stance on the nation’s drug problems….The Obama administration is likely to deal with drugs as a matter of public health rather than criminal justice alone, with treatment’s role growing relative to incarceration, Mr. Kerlikowske said.”
Where have we heard this before? From Barry McCaffrey, Bill Clinton’s drug czar.
(via Radley Balko).
As always, I recommend you read Balko’s Overkill (available in print or free PDF), his chronicle of how Reagan turned the “War on Drugs” into an actual war by militarizing the police, and how the Clinton administration escalated it.
Unless the Obama administration is planning on de-militarizing the police and/or legalizing drugs, they are not ending the drug war.