Kerlikowske to be tapped as drug czar

The Obama administration will name Gil Kerlikowske as the nation’s top
drug enforcement officer Wednesday, according to an administration
official, one month after the Seattle police chief was first floated
for the position.

President Obama’s pick, to be announced Wednesday at the White House by Vice President Biden, signals a new direction in the fight against illegal drugs. The move has more liberal drug-control organizations hopeful the administration will pursue policies that Obama had expressed support for on the campaign trail.

{mosads}”We’re cautiously optimistic because [Kerlikowske] comes from a city that has implemented some really good drug policy reforms,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. “The next drug czar should really implement President Obama’s agenda, which broadly means treating the drug issue as a health issue.”

Piper pointed to decriminalization of marijuana, methadone treatment and needle exchanges, all policies Kerlikowske has had to deal with in the largely liberal West Coast city. “He’s had to deal with all that as chief of police of Seattle, which would probably make him more knowledgeable” than previous nominees, Piper said.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy, which Kerlikowske will head, will lose the Cabinet-level rank designated by the Bush administration, but the Obama administration official reiterated that Kerlikowske will have direct access to the president and vice president.

Police organizations have also voiced support for Kerlikowske, who before moving to Seattle headed Buffalo’s police department. The current president of the Major City Chiefs Association, Kerlikowske will take over an office that, under the Bush administration, did not have the best relations with local law enforcement.

“I have the very highest regard for [Kerlikowske] as a police official,” said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police’s national legislative office in Washington. Pasco called the Bush administration’s drug control policy office a “disaster” and hopes for a new approach.

“We look forward to discussing [Kerlikowske’s] vision of the drug office,” Pasco said. “We want far greater interaction with state and local law enforcement.”

Under the Bush administration, federal authorities interfered repeatedly with the 13 states that have legalized marijuana for medical use, most prominently in California, Oregon and Washington state, creating conflicts with both drug liberalization organizations and local law enforcement.

But as overdose rates rise and an escalating drug war in Mexico threatens border security, Kerlikowske “has his work cut out for him,” Piper said.

Biden has a long history of working on drug issues, and the official said he would work closely with Kerlikowske on a coordinated drug policy.

A bill Biden sponsored in the Senate in the last Congress would have erased the sentencing disparity between offenders who use crack cocaine and those caught with powdered cocaine, a difference advocates of the change say disproportionately punishes black offenders. Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton co-sponsored the measure in Congress.