What is it good for?
Absolutely nothin'...
Apologies to Edwin Starr for ripping off his lyrics... I posted concerning the wasteful War on Drugs a few days ago. This multi-billion dollar prohibition--over $45 billion in state and federal expenditures thus far in 2008 alone--is a failure, and has never effectively addressed issues ranging from disease and addiction related to hard drugs to the benefits of medical marijuana.
Maia Szalavitz is a journalist and recovering junkie. She offers a decidedly mixed review on President-elect Obama's reported drug czar pick Jim Ramstad on today's HuffPo:
On paper, Jim Ramstad -- who is rumored to be Obama's choice for drug czar -- looks like the ideal man for the job . He's a recovering alcoholic himself and a Congressman who championed legislation recently passed to provide equal insurance coverage for addictions and other mental illnesses.
To top it off, he's a Republican, giving Obama what looks like a relatively harmless way to make his cabinet more bipartisan. Choosing Ramstad would appear to make a powerful statement about addiction as a medical, not a moral issue.
Unfortunately, Ramstad may be a drug warrior in recovering person's clothing.
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