The Obama administration has finally released its 2014 National Drug Control Strategy. It “builds on the foundation laid down by the Administration’s previous four Strategies and serves as the Nation’s blueprint for reducing drug use and its consequences.”
The annual Strategy is issued by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, headed by acting “drug czar” Michael Botticelli. The 2014 Strategy “represents a 21st century approach to drug policy” that “outlines innovative policies and programs and recognizes that substance use is not just a criminal justice issue, but also a major public health concern.” The president’s plan to reform drug policy focuses on doing the following:
- Prevent drug use before it ever begins through education
- Expand access to treatment for Americans struggling with addiction[amazon asin=0982369786&template=*lrc ad (right)]
- Reform our criminal justice system to break the cycle of drug use, crime, and incarceration while protecting public safety
- Support Americans in recovery by lifting the stigma associated with those suffering or in recovery from substance use disorders
The 2014 Strategy, like the president’s inaugural 2010 Strategy, seeks the middle ground between “an enforcement-centric ‘war on drugs’ approach to drug policy” that is “counterproductive, inefficient, and costly” and a “drug legalization” policy that “also runs counter to a public health and safety approach to drug policy.”
To implement his latest Strategy, President Obama has requested $25.5 billion in funding for fiscal year 2015.
So, what does Obama’s latest National Drug Control Strategy have to do with his predecessor, George W. Bush?
Everything.[amazon asin=098236976X&template=*lrc ad (right)]
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (H.R.6344), Title II, “The National Drug Control Strategy,” Section 201, “Annual Preparation and Submission of National Drug Control Strategy,” Section 706 of 21 USC 1705 is amended to read:
SEC. 706. DEVELOPMENT, SUBMISSION, IMPLEMENTATION, AND ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY.
(a) Timing, Contents, and Process for Development and Submission of National Drug Control Strategy.–
(1) Timing.–Not later than February 1 of each year, the President shall submit to Congress a National Drug Control Strategy, which shall set forth a comprehensive plan for the year to reduce illicit drug use and the consequences of such illicit drug use in the United States by limiting the availability of, and reducing the demand for, illegal drugs.
Then follows fourteen paragraphs on what should be included in the annual Strategy.[amazon asin=0982369751&template=*lrc ad (right)]
This legislation was introduced in the House by Mark Souder (R-IN) on December 5, 2006, passed in the House by voice vote on December 7, passed in the Senate without amendment by unanimous consent on December 8, presented to President Bush on December 19, and signed into law by the president on December 29.
This means that Obama would not even have a National Drug Control Strategy if it were not for Bush and the Republicans. This legislation was introduced by a Republican, hurriedly passed by a Republican-controlled House and Senate, and signed into law by a Republican president. The same Congress and the same president who gave us the ridiculous Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act that made criminals out of allergy sufferers who tried to buy too much medication like Sudafed and tremendously inconvenienced businesses selling products containing pseudoephedrine (sales limits, sales logbooks, customer ID verification, behind the counter storage).
But that’s not all. The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 amended the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 (passed by a Republican-controlled Congress), which amended the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (passed with overwhelming Republican support and signed into law by a Republican president).
This means that Republicans are enemies of individual liberty, the Constitution, private property, limited government, personal responsibility, and freedom itself. Remember that as we enter another election season. Any [amazon asin=0990463109&template=*lrc ad (right)]Republican who recites the mantra of free enterprise, private property, the Constitution, and limited government while supporting federal drug laws is an enemy of freedom.
Democrats too are enemies of individual liberty, the Constitution, private property, limited government, personal responsibility, and freedom itself. They are just as bad on the drug war as Republicans. Like Republicans (and most conservatives), Democrats (and most liberals) use libertarian rhetoric (in this case, talk about civil liberties) to sucker people into thinking that they actually believe in freedom when they believe in nothing of the kind.
Although Obama’s National Drug Control Strategy aims to de-stigmatize drug addiction, you cannot de-stigmatize an activity that is considered a crime. And although his Strategy aims to focus on drug addiction as a disease, it is police who are tasked with “treating” drug users, not physicians.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy is a giant propaganda machine. With taxpayer dollars, it has paid for anti-drug messages to be incorporated into television programs, campaigned against state and local marijuana ballot measures, prepared prepackaged news stories, put anti-drug messages on YouTube, and conducted the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.
The United States shouldn’t have an Office of National Drug Control Policy or an annual National Drug Control Policy any more than it should have an Office of National Weed Control Policy or an annual National Weed Control Policy.
It is Republicans that we can thank for these things. They are, after all, the enemies of freedom.
