Oregon Dem DESTROYS TOP DRUG OFFICIAL Who CAN'T SAY If Weed’s Less Addictive Than Meth

[Segami]

SKATING,.......SKATING,......SKATING.......





In Oregon Democrat literally threw up his hands in frustration Tuesday after failing to get a direct answer to his question about marijuana’s dangers from the deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) asked Michael Botticelli, the drug czar’s chief deputy, to identify the number of marijuana overdoses reported in the previous five years.

“To my knowledge, I don’t know if there have been instances of specific overdose-related deaths,” Botticelli said.




Blumenauer then asked the drug official in a House Oversight Committee hearing to identify whether marijuana was more dangerous and addictive than cocaine or methamphetamines. “I don’t think that anyone would dispute the fact that there’s relative toxicity related to those drugs,” said Botticelli, who reluctantly admitted during the same hearing that marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol. But the lawmaker wasn’t satisfied, asking Botticelli again whether marijuana was more dangerous than the other two illegal drugs. “I think the conversation minimizes the harm,” Botticelli said.




That’s where the conversation turned testy. “I’m not trying to minimize the harm,” Blumenauer said. “I just want to know what’s more dangerous and addictive. You don’t know?” “As a public health person, one of the things that we look at is not the relative risk of one drug against another,” Botticeli said as the lawmakers’ face clouded over. “Let me just say that your equivocation right there, being unable to answer something clearly and definitively when there is unquestioned evidence to the contrary, is why young people don’t believe the propaganda, why they think it’s benign,” Blumenauer said.



He continued.

“If a professional like you can’t answer clearly that meth is more dangerous than marijuana — which every kid on the street knows, which every parent knows — if you can’t answer that, maybe that’s why we’re failing to educate people about the dangers,” the lawmaker said. “I don’t want kids smoking marijuana; I agree with the chairman. But if the deputy director of the office of drug policy can’t answer that question, how do you expect high school kids to take you seriously?”

cont'

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/05/oregon-dem-destroys-top-drug-official-who-cant-say-if-weeds-less-addictive-than-meth/

[liberal_at_heart]

1. If they admitted that they would have to reschedule marijuana, therefore they are not going

to admit it.

[Fred Sanders]

22. Yep. Saying it is not his job to weigh the relative dangers of a drug, when there are Schedules that

do exactly that and put drugs into categories, was the big tell.......they have no rational argument, they hide in the existence of the unjust law. These are not unjust men, just unjust laws that they as law enforcers are beholden to uphold.

[Timez Squarez]

2. Leonhart needs to turn in her resignation and get the hell out of DEA

and find a pro-pot DEA administrator who's all for raiding meth houses....

[Segami]

3. +1

.....And welcome to DU....

[Scuba]

14. + another

[TexasTowelie]

21. Right on point.

Thanks for joining DU.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. We spend $60 Billion dollars a year arresting and incarcerating people for smoking it

it MUST be dangerous!

[truedelphi]

7. We spend all that money, year after year, and all

We have to show for it is this ever expanding police state!

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Cool toys, too

You think those shiny helicopters and armored vehicles pay for themselves, silly taxpayer?

[Glassunion]

10. Those are not attack helicopters, or tanks... Those are "rescue" vehicles.

See... Says so right there on the side of it.


This was in my town a couple of years ago. That thing opened a can of rescue, and brought down a world of rescue on the 1 person that needed to be rescued in a hail of police rescue.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. We're going to rescue you from the rest of that joint, son

Rescue you right off your couch, into the warm safety of a locked interrogation room, where we'll forget about you for 5 days until you drink your own urine to survive.

[RainDog]

9. oooh! new tee shirt!

"My grandparents went to Woodstock
And all I got was this police state."™

[Vattel]

17. sweet!

[Warren DeMontague]

5. You know what is dangerous? Gravy. And trains, they can be dangerous, too.

The combination of gravy + train can be extremely addictive.

[Segami]

6. "..Here’s how Davey explains it:

“..According to public analysis from Bloomberg, the largest holder in Corrections Corporation of America is Vanguard Group Incorporated. Interestingly enough, Vanguard also holds considerable stake in the media giants determining this country’s culture. In fact, Vanguard is the third largest holder in both Viacom and Time Warner. Vanguard is also the third largest holder in the GEO Group, whose correctional, detention and community reentry services boast 101 facilities, approximately 73,000 beds and 18,000 employees. Second nationally only to Corrections Corporation of America, GEO’s facilities are located not only in the United States but in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.

You may be thinking, “Well, Vanguard is only the third largest holder in those media conglomerates, which is no guarantee that they’re calling any shots.” Well, the number-one holder of both Viacom and Time Warner is a company called Blackrock. Blackrock is the second largest holder in Corrections Corporation of America, second only to Vanguard, and the sixth largest holder in the GEO Group.

There are many other startling overlaps in private-prison/mass-media ownership, but two underlying facts become clear very quickly: The people who own the media are the same people who own private prisons, the EXACT same people, and using one to promote the other is (or “would be,” depending on your analysis) very lucrative...”


http://darwinbondgraham.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/who-owns-the-private-prison-corporations/

[blackspade]

30. Oh shit.

That's fucked up.

I really does boil down to "follow the money."

[ellisonz]

12. Excellent

[ohheckyeah]

13. What does kids overdosing

on prescription drugs have to do with marijuana? Legalizing marijuana isn't legalizing it for kids.

He made sure he got that in there - the scare tactics.

[Coyotl]

15. I posted this yesterday after Earl sent a link to the C-SPAN video. Good to see it spreading.

I posted more clips of the hearing:

Congressman Cohen Speaks Out About 'Ludicrous' Federal Marijuana Policies

" target="_blank">Deputy drug czar reluctantly admits marijuana is less deadly than alcohol

[Throd]

16. He's right. I smoked pot as a teenager and now I'm dead.

That was painful to watch.

[rurallib]

18. Botticelli "there have been a fair amount of deaths due to tobacco"

jesus fucking christ what an idiot.

[Vattel]

19. OMG, if I were his boss I would fire him on the spot.

The message he sends is that the public can't handle the truth about marijuana being way less dangerous than meth and coke and cigarettes and alcohol. Us poor saps in the general public will infer that pot is entirely risk-free in any quantity at any age. These people are pathetic. It reminds me of the condescending way Obama has addressed the nation about the war in Afghanistan. God forbid that we should get an honest and serious argument from an elected official about an important issue.

[MindMover]

20. krnt ...

[AAO]

23. I'll take Earl on my team.

[Stevepol]

24. I enjoyed watching the aide sitting behind Bloomenhauer

She's really getting a kick out it I think.

[frylock]

25. should've asked him which tastes better: candy or shit?

[xfundy]

26. What a scared little man.

Afraid of an indigenous plant that apparently contains healing properties for some conditions and is documented to make some other conditions easier to take, whether through relieving stress, inducing appetite, or both.

And as for the hypothetical above, "which tastes better, candy or shit..." the only answer he could give is "which pays more?"

[Phlem]

27. Way to represent Oregon!

-p

[BlueStreak]

28. That dumbass didn't hear a thing the Congressman said

Personally I am not a supporter of marijuana, any more than one is a "supporter of abortion". I believe it is fundamentally wrong to do that to one's brain. Nonetheless, the Congressman makes a solid point that we have made a huge beneficial impact on the tobacco problem without locking anybody up.

When this bureaucrat says that parents can't understand why states are legalizing it, it isn't complicated. Marijuana is a bad habit. it is a poor lifestyle choice. It is an insult to the body. But it shouldn't be a crime any more than smoking a cigarette or having a glass of beer is a crime. And when we continue to imprison people by the millions for this, often with a heavy racial bias, you get a backlash. If this asshole can't understand that, he has no business getting a Federal paycheck.

[blackspade]

29. That last bit from the drug warrior was a bunch of anecdotal bullshit.