By a vote of 98 to 1, Senators overwhelmingly confirmed Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R) to head the nation’s $1.5 billion dollar Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton (D) cast the lone dissenting vote, stating that he disagreed with Hutchinson’s “do drugs, do time” philosophy as well as his refusal to support the legalization of medical marijuana.
Senator Hutchinson has “evidenced no understanding of the effect on our criminal justice and our penal system of draconian fixed sentencing for possession of small amounts of drugs,” Dayton said.
As a Congressman, Hutchinson called for tougher penalties for drug users, coerced abstinence for addicts, and increased use of the military in overseas drug interdiction efforts, including “Plan Colombia.” He opposed any use of marijuana as a medicine, even for research purposes, and endorsed legislation in 1999 that forbade Washington, DC from implementing an approved ballot initiative legalizing the drug. He further recommended Congress rewrite federal law to prohibit citizens from approving similar ballot initiatives elsewhere.
The three-time Congressman was a vocal critic of ex-President Bill Clinton’s anti-drug strategies, lambasting the former administration’s efforts to expand drug treatment and “reduce” drug abuse as a “decision to adopt the language of pessimism.”
“Elimination (of drugs and drug use) – not containment – should be our goal,” says Hutchinson. “We cannot win this war … simply by putting money in demand reduction.”
In recent weeks, Hutchinson has described the federal war on drugs as “a great crusade,” and emphasized the need to continue vigorously enforcing criminal laws against drug users. “I am an advocate … of a strong law enforcement presence … in this great battle,” he recently told cops at an anti-drug gathering. “It’s the law enforcement side that … creates this stigma of society on drug use. It sends the signal to our young people that this is not acceptable in our society.”
“Hutchinson is a man addicted to the war on drugs,” charged NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup. “He advocates the continued incarceration of non-violent drug offenders, regardless of the cost in wasted lives and resources.”
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, Executive Director of NORML, at (202) 483-5500.
