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Drug Czar Decries
Arizona Pot Measure
The Associated
Press
P H O E N I X, Oct.
11 —
PHOENIX (AP) The
federal drug czar denounced a measure on Arizona's November ballot
that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana,
calling it a "stupid, insulting con."
John P. Walters
made the statement Wednesday at a town hall meeting, and on Thursday
visited a center for teen drug addicts in Nevada to criticize a
similar measure there.
"We know that
marijuana is the single largest source of dependency," Walters, head
of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told a group of about
150 senior citizens and children Wednesday. "We know that it is
responsible for 20 percent of accidents on the road today.
"How many billions
of dollars in liability is Arizona opening itself up to down the
line?"
If passed,
Arizona's Proposition 203 would decriminalize the possession of up
to two ounces of marijuana for personal use. It would also require
the Department of Public Safety to provide free marijuana to people
with a written recommendation from a physician.
In Nevada on
Thursday, Walters said, "no community is better off with more
drugs." He has said Nevada's Question 9 could make the state a
center for drug tourism.
Billy Rogers, head
of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the main group
supporting the measure, said there's no evidence the initiative's
passage would create more drug addicts.
He pointed out that
the drug czar's own Web site shows the majority of drug addicts in
Nevada were treated last year for an amphetamine addiction.
"I think it's about
time the drug czar was held accountable to the outright falsehoods
he's been putting out there," Rogers said.
Phoenix resident
Carolyn Barker, 60, attended Wednesday's meeting because she was
angered at comments that Walters made on the radio earlier in the
day.
"I had a friend
with cancer and it helped him eat," Barker said. "He got marijuana
illegally and he could have gotten caught."
Walters, who
coordinates federal drug programs and spending, said no scientific
data proves marijuana is effective as medicine.
AP writer Angie
Wagner contributed to this report from Las Vegas.
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