ATTORNEY GENERAL/CABINET/DHS/TRUMP PEOPLE/JEFF SESSIONS/JOHN KELLY: ” ‘Yeah, marijuana is not a factor in the drug war.’
That’s the blunt assessment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, speaking on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday. It marks an evolution from statements Kelly made last year, when he said the ‘hypocrisy’ of legalizing pot in the U.S. could make efforts to combat drug production overseas more difficult. As Kelly put it last year, Latin American countries could look at U.S. marijuana legalization efforts and say, ‘Why would we do more [to deal with drug cultivation] when you seem to be legalizing this stuff?’
On ‘Meet the Press’ this weekend, however, Kelly explained what he’s concerned about now: ‘It’s three things. Methamphetamine. Almost all produced in Mexico. Heroin. Virtually all produced in Mexico. And cocaine that comes up from further south. Those three drugs result in the death of I think in ’15, I think, of 52,000 people to include opiates. It’s a massive problem. 52,000 Americans dead. You can’t put a price on human misery. The cost to the United States is over $250 billion a year.’…
Kelly’s stance on marijuana is somewhat at odds with remarks by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has repeatedly criticized legalization and linked it to rising violence. Kelly also comes across as more dovish on pot than New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who chairs Trump’s opiate commission. (As a presidential candidate, Christie promised a crackdown on legal weed if he won the White House and characterized pot as ‘poison.’)
Even more striking, given Kelly’s role in the tough-on-crime Trump administration, is his contention that we can’t arrest our way out of the drug problem and should instead focus on limiting demand.”
-Christopher Ingraham, “On drug policy, one Trump administration official stands apart,” The Washington Post online, April 17, 2017 1:35pm