Just days before the FBI released statistics indicating that police in 2007 arrested over 872,000 Americans -- the most ever reported in law enforcement history -- for violating pot laws, reigning Drug Czar John Walters alleged on C-Span, "We didn't arrest 800,000 marijuana users. ... That's [a] lie."
(Watch the video of Walters' remarks here.)
The Czar's nose grew another six inches when he uncorked this whopper: "The fact is today, people don't go to jail for the possession of marijuana. Finding somebody in jail or prison for possession of marijuana is like finding a unicorn. It doesn't exist."
(The video can be seen here.)
Question: Why does the Drug Czar feel obligated to go to such absurd lengths to hide the fact that the criminal prohibition of cannabis is responsible for the arrest of hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding Americans every year?
After all, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy typically issue chest-thumping press releases when they achieve record busts for offenses involving cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine? Why then do they shy away from making similar proclamations for pot?
Perhaps it's because, deep down, even the Drug Czar knows that the use of cannabis does not pose anywhere near the health and safety threat as does the use of other intoxicants, including alcohol, and that most Americans -- rightly -- would be outraged to learn that our nation's so-called war on drugs is really just an assault on young adults and minorities caught with small bags of weed.