‘Drug Czar’ John Walters, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is a hard-liner who believes we can arrest and spend our way out of the drug problem. He has made comments that disparage treatment and prevention strategies, and is known to strongly favor incarceration of non-violent drug offenders and increased "source control" in Latin America.

He will be in San Francisco to promote the drug wars in Colombia and Mexico, the attacks on medical marijuana patients, and to ‘synchronize federal and state drug policy’. Walters names 3 critiques of federal drug policy: that marijuana has medical value, that black men are imprisoned at a higher rate than others, and that people are imprisoned for simple possession ’the greatest urban myths of our time’.

We will be there to meet him to expose this myth making with a demonstration and press conference of a coalition of those affected & critical by punitive federal policies. The Reverend Cecil Williams intends to debate Walters during his visit, and will join the demonstration and press conference afterwards to report back. Glide has agreed to host the Town Hall Meeting the next day at noon. Other notable speakers have been invited to debunk the ONDCP myth making.

MONDAY

What: Protest against Drug Czar John Walters
Why: The War on Drugs is a War on the People
When: Monday, November 17
Press Conference @ 3:30 pm
Where: Ellis & Taylor, San Francisco, across from Glide Memorial Church

TUESDAY

What: Emergency Town Hall Meeting on Medical Marijuana
Why: Walters has called for a 'national debate on marijuana'. We are ready
and willing
When: Tuesday, November 18
12 noon
Where: Glide Memorial Church, 330 Ellis, Freedom Hall