Who’s Who in Drug Prohibition

Prohibitionists

Harry Anslinger

The father of drug prohibition, the mother of drug war lies, the fertilizer for reefer madness and essentially the first drug czar. See Drug WarRant’s Why is Marijuana Illegal?

Andrea Barthwell

Andrea Barthwell is a former Deputy Director of the ONDCP. She has been involved in a variety of schemes, including the Illinois Marijuana Lectures, representing Sativex, considering a run for Senate, and much more. See Drug WarRant’s: Andrea Barthwell, Caught Red-Handed and Andrea Barthwell, Snake Oil Salesman and End Needless Death.

William Bennett

The first official “drug czar.” Appointed by George H.W. Bush in 1988. Bennett is a major moralist and was the mentor to John Walters. See Drug WarRant’s coverage of a drug war debate in which Bennett participated.

Peter Bensinger

Former DEA head (1976-1982), who went on to become a drug testing pusher with Robert DuPont, focusing on drug testing in the workplace. He’s President and Chief Executive Officer of Bensinger, DuPont & Associates (BDA), and is a major supporter of the DEA museum exhibits. See him attending the Illinois medical marijuana hearing.

Scott M. Burns

Former Deputy Director of the ONDCP, often called upon to comment on policy and sends out propaganda to local and state law enforcement. See Debunking the ONDCP’s Scott Burns. Burns is now Executive Director of the National District Attorneys Association.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

Califano is Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Both he and the center have a long reputation for playing loose with the facts and making up shocking data for the press. See Drug WarRant’s coverage of this inventor of data here, here, and particularly here.

Lou Dobbs

This CNN pundit has made a recent career out of pushing a hard line on immigration. He has also taken nonsensical positions on the drug war in numerous occasions. See Ethan Straffin Takes on Lou Dobbs and this post.

Robert DuPont

DuPont was the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and was White House Drug Chief from 1973 to 1978. He is co-founder of Bensinger, DuPont & Associates (BDA) — a company that specializes in workplace drug testing. See this post about his claims that marijuana legalization would be like legalizing speeding and drunk driving.

William Randolph Hearst

Hearst was a newspaper publishing tycoon in the early 20th century and the creator of sensationalized “yellow” journalism. He conducted a major racist campaign against marijuana throughout the country in his newspapers. See Why is Marijuana Illegal.

Cliff Kincaid

Kincaid is a right-wing writer and activist who is an editor at Accuracy in Media. See this post and this post.

Michele Leonhart

Acting Director of the DEA — a career agent with questionable ties to a super snitch who regularly lied on the witness stand. See Drug WarRant’s DEA Bad Girl – Michele Leonhart.

Barry McCaffrey

Drug Czar under Clinton. Under his reign, the government negotiated a controversial deal to pay to place anti-drug messages in prime time television shows.

David Murray

This is the guy that the ONDCP trots out whenever they want a “Doctor” to make a “scientific” proclamation in favor of the drug war. See this post

A.M. Rosenthal

Former Managing Editor of the New York Times, known for the wealth of stupidity in his drug war pieces. See Drug WarRant’s A.M. Rosenthal, Drug War Stooge

Mel Sembler

Mel Sembler and his wife Betty founded Straight, Inc., a drug treatment program for youth that used sleep deprivation, starvation, beatings, denial of basic health needs, sexual assault, deprivation of liberty and speech and psychological torture (Straight, Inc. later became Drug Free America Foundation. He was appointed ambassador to Australia by George H.W. Bush and Ambassador to Italy by George W. Bush, and is working for Mitt Romney’s campaign as well as chairing the Scooter Libby Defense fund.

Mark Souder

Republican Congressman Mark Souder represents the 3rd District in Indiana. For many years, he was chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, and used that position to push for harsher drug laws, including authoring the 2006 ONDCP reauthorization act. He was behind the Financial Aid provision that denied students aid based on past drug convictions, and has pushed for the use of bio weapons in the war on drugs. See Mark Souder, sado-moralist.

Karen P. Tandy

Former Head of the DEA who resigned to go to work for Motorola. See Drug WarRant’s Can Congress Get a Clue (Karen Tandy and the DEA) and Radley Balko’s Tandy Steps Down

John Walters

The Drug Czar under George W. Bush. See The Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie, Clowns on C-Span, Treatment Statistics, or The Drug Czar is Lying to You…

Organizations

Partnership for a Drug Free America
Large national organization with over $17 million in assets.

DAMMADD (Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers

Organization run by Steve Steiner, whose son died from Oxycontin, and who is now funded by Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, to campaign against medical marijuana as a grieving dad. Also see this post.