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AIDS advocates are concerned by rumors that retiring Minnesota Rep. Jim Ramstad might be tapped as president-elect Barack Obama’s “drug czar” as head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Ramstad, a moderate Republican in recovery for alcoholism addiction, has been praised on both sides of the aisle for championing the bill providing equal insurance coverage for addictions and other mental illnesses.

But Ramstad worries advocates because of his votes against syringe exchange and other sensible harm reduction such as reducing sentencing for crack use and opposition to medical marijuana.

To urge the Obama transition team to take Ramstad off the drug czar short list shoot them a message or call the transition office at 202-540-3000. After instructions, press “2” to speak with staff. Then, just follow the script below: “Hi, my name is _________. I want to let my new president and his transition team know that Rep. Ramstad would be a poor choice to head the ONDCP and Obama needs to nominate someone with a commitment to syringe exchange and harm reduction.”

That’s not change, it’s more of the same

Some of Ramstad’s positions on drug-related issues are to the right (and the wrong) of Obama’s campaign pledges. Change.gov states “Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated” and also reiterates the campaign promise to lift the federal ban on needle exchange (though this pledge is inappropriately placed in the “Support of the LGBT Community Section”).

“How come other communities get great progressive people and this is who we get?” said Harm Reduction Coalition Executive Director Allan Clear. “There’s a well-entrenched bureaucracy at the ONDCP that is committed to viewing the agency as a law enforcement body, and we need someone who will reverse that trend. If the Obama camp wants to show bipartisanship by getting a Republican, they should put him somewhere else.”

But sources say we shouldn’t freak out yet, since the Ramstad buzz didn’t come from Obama’s camp, and it’s likely that a Ramstad ally—fingers point to Rep. Patrick Kennedy—floated Ramstad’s name to Politico.com. And if the Obama camp cares at all what harm reductionists think, Ramstad won’t get much further.

The Drug Policy Alliance is sending a letter to Obama’s transition team urging Obama to nominate a drug czar with “with a public health background, who is committed to reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and other infectious diseases, open to systematic drug policy reform, and able to show strong leadership on the issues you believe in.”

“It was Clinton’s drug czar who killed syringe exchange in 1997,” Clear said. “He could say, ‘We want more evidence of this, we want more evidence of that,’ and before you know it, it’s two years later and nothing’s done.”

AIDS Action Political Director Bill McColl said that Ramstad should not be drug czar, but that he’d be “fine with” Ramstad being appointed to the head the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Jim Ramstad’s great talent is as spokesperson of alcohol and drug recovery,” McColl said. “He would be well-suited on a position that focuses on drug recovery.”

Housing Works President and CEO Charles King, however, vehemently disagreed. “We have been somewhat successful even with the Bush administration to see the need for a ‘treatment readiness’ model that anticipates and is non-punitive toward continued use. SAMSHA is a place we want to see funding needle programs, as part of an integrated harm reduction approach. Frankly, I don’t see where Ramstad has any place whatsoever in the Obama Administration.”

Who should be drug czar?

Harm reduction advocates have ideas about who Obama should appoint to head the ONDCP:

Rocky Anderson: The former mayor of Salt Lake City has been one of the few public officials who has pulled the plug on the politically popular but horribly ineffectual Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. In 2000 Anderson told DARE officials, “I think your organization has been an absolute fraud on the people of this country. For you to continue taking precious drug-prevention dollars when we have such a serious and, in some instances, growing addiction problem is unconscionable.”

Tom McClellan: The Director of the Treatment Research Institute has a public health background, and although unlikely to make radical decisions, is more likely to let science guide policy.

Barbara Roberts: The former Oregon governor supported the “Death With Dignity Act” which allows people with terminal conditions to receive euthanasia from their doctors, and is a strong supporter of medical marijuana.

Curt Schmoke: The former mayor of Baltimore has long been a critic of the War on Drugs, writing in the National Review in 1996, “I have long advocated that the war on drugs be fought as a public-health war. This is sometimes called medicalization, or regulated distribution. Under this alternative to the war on drugs, the government would set up a regulatory regime to pull addicts into the public-health system.”