Pres. Obama's selection of Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to oversee the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy is being hailed by marijuana activists.

"He's likely to be the best drug czar we've seen," says the DPA's Ethan Nadelmann. "At least we know that when we talk about needle exchanges and decriminalizing marijuana arrests, it's not going to be the first time he's heard about them."

Gil KerlikowskeKerlikowske took over for drug-reformer Norm Stamper eight years ago. Though he did not support I-75 - the 2003 voter initiative that made marijuana arrests the lowest priority for SPD officers - Kerlikowske was quick to embrace the new law. He's also favored needle exchange, methadone maintenance and drug courts.

Each summer the Seattle Hempfest attracts more than 100,000 stoners, but there have been few arrests if any despite two days of open marijuana use in a downtown park.

"He has shown a respect for the first ammendment as far as Hempfest is concerned," the event's executive director Vivian McPeak tells CelebStoner. "Police relations, as well as arrest numbers at Hempfest have improved measurably under Kerlikowske. It is generally seen as a real good sign that Seattle's police chief is going to D.C."

Notes writer/activist Dominic Holden in The Stranger:

Hempfest" Pot arrests have plummeted under Kerlikowske’s watch. When he took office in 2000, Seattle police arrested 332 people for misdemeanor marijuana possession; by 2006, the number had dropped to 148. Some of that decline is likely due to Seattle passing Initiative 75. But Kerlikowske didn’t try to block I-75... At Hempfest - where tens of thousands of people smoke pot in unison - SPD sergeant Lou Eagle told a reporter, 'We are not out there to enforce the marijuana laws.' And medical-marijuana patients, who could still be arrested despite the state’s medical-pot law, found Kerlikowske fair."

Fellow activist Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, exclaims, "What a blessing - the karma gods are smiling on the whole country."

Holden adds: "Kerlikowske could be a Drug Czar who pushes to lift the federal ban on funding needle exchange, stops the medical pot raids in California, overhauls our nonsensical anti-drug commercials and enthusiastically seeks funding for drug-treatment programs. The brilliance of Obama’s pick for Drug Czar is not just finding someone who is open to new strategies, but someone who nonetheless holds undeniable qualifications as a cop. Nobody can claim Kerlikowske is a public-health nut who doesn’t know the impact of drugs on the streets. Like many Americans, he agrees that drugs should be illegal. But he understands the place for low priorities and public health - and he's willing to step back where enforcement alone has failed."

Two Seattle City Councilman like the move as well. "He is sort of a logical choice because he's someone who has been a police chief in a very progressive city," says Nick Licata. "He has seen how these approaches worked, and he's allowed them to mature." But Licata also contends, "He's not on a platform arguing for decriminalization of drugs or radical drug reform measures."

Tim Burgess believes Kerlikowske "will bring a reasoned, rational and very articulate voice to our nation's drug policy debate."

What does former police chief Stamper think about his successor taking over as the nation's Drug Czar?

"He coveted the DEA position, which concerns me," Stamper tells Radical Russ on Audio Stash. "I do think he will be more open to conversation about drug-policy reform. For the first time we're starting to see a national dialogue that I hope will get turned into something more substantive."

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