Gil Kerlikowske

Gil Kerlikowske (b. 1950 ) is the new drug czar in the Obama administration. He was appointed by vice-president Joe Biden in June 2009. He will not have cabinet status.

Kerlikowske ran two small police departments in Florida, then became chief of police in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1994. He became Seattle's police chief in 2000 and brought the city's crime rate to a 40-year low, despite a resurgences in youth and gang violence. Kerlikowske has maintained a national profile, paying special attention to gun control, immigration and electronic data mining of private records.

In 2004 he allowed himself to be shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity in order to demonstrate the nonlethal nature of the taser.

In 2003, a ballot measure in Seattle was proposed that would have directed the police department to consider marijuana possession (for personal use) a low priority. Kerlikowske opposed the ballot initiative, but said such arrests were already a low priority and that his department was focusing its drug arrests on cocaine and heroin traffickers

As drug czar, Kerlikowske will emphasize efforts to combat the drug trade in Mexico and its effects across the Southwest.

Further reading

• Kate Pickert, "Gil Kerlikowske: Obama's New Drug Czar," Time Feb. 13, 2009