The myth these packets called zombie, scoobydoo, its not fun stuff. You are putting your life at risk. The lives of others at risk and there will be serious consequences for selling and using. Ted, los angeles. Good morning. Caller good morning. Listen. I have a couple of comments. And the one is that in regarding the synthetic drugs, it seems they always have names that cater to young people or children, and there already was laws regarding advertising to children from Cereal Companies and everyone that they seem to get away with this by advertising these products at candy type of products and things like that or incense or whatever. It seems like that law, that should have been taken care of a long time ago. The question to mr. Racine is, in hollywood, here, they have these places called hookah parlors where people smoke these large hookah pipes. And is that synthetic marijuana that they are smoking and calling it hookah or what . It seems to be a legal thing that goes on here. Ill take that answer off the air. Thank you. Youre doing a good job, sir. Caller thank you very much. On the hookah question, there are Tobacco Products that are, of course, legal. And legal for adults to use. I cant speak as to the hookah bars in hollywood. But certainly there are those types of establishments throughout the country. So long as tobaccos are legal products, its appropriate for adults to choose to do that. Youd think the washington, d. C. Ag would be more interested in getting guns off the street than hassling drug users. I think we live in a world where we can do more than one thing at the same time. The District Of Columbia, the mayor, council, police chief, activists are focused on getting guns off the street. Let me make another point. In that regard, d. C. Citizens over generations have clearly expressed their view that reasonable restrictions on gun use makes sense. And, frankly, were defending the right of the District Of Columbia to pass those reasonable restrictions. I can assure the caller that not only are we focused on synthetic drug use but the most important issue, and thats saving lives. Will you address the issue of drug abuse overall in the district, including meth and crack, et cetera. Where would you rank it . Im not sure i have an accurate measure or comparison. The method we have traditionally sought to deal with Substance Abuse is thankfully changing. Law enforcement needs to be active, particularly against those who are selling substances thats are dangerous. In a real way were tilting the model, the focus on treatment. Sue is calling in from illinois. Go ahead with your question or comment for karl racine, attorney general for the city of District Of Columbia. Caller yes, sir. I want to know if cultivating, selling marijuana is not illegal and not paying taxes for it. Is it illegal . In the District Of Columbia, the law permits residents of the District Of Columbia to grow and to use certain amounts of marijuana in their private dwelling. Sue, did you have a followup . Caller i want to know how is it legal to put people in jail for marijuana and or write them a ticket within the same city you are cultivating and growing and selling the marijuana . How is that not a double standard . How is that constitutional . When you put one sector of people in prison for marijuana and you have a white sector of people that get to grow it and cultivate it. Youre an africanamerican. The attorney general of the United States is an afric africanameric africanamerican, and the president. Why do you all let that happen. And it affects your people more than anyone. Let me address that. Youre talking about something that is extraordinarily important. And thats disparity in prosecution and disparity in arrest. And convictions. Part of the reason, one of the main reasons the District Of Columbia went forward with legalizing partner was to eliminate the disparity and prosecutions and arrest of folks using marijuana. It was the case prior to legalization that both black folks and white folks use marijuana at the same level. Nonetheless, africanamericans, people of color, were eight times more likely to be arrested and convicted for marijuanarelated offenses. That disparity because of the legalization of marijuana no longer exists. And so the caller is highlighting a problem that has now been resofld in the District Of Columbia. Is Congress Interested in this issue . Have you worked at all with the Chinese Government that these substances are coming from china . With respect to congress, i think we can, frankly, do more with congress and ask more of congress. As i indicated before, the organization which im a member, the National Association of attorney general, bipartisan, a crew of people, republicans and democrats and independents are all in unison in regards to working against chemical drugs. I do think there needs to be more coordination with congress. Have you approached the Chinese Government at all . I do not have those level of relationships, and im not sure that i can report that theres been that outreach. Karl racine, theres been a case here in d. C. Well publicized of a young student being stabbed to death on the metro. Synthetuc drug remembers s were reported to have been involved. Ive read the reports and it does certainly appear that the young man was clearly under the influence of several drugs, including chemical drugs. Linda, medina, ohio, good morning. Caller good morning. Listen, i dont know anything about synthetic marijuana, but in this neck of the woods, which is the Cleveland Akron area, were having a serious, devastating effects from fentonol or heroin. Its killing people. Every single day i read in though obituaries of people between the ages of like 17 and 40 who are dying from this stuff. But to be honest with you, i genuinely believe it comes back to the economy because these young people have nothing in the future to look forward to. They cant get a job like their dads used to be able to pull us into the auto factories and make a decent living. They can either go into massive amount of debt to go to college and get a degree that chances are good they cant even get a job paying 40,000 a year or work two parttime jobs making a cheesy 9 bucks an hour with no benefits. I feel these kids have a very dim future to look forward to. And i think a lot of it just goes back to the economy. These kids have watched their parents and grandparents struggling now since 05. I dont know about where youre at but here the recession started back in about 07 with bankruptcies and foreclosures and people losing their jobs, way back then. Were making a comeback but its still not where it used to be. I just feel these young people have a dim future to look forward to. Thats linda in medina, ohio. Attorney general racine . I can only add to lindas heartfelt comments there that clearly issues related to education, job training, opportunity, things that get kids and young people and do positive activity certainly contributes to less Substance Abuse. A few minutes left with our guest. Bob in kennesaw, georgia. Youre next, bob. Caller hello. I think the issue is that not only they dont have much to look forward to but putting them in prison for smoking pot for five or so years, they call it criminal university. It makes them into hardened criminals. Chris christie was recently talking about how marijuana indicates a lack of selfcontrol. That guy needs to lay off the doughnuts. Before bob got a little frivolous, he was talking about the criminalization of drugs. Has the war on drugs in your view been successful, been worthwhile . Well, i think the evidence and the data over the last decade or so clearly indicates that the overprosecution, the overpenalization, mandatory sentencing guidelines has been devastating on communities. And im happy the department of justice led by former attorney general boulder quite boldly and courageously have absolutely shifted tactics and approaches. Robert, montross, new york . Caller yes, good morning. I wanted to address the use of recreational marijuana, also medical marijuana. Theres an increase in ul legal grows in states that allow this medical marijuana. Especially in california. And we also see, too, in these dispenseries, it is rather prohibitive for those where its 600,000 to 700,000 and on the street 200,000 an ounce. And if they are caught on the street they say they got it from a dispensary. The chemical compounds that come in and then its processed here in the United States. And we realize this is an immense problem. Also from europe, we talk about ecstasy. They have powers to combat every time they move the molecular structure. Im 73. At 69 years of age, i started doing street work in my community and i was privileged with a facility in mt. Kiss co. They got me 100 scholarship to the council on alcohol and drug dependence. Our children are in trouble. The reason i find for children using drugs is about emotional pain. And i believemedina hit it on the head. Its about the economy. Were tearing at the fabric of our society. What we have to do as a cann country Law Enforcement is extremely important. Our group, were proLaw Enforcement. And what people have to do, when you know theres drug dealing taking place, we report it to the police and let them do what they have to do with the north county jazz force. Lets lieave it there and ge a response. Id touch on one point that robert made. He talked about the regime out there with respect to medical marijuana and concerns that folks were growing illegal marijuana at a high rate. If you look at the california model currently of regulation and compare it to colorado, you would conclude colorados model is far more elaborate and far more effective. And its really that type of learned Regulatory Framework around the issue of legalization where i think the District Of Columbia and other states decided to go legal should move towards. One of the statistics we have shown our viewers is that 60 , and this is from the white house. 60 of emergency room visitors reporting spice use or synthetic drug use are between 12 and 20 years of age. I hate to say it but thats where the marketing of the product in these flashy, colorful packaging clearly playing to young people, scoobydoo, k2, et cetera has been regrettably effective. Thats why its most important, like the caller from california to get involved in the lives of kids and get out there and tell them the truth about these substances. Its not a play thing. You can get hurt and end up hurting people you care about. Kevin, brmingham, alabama. Caller mr. Racine, it seems like you and your team are doing a terrific job getting the message out. How are you and the leadership from the School Superintendent to the mayor and Human Resource dealing with going into your School System and educating kids. It seems we start educating kids about smoking. Do you all have a plan to go into the schools and educate kids about the impact of these drugs . How are you working with your regional partners knowing youre in the nations captain aital a have maryland and virginia surrounding you . Have you seen any evidence of these synthetic drugs in birmingham . Caller every day. Where do you see it . Caller with young kids. Same problem the city is dealing with in d. C. They are having those same problems here. Do you see it in the Convenience Stores as general racine was talking about . Caller gas stations. Thank you, sir. With respect to the gas stations, about a year ago, the National Association of attorney general wrote to exxonmobil and all of the other big oil players who own gas stations and urged them to get these things off the shelf. Quite responsibly, the larger players have done just that. So thats i think thats noteworthy but nonetheless, we need to make sure the medium and smaller players are getting those things off their shelf as well. How many stations or areas where this is being sold have you been able to shut down . Through various means, with the mayors delegated to the police officer, the ability to shut down stores for 96 hours and our own ability to shut down doors for a year, were in the area of probably a dozen stores where weve had significant Law Enforcement. Most of the cases, far more than dozens resolve themselves when we simply inform a seller that those products need to go or else. And so there are any number of cases where informally, if you will, the sellers have eliminated those products from their shelves. What is the impact of putting the traffickers in jail, removed from the streets. How effective . How much is that slowing down crime . Well, i think thats a very difficult question to answer candidly. The point is the folks who are the big dealers and really, really controlling the influx of the drugs into the United States and into these stores, Law Enforcement should come down on them and come down hard on them. The consumers need to be educated and treated. Karl racine is the attorney general for the District Of Columbia. He has been our guest for the last 45 minutes. Thank you. Weve got about 40 minutes left in the washington journal. Weve put some Public Policy issues on the table. There are a lot more out there. Whats a Public Policy issue that you want to talk about . Your top news story of the week. 2027488001 for republicans. 7488000 for democrats. 7488002 for independences. Well begin taking your call and going through newspaper stories. This weekend on newsmakers the president of the National Education association is our guest. Her name is Lily Eskelsen garcia. That airs at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. On sunday. Heres a portion of that interview. Weve got teachers all over the country on the edge of their little seats wondering whats going to happen to no child left untested or originally called the elementary and secondary education act. We loved it when it had a boring name. When Lyndon Johnson signed it in 1965 as part of the war on poverty as part of the civil rights movement. Lets give states some extra reading. And then 2002 happened, and in great bipartisan fanfare, educators all over the country going do you realize youre signing something that says 100 of children will hit a certain score on a standardized test. And they signed it anyway. And thinking that well change it before we get to that fatal year of 2014, which just passed us by, where 100 of kids are supposed to be above average. And now were all in a panic because technically without some little waivers that have been given so we arent labeled unfairly failed schools, were in this horrible, horrible limbo because of some Things Congress did 12 years ago, 13 years ago. As far as the current versions, what stands in this version. How is it changed or different from the original . What we needed out of the house bill and senate bill and were more successful in convincing senators with senator Lamar Alexander and senator patty murray at the lead, we said you have to do something against this one size fits all. Well label our children by a standardized test, and thats all that matters. But we have to replace that with something that does matter. We really do want information. We want better information. Washington journal continues. And that full interview with the president of the National Education association will air this sunday, 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern time. 202 is the area code for this last portion. We want to know what your big story of the week is or what Public Policy issues youd like to talk about. 7488001 for republicans. 7488000 for democrats and 7488002 for independents. Try twitter cspanwj is our witter handle. Saturday down in jackson, mississippi, is the first annual mississippi book festival at the State Capitol there. And jerry nash is the chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Nash, how did this book festival come about . Thank you for having me. We look forward to having cspan be a part of our festival tomorrow. Mississippi is home to just an enormous number of authors and a group of us a couple of years ago decided the state needed a big old festival to celebrate our literary heritage. Thats what were going to do tomorrow. Who are some of the authors at the festival and well talk about cspans coverage as well and book tvs coverage as well. Who are some of the authors you invited and how long in the planning is it . We have 165 authors coming. 103 of them will appear on a range of 22 panels. John gresham will kick off the festivities and we end ith a panel we call the last chapter that will be moderated. And in between those two book ends well have a huge number of authors are talking about a whole variety of subjects and books. Is it mississippi centric . We have tried to promote mississippi authors, and weve tried to promote topics about mississippi, but the more we got started and the excitement that developed, we broadened our offerings, if you will, and we have a variety of regional and some National Authors coming. How many participants or people do you expect to be attending the festival . Oo well, peter, im willing to take as many bets on that as you want to do with me. Weve never had one of these before. This is our first one. So we have no idea the number of people who are going to show up. It could be as lowe as 500 or 1,000 and some of my more optimistic members are predicting 5,000. Luckily youll be there and get to take a bet on this. How did you get