The DEA, which our great moral leader Richard Nixon created in 1973 and charged with the impossible but politically useful mission of winning the "all-out global war on the drug menace," turned 35 on July 1.I guess that depends on what its real mission is. Because if someone wanted to inject a tyranny-enabling cancer of corruption into this country's law enforcement and police state tolerance into its populace, I'd say things have worked out pretty much as planned.
So, how's its track record after 35 years of difficult, often dangerous drug-war-making? If the DEA were a heroin addict, it would have overdosed on its own incompetence by age 6.
[Via Michael G]
Nixon gave Elvis Presley a DEA badge on a visit to the White House. That shows what a mockery it is.
ReplyDeleteThe asset forfeiture laws are one of the methods law enforcement is using to buy its armored personnel carriers. "Meth lab" seems to be routinely put on warrants for searching a home, just because.
When I was in high school in the '70s, the pot users would laugh at the police. It was a game of cat and mouse, and they could always get whatever they wanted. It's the same today, only with much more invasion of privacy for the rest of us. There's no treatment in prison to help people beat their addictions; it's just an excuse to carry battering rams and wear ski masks. My elected officials know how I feel. Do yours?
Not that they'll necessarily care. They need the drug gangs for The Crackdown on individual liberty of the majority of citizens. It worked in Britain.
It is reported that 30 tons of smuggled drugs have been seized from ships in the Gulf of Arabia in five months.
ReplyDeleteThe report says this cuts off funds to terrorist groups.
Q. How much got through?
Q. How much less would it all be worth without drug Prohibition laws?
It obviously is never going away. Neither did bootleg liquor, until the repeal of Prohibition removed the illegal tax-free profit motive.
This reminds me of my comment on a local newspaper's website yesterday (the story concerned a "meth lab" discovery):
ReplyDelete"Prohibition deja vu. Sigh. Outlaw something that people want and are willing to pay for; the price goes up and bad people (and some not-so-bad people) get involved in providing the product. Lessons learned? I guess not."
500 billion PLUS wasted on this farce.
ReplyDeleteWhat was it Dylan sang about?
Everbody must what?!?!...
I think THEY must have.
Now they're running us all down the toilet.
*The DEA, which our great*
ReplyDelete*moral leader Richard Nixon*
*created in 1973*
After reading the original, I am
satisfied that the quoted sentence is meant ironically. All the best, cycjec