Great OpEd by Bill Piper in the Seattle Times: Guest: Is it time to get rid of the DEA?
THIS year is the 40th anniversary of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Already plagued by scandals, the agency has recently been revealed to be collaborating with the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on unsuspecting Americans. More than 120 groups from across the political spectrum and around the globe have called on Congress to hold hearings on the DEA.
There is no doubt the agency should be reformed. It is also worth asking if it should continue to exist. […]
Once we finally get a good look under the hood, we will surely find a corroded and ineffective collection of parts that very likely need to go.
I can’t tell you how happy I’d be to see the DEA go away. And how good that would be for this country.
When the foundation of your organization is built on racial bigotry and lies “rotten to the core” takes on a whole new meaning.
Then as a topping on your pile of excrement you choose the most therapeutic plant in nature as your poster child,,what was the IQ limits for the cops that thought this up?
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You can’t fool me with a trick question clay…cops that think, LOL.
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With only 3 episodes left in the series “Breaking Bad” Mr. White was arrested by his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank who finally figured out that Walt is Heisenberg. I guess the writers just couldn’t let the “bad guys” win in the end.
But there is some good news! AMC has announced that they will be producing a spin off called “Better Call Saul” which will be a prequel about Mr. White’s ethically bereft lawyer.
Woah! Spoilers!
…regardless, that seemed like it would be logical end to the show.
The DEA has itself become a corrupt criminal agency that exists on lies and fosters misinformation to help promote a reason for their own continued existence.
On March 22, 1973 the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (the Shafer Commission) suggested “A coherent social policy requires a fundamental alteration of social attitudes toward drug use, and a willingness to embark on new courses when previous actions have failed.” “Looking only at the effects on the individual, there, is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of the natural preparations of cannabis.”
Nixon threw this report in the trash and on July 1, 1973 the Drug Enforcement Administration was established by President Nixon as his answer to the dirty “hippies” and “the Jews” promoting the legalization of marijuana.
Its a good time to realize the terrible mistake that the creation of the DEA really was. Its time to fix that mistake and end the DEA
But like prohibition itself, the DEA has come to seem so necessary and even natural for so many of us who have grown up under its severe tutelage.
There remains, I think, a lingering doubt in the hearts of many Americans whether the firmament could possibly remain in place following such a radical move.
That’s evidence, to me at least, just how good a job has been done channeling–and I mean this literally–the fear of the Devil into drug discourse.
We are indeed up against forces that are refractory to reason. There may be some bends in the road ahead…
This of course will mean that the many DEA agents who were killed in the line of duty trying to destroy plants have died in vain.
Is it time to get rid of the DEA? ecp
The DEA is no longer a drug-control agency.
Now, they are a spy agency that is disguised as a drug-control agency. Basically, they are yet another intelligence agency.
Our Government has over 16 separate intelligence agencies (probably more). After they ran out of bad guys to track and kill, they turned their attentions on We The People.
So the intelligence agencies now believe We The People are the bad guys, apparently.
One day, the pendulum will swing back the other way and those who are employed by the intelligence agencies will suffer. Until then, we are nothing but their prey.
Protect & Serve. (themselves).
It’s not just bad police anymore, it is the entire Government from top to bottom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
People put Wikipedia down, but I find it useful when the articles are backed up with references. This article is and is especially enlightening in reference to our current political situation.
No, those DEA agents aren’t working “in the face of” systemic mismanagement and corruption; they’re a part of it. The drug war isn’t just heavily associated with corruption, it is itself a corruption, both of the legitimate functions of law enforcement and the principles of a free society. And there’s no way to “properly manage” the commission of an atrocity. Are many DEA agents “hardworking everyday people”? Absolutely. But that only makes it all the more tragic, because their work is a crime against humanity, and their “best intentions” are paving a road to hell.
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In 1946ish the human race decided that “just following orders” is not a valid defense. If we’re not going to forgive people who would likely have joined the scapegoats in the gas chamber had they refused to obey those orders there’s no way that there should be any quarter for those who would simply have to look for a new job if they decided to do the right thing.
I’m really sick and tired of the excuses these pundits come up with so they can avoid condemning the rat bastards for aiding and abetting the triumph of evil.
http://prof77.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/seehearspeakandadmitnoevil1.jpg
We have, over the course of the last hundred years or so, become a spineless and insolent country. We have these high ideals, but we compromise them at every turn.
Fun fact: One of my favorite characters in all of fiction is Rorschach, from the graphic novel Watchmen. Although he has killed and employs other questionable methods in pursuit of the truth, he is not willing to compromise that pursuit of truth and/or justice. So, in the end, he offers this take: “Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.” And I have to say, I agree. He may have been a madman in many ways, but he knew who he was and he stuck to his ideals right to the very end.
Isn’t that what a hero is? It is not about success or failure, but about what you can bear and represent. Any man can represent the fall, but to be heroic requires effort. And it requires that you care more about -humanity- than just you.
See also: Orwell’s 1984.
Being an honest, hardworking individual does not necessarily make your work good or just. One of my friends, upon admitting he would be working for the NSA after college, was met with disgust from my group of friends. Is it really that surprising, though? I understand work is hard to come by, but have some morals and/or standards. They couldn’t pay me enough to do that, and I’m actually kind of proud of that. I don’t have a price tag.
Though, odds are, I would never be able to obtain security clearance for a job like that. I have a feeling they know who I am already and must know my intelligence could not serve them — I’m awfully choosy when it comes to assigning loyalty.
I wish more people had morals and standards. Imagine that, if DEA agents started walking out of their jobs upon the realization that they were doing more harm than good, or if NSA agents refused to stand for the illegal wiretapping of most of the world.
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I’d really like to know why the gods of synchronicity have married me to things I mention in this blog. Have I ever before mentioned the damage done to school children by allowing them to participate in the brutality of high school foot ball before? I’m not even sure that I ever even thought about the subject previous to making my recent post. I quit watching football in the early 1990s because of the lack of resolution that is inherent in the sport.
I don’t know, maybe this is just a freak occurrence and is therefore meaningless?
It wouldn’t appear that Mr. Long considers teenage athletes engaging in criminal violence on the field an unheard of occurrence. Nieither has there been any mention of steroids abuse by the perpetrator and no indication of how many police agencies are thinking of offering Mr. Cominsky a scholarship to attend the University of Jack Booted Thugs after he finishes his prison term.
From the article;
“Three presidential administrations — Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — have conducted reviews of whether it would be more efficient and better for public safety to basically do away with the DEA and merge it with the FBI, but Congress has never seriously explored the issue.”
There’s that word again — Congress — where all good reform ideas go to die.
Get the MSM to stop groveling to the Cow. Al Roker’s “DEA”, “Border Wars” and of course “Cops” all suck the Police Dick. Let’s see Balko do a show that spotlights police brutality and with corporate sponsorship, and I also want a pony.
Strike while the iron is hot darkcycle! Hurry up, Frank may come to his senses!
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Does anyone else think it interesting that the word “congress” is a synonym for getting fucked?
Say Frank….I got a pony….you’re gonna LOVE him. He was given to me in a special ceremony by President Barry O’Bushma himself. It’s a SPECIAL pony. And could be worth some big bucks some day….
PLEASE come get this pony? …I want my T.V. and remote control back.
New post up already, but I’m linking this here anyway:
It looks like the Deputy A.G. has publicly admitted what we’ve been saying here for years now: The Federal Government has no standing to overturn the individual States marijuana laws.
http://tinyurl.com/l8jv8gh
Yes. Several times during the hearing. As explicit as you’re going to hear it. (He did seem to think they could find a way to challenge the regulatory frameworks themselves–not their existence and their variance from federal law, but their particulars–if they are found wanting.)
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Do you know how many times I’ve been called an idiot for saying just that? Well neither do I but it’s not a small number. Neither do I think that it’s going to slow down much less stop happening. Believing the truth doesn’t make me an idiot. But the jury is still out on the question that my believing that the truth matters does mark me as one.
Oh well, what are you going to do in a Country which still has Californians gazing at the horizon and expecting the imminent arrival of the Federal cavalry riding in to strike down the now 17 year old Compassionate Use Act? You know about the CUA, that’s the one which the SCOTUS has passed on the opportunity to strike down no less than 4 times. Heck, they didn’t even care when it meant that the poor jack booted thugs were going to have to return medicine which they had illegally seized.
“The LAW is the LAW (blah, blah, blah)” Yeah, right.
And “we don’t make the laws, we just enforce them…”
That was on my mind when I read that LE groups were really angry that they weren’t consulted more by DOJ pre-announcement.
And DOJ kissed their hineys, saying that their great partnership meant they should have consulted them “one more time…”
Oh dc, tsk tsk tsk… They never said they would over turn state law and states can’t enforce fed law by busting buyers clubs. Dispensaries are busted by the IRS commerce clause with nothing to do with state law. Individuals not selling it or with intent to sell it are subject to states. Putting limits only makes it easier for state cops, and impossible to follow fed guidelines growing your own without selling it. But no state can overturn the Raich decision giving the IRS jurisdiction. Any state can write any law including jim Crow back into the law books but that doesn’t mean the feds can’t stop it from being enacted. Holder or Obama might be willing to set aside priorities and not bust people and same with any state law it can’t be forced into noncompliance. States wouldn’t be able to bust Jim Crow segregation but the feds have jurisdiction. Same as Raich gave them over states selling it, not individuals using it unless the state law limits amounts. What is the difficulty in comprehension of this. Everybody is wishing and hoping and crossing their fingers and that ain’t no way to enforce laws. Same with next election we get another waldo or mccaffrey. You think they won’t enforce fed laws? Or over rule states as under the commerce laws? Overturn the CSA and free it in all 50 states and leave prop 215 the fuck alone!
Catch 22²
Patients Out of Time
Incrementalretardation…
What happens when cops write initiatives.
Follow CA or Bust’
Thou Dost Protest Too Much, Methinks
Reforming the DEA is impossible. The agency is corrupt and dysfunctional because U.S. drug laws and drug policies are corrupting and dysfunctional. No replacement agency in name or purpose is going to generate kinder, gentler, drug bigots. We don’t need the DEA to protect us from any of Kevin Sabet’s wicked gummy bears, either.
A more useful agency than the DEA would be one that protects the public from quacks and crusading fanatics who carve out segments of society to exploit, oppress and ultimately destroy, all for personal gain and profit.
The new agency might be called the IEA for ‘Intelligence Enforcement Administration’, and its primary role would be to eliminate stupidity from government. The IEA’s jurisdiction would focus on organized human rights violators that feature bigots, anti-intellectuals, science deniers, authoritarians, book burners, prohibitionists, sadomoralists, torturers, and the like, all within their organizational structures. At the moment, no such government protection is afforded to citizens of the United States. The current problems are critical enough to make such an agency a necessity.
Hhmmm, “Wicked Gummy Bears” = I like the sound of that, its catchy.
Now, If only I had a Band, or a Book or, or well (IDK) anything else remotely appropriate to name that…
I’m gonna have to think about that one. Sounds like the (AFAIK) equally mythical ‘Mickey Mouse Acid’ scares of the early 80’s = when people were allegedly giving away LSD to very young children. Rather than selling it at Bars, Clubs, or anywhere else a person could think of.
Sorta like the “Poisoned Pixie-sticks” thing, it happened – maybe once (iirc).
Seems like there was ONE twisted guy -that poisoned his kid(s) – after divorcing/leaving his wife & the kid(s)?
I DO know (for a fact) that the yearly panics surrounding it fucked up trick-or-treating on Halloween for almost everyone.. for a at least decade or so. My mom probably gets the creeps anytime that it comes up. I was about 5-or so at the time and she worried over-time, for IDK how many years.
Now, I did see Jimmy Hendrix on some blotter back in 98′- or 99? – and saw a few nifty things later that evening, but nobody got hurt… and certainly there was no chance of “poisoning – I almost can’t believe someone there didn’t call b*llsh*t on that in the hearing.
Seems like someone almost did, & Kevy quickly qualified his claim – with a remark like – “some people were severely traumatized… (And went to the hospital because they’re stupid or experienced a “nocebo effect = because of people like Kev needlessly scaring them.
People who, If they’re Oh so worried about “Public Health”, as they claim, They should fraking KNOW BETTER than to lie about stuff like this!
I does make for the Occasionally wonderful gem on Youtube = like the cop that narc’s himself out & his wife to 911.
Possibly ruining his career – which I suppose he deserved, for simultaneously being both stupid AND a hypocrite under-the-influence… of stuff he thinks is bad!
It was razor blades in apples as I recall. And it was a total urban myth. It never happened.
There are a number of urban myths like this. Of course, even if there was a kernel of truth to it…well, the event would hardly be appearing in a widespread sense.
You’ll notice that people are made to be afraid of a variety of things… usually things they don’t have to be afraid of at all. (Statistically, the really bad stuff just isn’t going to happen to you. The inverse of this is with good stuff, like winning the lottery… statistically isn’t going to happen but HEY! it’s possible.)
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” — H.L. Mencken
I got to thinking about it later last night – and I remembered there is a NatGeo Program “Drugs Inc” – IIRC it may have been “Hooked: Hallucinogens” or something?
*Either way* – I do remember watching a college age girl dosing packages of cookies, candies, & whatnot with liquid LSD via a little dropper (presumably it was more accurate than the plain ones -or it was diluted maybe?) to send to friends (& I’d guess some customers – unless she just so happens to have a free supply of fluid LSD) and sending them in the mail across the country.
Now, I could see some overzealous prohiber seeing this and mixing up the drugs – misremembering maybe?
Or I could see someone getting these (or ones like them) and maybe getting caught *tripping balls* by someone – maybe a family member – and lying about what they were on. Then, sometime later maybe even soon after failing a urine test for THC metabolites… And happily going along with “admitting” that it was marijuana they had taken rather than the LSD.
Odds are that’s happened before, or something qute like that – They fail the urine test and ‘admit to’ using the only thing found = aka the long-lingering THC metabolites they smoked at the same time or at some point in the month or two beforehand.
As opposed to something with worse penalties that’s harder to screen for = within the shorter length of time, the LSD (or whatever) left their system… I’d bet you anything this is behind some of the VERY HARD to believe “addiction rates for marijuana” that are reported to the surveys that track use, especially if it’s based on “admitted use”.
Now, IF they really wanted to worry about the more plausibly addictive drugs used they’d stop testing people’s urine for cannabinoid metabolites – although that’s really not in the financial interests of ‘drug-courts’, ‘treatment centers’, and “Big Rehab”.
I’d think people would be more worried about “Big Rehab” pegging you or a loved one – as an “addict”, and trying to keep hold of that leash till the end of time! Soaking money from the people or the government – whoever pays their bills.
“Big Marijuana” doesn’t scare me one bit, Because contrary to what Kev-kev was willing to openly admit in that senate hearing, “marijuana poisoning” isn’t a thing!
YES, it might be a bit disturbing if your kindergartener or maybe your grandparents, somehow ACCIDENTALLY got hold of a whole freakin bag of edibles and eat every last bite. But a day later they’re gonna be fine, and by the second day afterward they should be functioning at 95% = Granted there would have to be “a conversation” to explain exactly WTH happened…
But, beyond that its should be “no harm no foul” — Nobody can find any harm – outside of some initial panic attacks (because someone was stupid or careless) and it ended up that:
Either (1), someone ate something they shouldn’t have.
Or (2), someone left the brownies were (maybe grandpa) or whoever could get to them.
But unless they somehow managed to hurt themselves during their panic attack – there won’t being any harm done.
The lesson always keep your stash and edibles locked up – just like you do with aspirin and/or any other sorts of drugs/medicines, and more likely with FOOD… Someone with a food allergy, or a diabetic eating a plate of (what we’re supposed to be) lets say, “sugar free brownies”, or they were made with some sort of nuts – I’d bet that something any food with peanuts *is most likely* to end up causing a “literally” deadly/dangerous choking-hazard, etc.
Now, as for that green-ish looking stuff in the blueberry muffins = it can’t hurt you. Not, unless you’re really surprised (don’t know its there) AND you’re alone (with nobody to put 2+2 together = figure out what’s going on), & then entertain/’babysit them’ until they fall asleep watching TV – and wake-up hungry a few hours later wondering, “That wasn’t just a weird dream – Uhm, WTH happened?”
But unless I cooked and then somehow managed to forget and leave -said theoretical muffins- out in the kitchen – where anyone could find them, and ask for one or just take one and end up, way more stoned than they ought to be… Everything should be fine and even the “worst-case scenarios” – they simply just aren’t likely to turn out that bad.
Unless, just maybe = they were scared by Kev-Kev into panicking for *essentially*, No damn reason whatsoever!