Taking it to the next step?

Phillip Smith suggests a somewhat daring notion:

a direction action protest to surround and shut down DEA headquarters in suburban Arlington, Virginia. …
Isn’t it about time to take concrete action against these latter day buccaneers? My activist friend suggested a national mobilization designed to bring thousands of people to DC to literally shut it down by blockading the entrances of DEA headquarters. Now, of course, such an action wouldn’t actually disrupt the agency’s business for more than a short period of time, but it would disrupt it. I’m for that. Personally, I’m tired of protest actions that don’t actually do anything. …
I, for one, would rather take the fight to their house than have them take the fight to my house.

A picture named dea.jpg

An intriguing idea. Certainly the notion of protesting at the DEA is not new — medical marijuana activists have organized numerous protests at DEA offices around the country, with some success in getting media attention.
The small protest that we organized through this blog at the DEA exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago generated a Washington Post article and a Chicago Tribune feature.
Now imagine that we take all the various interests in the drug war, for whom the DEA represents destruction of American principles — medical marijuana, civil liberties, foreign policy, and more… and bring them together at the DEA headquarters.
The potential benefits

  • Reaching more Americans with the message that drug policy reform is important.
  • Making the media deal with drug policy reformers without laughing.
  • Giving politicians cover to do something.
  • Giving drug policy reformers a morale boost.

What do you think? Is it worth joining together with a bunch of organizations, raising the money and doing it right? Will people come? Not 12 or 20, or 100, but thousands willing to commit civil disobedience?

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