Aug

12

The Feral Hemp Fraud

Filed Under National, War On Drugs | 2 Comments

The DEA ditch weed scam, part of that national disgrace called the War on Drugs. As a taxpayer wouldn’t you like to know how much it is costing you to have federal agents go around and pick weeds (not weed)? If we are paying for this useless service by coercion you would think they would at least do something really useful for us like pull the dandelions out of our lawns.
Now it seems the DEA no longer even wants you to know how successful they are at wild weed picking.

So Where Did All The Ditchweed Go?
by Paul Armentano

Who among us doesn’t like to brag after a job well done? It’s human nature, right?

I mean, even the DEA enjoys boasting about their so-called “accomplishments.” They even have their own (taxpayer funded) museum.

Given this fact, it’s both curious and notable that the DEA has suddenly ceased publicizing data regarding how many millions of feral hemp plants (aka “ditchweed”) law enforcement eradicate each year.

READ ON

Jul

21

Perhaps you missed the celebration

Filed Under National, War On Drugs | 1 Comment

Nothing succeeds to survive like a failed government agency and its unconstitutional mission. Of course if a government program were ever successful it would issue it’s own death sentence—no more budget, no more pensions, permanent layoffs, shuttered buildings, a public auction of all its assets. Just the thought gives me a warm feeling inside as a taxpayer. Well…back to reality. Another year, another plunder of the economy by a parasitic petty dictatorship.

35 years of drug war failure

By Bill Steigerwald
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 13, 2008

Belated birthday greetings to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The DEA, which 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.

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.

Despite its failures and the harm it’s done to American society, however, the DEA has done more than merely survive. It’s become a typically bloated, self-preserving federal bureaucracy whose power, budget and continuing existence bear no relation to its performance.

READ ON

Apr

29

There’s Nothing Like Success

Filed Under War On Drugs | 2 Comments

In this Associated Press news article, “Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Thursday that the violence in northern Mexico shows the government’s campaign against drug trafficking in his nation is working, but cautioned the United States must play a role in the fight.”

Yep, there’s no better sign of success in the War on Drugs than increased violence and killing. Is this guy for real?

Fox also said “he applauded successor Felipe Calderón’s use of army troops and federal police in drug-ravaged regions and extradition of cartel leaders to the United States.”

Just what we need, Mexico is cleaning out some old gangsters and shipping the leaders to the U.S. to be a burden on U.S. taxpayers while making room for a new crop of gangsters. I read a few weeks ago that Columbian drug lords were filling in the vacuum left by the chaos of the purge and setting up shop in Mexico.

And then Fox said “the United States must do its part to cut back on purchases of illegal drugs, whose profits flow back to Mexican drug gangs.”

Well Vicente that’s all well and good as a political statement but the U.S. has been trying to do that for decades with no success, which was inevitable since prohibition increases the profit incentive to market the prohibited substances.

“It’s a shared responsibility, because the consumption of drugs is here in the United States,” Fox said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Here is where the money is generated to bribe Mexican officials, Mexican policemen and public servants, so we have to work together.”

As long as prohibition exists, there will always be money to bribe Mexican officials, policemen and public servants. I think that’s what they all want, do you really think any of these guys want the gravy train to stop? As we should have learned from the failed U.S. alcohol prohibition period (1920-1933), the last people who wanted prohibition to end were the gangsters and the public officials who were directly or indirectly profiting from the prohibition.

Last year the total number of drug war related deaths in Mexico topped 2000, an increase of over 500 from the previous year. So far 2007 looks like it will be another record year with more that 700 drug war deaths already counted as of this month. There’s nothing that spells success quite like a growing body count, at least for Fox, Calderón and our own drug war crazed U.S. officials.
As the great H.L. Mencken once wrote, “Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent.” As far as government programs go, it’s hard to think of anything more arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent than the War on Drugs.

Feb

11

Tucker Carlson vs. The Drug Warrior

Filed Under National, War On Drugs | 5 Comments

Tucker Carlson proves U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, one of congress’s most avid drug warriors, is a damn fool! It’s a mind boggling display of doubletalk and outright lies. I’ll just summarize the high points in case you can’t watch the video.

President Bush wants to increase spending (what else is new?) on anti-marijuana advertising even though a 5 year GAO study concludes the ads actually increase pot smoking, so Tucker asks why spend more money on a program that is counterproductive?
Souder says “prevention programs are very hard to measure”, but then he says confidently that the anti-drug ads and other prevention measures are effective and marijuana use has dropped. If the results are hard to measure, how does he know marijuana use has dropped? That’s pure doubletalk if you ask me.

From what I’ve seen, the Government Accounting Office is the only department in the federal government that has been anything close to impartial and honest in their studies, but Souder questions the validity of the GAO study. His reasoning is that they have been hijacked by Liberals! LOL! Why is it that anytime someone disagrees with a Conservative agenda, it’s always a Liberal plot? You’ll notice they never blame Libertarians, who are more vocal opponents of the drug war than the Liberals.

Tucker asks why the ads focus on a fairly harmless drug like marijuana, when there are far more dangerous prescription drugs that are abused by young people.
Souder spouts the usual canards that marijuana is the primary gateway drug and addictive. Too make himself sound even more like a fool he says tobacco is the gateway drug to marijuana. LOL!

Tucker’s pièce de résistance is his question to Souder “How many people died from marijuana overdoses last year?” Souder spits and sputters nervously and says “65% of emergency room admissions for drug abuse are marijuana” Huh?
Tucker asks again…”How many have died?” Souter says, “Presumably so, thousands have died.”
Of course in the real world, something Souder knows nothing about, there has never been a case of overdose or death from marijuana.

The real questions are what is Mark Souder smoking and why are men like this given the power of the purse?