Drug Enforcement - Going After The Drugs Or The Money?

Political Realities ^ | 08/09/13 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

It should be a secret to no one who is paying attention. Drug interdiction is a big thing in American law enforcement. We have discussed if the war on drugs in America has been a good thing before on Political Realities. The opinions on the subject vary widely. Common sense tells me that the majority of the drugs agencies like the DEA are trying to stop are bad medicine for anyone who uses them. Even marijuana has negative side effects, but then, so does Marlboro cigarettes. Of course, there are two big differences between the two. First, one is legal and the other is not. Second, the money involved in illegal drugs is vastly greater than what is tied up in cigarettes. I contend that the money is what the DEA is really after and I can say that with some assiduity.

Going back to what is secret and what is not, if you are surprised at the amount of money swirling around in our economy that is tied to illegal drugs, then you haven't been paying attention. The local law enforcement where I live used to spend much of their time on Interstate 40 and trust me, they were not checking for speeders. Yes, they had their radar guns working and I am sure they gave their share of tickets to speeders, but they were really looking for illegal drugs and the money that goes along with them. Countless times, the local newspaper would feature a story about a drug arrest that occurred on Interstate 40. Much of the time, those arrests involved large sums of cash, which was what the police were really looking for. It is my belief that they are much less concerned about the drugs and were much more interested in the money. That money usually found its way into their coffers, ostensibly to fund better equipment to arrest more drug traffickers.

Local law enforcement agencies are not the only ones looking for the money. The Drug Enforcement Agency goes after drug traffickers with the full weight and might of the federal government watching their back. I started this post with the intention of writing about the Special Operations Division of the DEA that has become public. Amidst the spying scandals coming out of the Obama administration, it has become known that several government agencies, including the SOD, IRS, NSA, and CIA, have all been sharing information that is gleaned out of the information being gathered by the NSA. An IRS handbook has been found that details how the other agencies can use the information as evidence, but hide its existence from the people they arrest. They are instructed on how to recreate the evidence trail so it does not reveal the real source of the information. Hat tip to Huffington Post.

Instead of focusing on the SOD, I found myself thinking more and more about how law enforcement agencies are using the war on drugs to fund their operations. I can not divulge how I know this, but I am aware of more than a few instances where the federal government has seized countless items from individuals who have been under investigation for suspected illegal drug activity. These agencies include the DEA and the FBI. I'm not saying the drug activity shouldn't be stopped, but the focus seems to be more on seizing anything of value that could have been purchased with money from the sale of illegal drugs.

The seizure of these items is a big business for these agencies. The items include all manner of cars, trucks, motorhomes, ATVs, jet skis, etc. Anything of value is taken and stored for sale at a later date. Again, this is supposed to be in the name of stopping illegal drugs. I contend it has much less to do with the drugs and much more to do with the amount of money that can be procured from the sale of the seized items. I am not privy to how the cases turn out, but suffice it to say, very few of the items are eventually returned to their owners. The vast majority of them, probably 95%, are sold at auction and the money is divided up between the federal agencies that were involved in the original case.

The floor is open for debate and discussion. Is drug enforcement about the drugs or about the money? You be the judge.

[noprogs]

It’s for the money. If the government was concerned about your safety, the interstate would segregate cars from semi trucks.

[The Working Man]

It’s about the money, they have to destroy the drugs after the trial. The money however keeps them financed, so to them the money and the civil forfeitures are the bread & butter of the WOD.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

All about the money and total control over the populace.

[Mouton]

Of course it is the money. Consider why places are setting up stop light cameras and setting back the yellows to minimum standards.

Anyone catch Judge Napalatano’s commentary last night about how the DEA using NSA gathered info and passing it on with instructions to not name where the info came from to agents could threaten every conviction which was garnered upon investigations begun with that info. Something about lying in court! We have come a long way from that bum Gorrelec’s wall between the fbi and cia to now where info gathered under national security is used for criminal investigatory leads which have virtually nothing to do with national security. Soon it will be used for skip tracing too I fear and perhaps over stated parking meter violations when the supreme federal government wishes to begin putting its thumbs down on the civilian serfs.

[Ken522]

In the old days they used to call this “booty,” but the use of such an arcane word exposes the actual rationale for this ‘war on drugs.’

[Vendome]

Cha Ching !!!

Avarice is an ugly disease.

[varyouga]

2 years ago I spoke to a customs agent that said they intercept far more cash than drugs. There are just as many if not more cash dogs than drug dogs.

Not surprising considering that many drugs are worth more than their weight in money. I'm sure they also intercept plenty of cash that isn't drug money and take a piece for themselves.

The WOD is a farce to keep the tons (literally) of money rolling in for connected bootleggers and cops. You can't outlaw a product that can be made in anyone’s bedroom and sold for more than gold. People risk the death penalty for that kind of money.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I think it’s for both reasons, but not because of what you would typically imagine.

Someone once imagined a conversation between the head of the CIA, and president Richard Nixon, who started the “War on Drugs”.

It suggested that while governments cannot stop the drug production or smuggling, if left unchecked, the money and weapons involved could create chaos, even civil wars, around the world. So therefore, the best thing the US could do is to in effect “take over” the drug trade, as an invisible manager, diverting or destroying the guns, and laundering the money with the idea of squandering it, so it would not create economic problems.

Doing so would permit “market demand” quantities of drugs to flow, but in far less harmful ways.

However, even at the end dealer level, drugs were so profitable that domestic dealers would become a major pain in their own right, so the WoD had to have the RICO Act, to strip such dealers of their wealth before they could make mischief with it.

But in the long run, the solutions became worse than the problem. So we finally are starting to realize that we need some other means to end “Nixon’s Long War”, if for no other reason than it is too expensive a stalemate.