Presidential Determination on the Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia

whitehouse.gov ^ | July 17, 2020 | President Donald J Trump

[ransomnote]

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

 

SUBJECT:       Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction
Assistance to the Government of Colombia

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 1012 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2291-4), I hereby certify, with respect to Colombia, that:  (1) interdiction of aircraft reasonably suspected to be primarily engaged in illicit drug trafficking in that country’s airspace is necessary, because of the extraordinary threat posed by illicit drug trafficking to the national security of that country; and (2) Colombia has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction, which includes effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft.

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register and to notify the Congress of this determination.

 

DONALD J. TRUMP

The White House

[Getready]

I hope we are monitoring and interdicting all other paths they will now divert their “poisons” to. It would be nice to treat those entrepreneurs like terrorists. As in ...hello....talk...goodbye...

[monkeyshine]

I think drug use is abominable.
But the war on drugs has been an abject failure - just like the “wars” on poverty, illiteracy, homelessness etc have been. Just a cow for the political class to milk.
If there was no “war on drugs” we would not have synthetic drugs like Meth and Fentanyl killing thousands of people every month. It will only get worse.
20+ years on this site, I know I am in the minority opinion. But the WOD has been an absolute disaster just by looking at the results.
We need a better way.

[wattojawa]

We should focus on the Gangs and the Dealers, rather than going after people for mere possession.

[monkeyshine]

Yes, I agree (pending further details). It’s totally FUBAR.
Here in CA, we recently passed a law that makes possession for personal use of drugs a misdemeanor. Potentially $1000 fine and 1 year in prison maximum, but reality is nothing happens. Might as well be a traffic citation. We even have “drug courts” that deal with almost nothing other than possession charges.

[monkeyshine]

PS: The cops have plenty of very serious issues to deal with. Going after street level nonsense is just a waste of resources. If someone has an addiction or other psychological self-destruction issues that is simply not a matter that the police are trained or qualified to handle.

[Lurker]

I’ve been saying the same thing since I joined back in 1998.

L

[monkeyshine]

Yes you have. I’ve seen plenty of your posts.
I’m sure you know we are in the minority of opinion on this site.

[Lurker]

“I’m sure you know we are in the minority of opinion on this site.”

Doesn’t mean we are wrong. If then thousand people say a foolish thing it is still a foolish thing.

L

[monkeyshine]

Indeed. Since you mentioned it, when I was a child I asked my step-father if ten thousand people said Chock Full of Nuts was the best coffee in the world... well you know where I’m headed...

[NobleFree]

I’m sure you know we are in the minority of opinion on this site.

As measured by volume, definitely. Number of FReepers, not so sure.