[JTN]

Ping

[redpoll]

The good news is that, in my neighborhood, the number of teenagers who appear to be getting high is declining. The bad news is that practically all of the people my age - middle agers - who get high lie about it to anyone who asks except for congenials they can trust. So I'd say that any figures I see on drug use are actually lower than authorities claim.

[Mark was here]

"The report has several potential implications for continued political support for current drug war spending, which amounts to $40-billion to $50-billion annually. "

Lots of scratch to be divvied up by the LEO types, if a few get killed along the way, well it is a lot of scratch.

This is why the WOD even exists.

[JoeSixPack1]

Cocaine seizures have risen more than 60 percent since 2000, from 117 tons to 196 tons, the GAO found. But beyond that reliable data is scarce.

For example, the GAO found a White House calculation of the amount of cocaine entering the United States in 2004 - 325 metric tons to 675 metric tons - to be too broad to be "useful."

[thoughtomator]

In other words, we get exactly nothing for our billions and billions of tax dollars. Thanks, Drug War.

[Wolfie]

It's still too early to tell what impact the GAO report will have in Congress.

No it's not. It will have no impact whatsoever.

[Know your rights]

Pissing away our money now has bipartisan support.

[robertpaulsen]

"The report has several potential implications for continued political support for current drug war spending, which amounts to $40-billion to $50-billion annually."

The federal ONDCP budget is around $12B. Look it up. Where do they get $50B, and what does that number have to do with the GAO?

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

[Sir Gawain]

"The drug war has fallen flat on its face," said John Carnevale, a former Budget and Planning director in the White House drug czar's office. "They are spending huge amounts of money, and they can't tell you if their program is working."

Sounds like a perfectly functioning goobermint program to me.

[azhenfud]

"U.S. officials have touted a five-year, $6-billion counterdrug effort in the Andean drug-producing countries - principally Colombia, Peru and Bolivia - as responsible for recent official estimates of a large drop in cocaine and heroin production."

A 24ft high linear border barrier topped with razor and based on the US side with razor thirty yards deep would immediately halt Mexico/South/Central America's undocumented pharmaceuticals flow into the US. Plus, it'd give USBP better control of illegal alien entries.

It's estimated Mexico/South/Central America account for 70% of illegal drugs. What fool politician would gamble against the possibility of taking from 50 to 70 percent of drugs off US streets by opposing a wall in lieu of throwing a billion or two more dollars at already failed efforts?

[wolfcreek]

The Gov. should take the money used in the WOD and build that damn wall while, also increasing security at our ports and other points of entry. It seems logical this would put as much a dent in drug and other trafficking as anything.

[tacticalogic]

"They (the drug czar's office) lack credibility unless they can explain such a wide difference," said Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland drug expert who directed Rand's research."

The drug czar's office is not required to be credible, it is required to support current policy.

[rasblue]

One step closer to killing off this crazy drug war.

[elkfersupper]

The war on drugs has progressed to the point that my 80-year-old, blind, crippled-up Father now has to show an ID (and proof of physical address because the ID only has a PO Box on it) in order to purchase over-the-counter nasal decongestant.

I feel so much safer now.

[Xenalyte]

GAO: Data too fuzzy to measure drug war

Well, then, by all means let's keep it up! We can't prove we're succeeding, so let's stay the course and jail thousands of pot smokers and waste millions more taxpayer dollars.

[webstersII]

It's a pretty simple concept. It's called human nature.

This is what happens when you give someone a job and then let them write their own performance review.

The independent study found that they were skewing the data to make it look like they were doing a great job. Duh.