Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


1 posted on 08/28/2006 3:45:16 AM PDT by Wolfie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


To: PaxMacian; WindMinstrel; philman_36; headsonpikes; cryptical; vikzilla; Crotalus72901; Quick1; ...

Your tax dolars at work ping.


2 posted on 08/28/2006 4:05:08 AM PDT by Wolfie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
DONT LEGALIZE IT!!!!


3 posted on 08/28/2006 4:05:36 AM PDT by Vaquero ("An armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
To begin with, I DON'T smoke pot and have no dog in this fight.

Moreover, I am not advocating legalizing any kinds of drugs or decriminalizing them.

However, the following stats speak for themselves as to whether the "War on Drugs" has been effective.

While I don't do drugs, it is apparent that they continue to be plentiful and as I understand, the quantities continue to increase and the street price either is stable or even, has decreased.

Moreover, methinks the DEA Agent(s) doeth protest too much and may have job security in the back of their mind?

While there are many good conscientious Fed LEA types; many other, are more Gestapo-acting, over the top, self-serving hypocrites and when you factor in the wholly illogical and "legalized thievery" which allows confiscation of property, absent a person being convicted of a crime, I am very dubious as to the WOD's efficacy--not to mention the average cost of $33,000 per arrest--other than it being a "full-employment" act for many tens of thousands in Justice Dept/LEA/Judges/Court Appointed Lawyers/Prison Guards/Probation Officers/etc., etc., etc.

In addition, I don't think that $33,000 a year, includes the approximate cost of $30,000 a year it costs to incarcerate these low-level, non-dealing, drug offenders.

And while I don't have an easy answer, the WOD deserves more scrutiny and dialogue in order to find a more effective policy for this problem, which does not appear to be going away any time in the near future

DRUG WAR CLOCK:

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

It is Mon Aug 28 2006

Money Spent on the War On Drugs this Year

Federal: $13,217,283,466
State: $20,289,411,887
Total: $33,507,351,567
The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars in 2003 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second.

The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars. Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy

State and local governments spent at least another 30 billion. Source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University: "Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets," January, 2001. Arrests for drug law violations in 2006 are expected to exceed the 1,678,192 arrests of 2003.

Someone is arrested every 20 seconds.Source: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation

People Arrested for Cannabis Law Offenses this Year:485,527

In 2002, 45.3 percent of the 1,538,813 total arrests for drug abuse violations were for marijuana -- a total of 697,082.

Of those, 613,986 people were arrested for marijuana possession alone.

This is a slight decrease from 2000, when a total of 734,497 Americans were arrested for marijuana offenses, of which 646,042 were for possession alone.

Source: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation

People Incarcerated for Drug Law Offenses this Year:7,149

Since December 31, 1995, the U.S. prison population has grown an average of 43,266 inmates per year.

About 25 per cent are sentenced for drug law violations.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics

5 posted on 08/28/2006 4:56:13 AM PDT by seasoned traditionalist (ALL MUSLIMS ARE NOT TERRORISTS, BUT ALL TERRORISTS WHO WANT TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY, ARE MUSLIMS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie

It seems to me that decriminalizing possession of an ounce of pot would free up limited Federal assets to focus on the key supply nodes that are providing the bales and kilos those ounces come out of.
Of course doing that would drive down the potential number of arrests for the DEA to make, which could be a problem come annual budget time. Maybe they could revise their budget pitch to emphasize quantities seized and the IMPORTANCE of individuals arrested.


8 posted on 08/28/2006 5:12:04 AM PDT by MadJack ("To the best of my recollection, senator, I don't remember.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie

This is an issue for the people of Colorado.

Why is the Bush administration,
pissing people off and losing votes?


10 posted on 08/28/2006 5:46:23 AM PDT by greasepaint
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
Denver DEA Rep: Don't Legalize It

Don't legalize it and take away our livelihood.
12 posted on 08/28/2006 5:56:05 AM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie

Not all government employees are parasites - in a well-ordered civic ecology, predators and scavengers form a key part of the Great Circle of Government.

Thus, we have the DEA agent.


15 posted on 08/28/2006 6:20:38 AM PDT by headsonpikes (Genocide is the highest sacrament of socialism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
"Please don't legalize it. We need something to justify our bloated budgets, salaries, and all those cool military type toys."

L

29 posted on 08/28/2006 8:13:18 PM PDT by Lurker (If you want peace, prepare for war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie

Of course a DEA agent doesn't want any of it legalized. He wants to keep his authoritarian, taxpayer-funded job. Pot available legally at 7-11 cuts into his margin.


33 posted on 08/28/2006 8:26:43 PM PDT by mysterio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
"The American taxpayer does have a right to have the people they've paid to become experts in this business tell them what this is going to do," he said. "They should benefit from this expertise."

The only thing the DEA is an expert at is gross incompetence and failure.
37 posted on 08/29/2006 12:12:27 AM PDT by microgood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
"Our federalist system is based on the notion that states can establish their own laws without federal interference."

Well yeah, provided that state law doesn't conflict with federal law -- which this state law certainly does. You jerk.

93 posted on 08/29/2006 10:20:27 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie
"That has members of Safer Colorado, the group supporting the marijuana legalization measure, crying foul."

Crying foul?! Oh, that's rich!

During the City of Denver marijuana legalization campaign (I-100), this was the same group that sponsored billboards showing a woman with a black eye and a man standing behind her, presumably her abuser. The message below said, "Reduce family and community violence in Denver. Vote Yes on I-100."

(The theory being that if men smoked marijuana instead of drinking alcohol, domestic violence would drop. Not that there is one single study that shows alcohol drinkers would switch to marijuana. Nowhere did the billboard mention that I-100 legalized marijuana.)

"Crying foul" indeed.

99 posted on 08/29/2006 10:54:15 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Wolfie

If I may add: LOL!


116 posted on 08/29/2006 11:51:35 AM PDT by osideplanner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson