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
And you think the DEA doth protest too much?