Classical Values :: Deliverance

June 11, 2010

Deliverance

The US Government has a plan. A plan to deliver us from the the scourge of drugs. Really. For sure. Well OK not so sure. It is hard to sell sure after the twentieth or thirtieth time. Well it is all good. But not in fun.

Law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 2,200 people in an investigation targeting Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The probe, called Project Deliverance, focused on the transportation networks that carry methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana into the United States, with return trips of drug proceeds and weapons.

At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the extensive operation began nearly two years ago. He said federal agents targeting violent drug cartels have seized nearly 70 tons of marijuana and nearly 1,500 pounds of heroin. Authorities said some of the drugs were hidden inside buses that cross the Southwest border.

But Holder said the fight is far from over.

"Make no mistake. We know that as successful as this operation was, it is just one battle in what is an ongoing war," he said.

Yeah. A War On Plants and Plant Extracts is going to be successful one day. Real Soon Now. The war on the opium and coca plants has been going on for 96 years (Harrison Narcotics Act). The war on the hemp plant has been going on for 73 years (Marihuana Tax Act of 1937). So yeah. Real soon now there will be some useful results.

At the news conference in Washington, Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the DEA, described the law enforcement strategy as an effort to cut off and shut down the supply of drugs headed northward and the flow of drug profits and guns southward into Mexico.

Well the US Government has been doing that for over 70 years with no end in sight. Evidently the government is beginning to wise up. A little. Look at what the Drug Czar recently said about the government effort.

"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told the Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."

So what do you call an effort (how many Drug Kingpins have been collected so far?) that makes things worse and yet is intensified with each successive failure?

A Government Program.

That is how it works with socialism (price supports for criminals). And yet a lot of so called conservatives support this program. A friend of mine tells me that in the new crop of "Conservatives" running for election this year there are quite a few who favor government price supports for criminals (what would a pile of vegetables be worth if it wasn't for Drug Prohibition?). I don't get how you can be a Conservative and support a government program that has never worked, is not working, and will never work in the way proposed by its supporters. Did I mention that it costs at least $50 billion a year (Federal, State, and Local). A rather nice chunk of change in these hard times.

Cross Posted at Power and Control

posted by Simon on 06.11.10 at 04:08 PM

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Comments

The government has been fighting a war on murder, rape, arson, etc for at least 6,000 years. And before that, I imagine we've been trying to stop people from killing each other but it was never written down. Even animals seem to try and punish animals who kill, so these "laws" might go back millions of years.

Would you support repealing these laws, since they "don't work"?

With the exception of pot, I support the drug war. The purpose is not to reduce drug use, but to punish those who cause us endless problems.

TomSwift · June 14, 2010 02:01 AM

Swift,

Let me see if I can help you out.

1. Can you tell me the endless problems we had in 1890 when there were no national prohibition laws?

2. Should it be illegal to harm yourself? i.e. do you own your own body or is it government property?

3. Before National heroin prohibition about 2% of the population used it to some extent. After 90+ years the use rate is the same.

4. Without drug prohibition we have a drug problem. With drug prohibition we have a drug + crime + corrupted political systems (see Mexico or any jurisdiction in the US) problem.

I'm not OK with price supports for criminals. Interesting to see that you are.

And finally - what is the lesson of alcohol prohibition?

M. Simon · June 14, 2010 03:57 AM

Gee, TomSwift, no one's suggesting the repeal of laws against murder, assault or theft.

I would submit that, once law enforcement no longer has recourse to the enforcement of prohibition, which is apparently their highest priority, they could more effectively police the violation of those laws.

Anonymous · June 14, 2010 10:23 AM

1) The negative effects of drug use generally weren't known as well back then. Heroin gets it's name from "Hero within" or something and was used as cough surp.
2) Yes, actually. But not in the sense that you should go to jail for it. Family members should have the power to ask the government to help them help a mentally ill person.
3) Again, I never claimed that drug prohibition has reduced drug use. In fact my point was that the laws do not need to reduce drug use to be justified.
4) Japan has a drug war without the negative things you mention. This is because Japan actually secures it's borders, while our government doesn't so this because it might make reduce illegal immigration.

TomSwift · June 15, 2010 01:47 AM

Swift,

You have absolutely no friggin idea about the subject on which you are expounding. None. Zero.

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/11/is-addiction-real.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/10/round-pegs-in-round-holes.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/10/treatment-vs-recreation.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/heroin.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2006/04/ptsd-and-endocannabinoid-system.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/01/addiction-is-genetic-disease.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/10/law-enforcement-against-prohibition.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2009/10/herding-junkies.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/04/pain-in-brain.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/addiction-or-self-medication.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/12/genetic-discrimination.html

Should get you started. Now if addiction is a genetic disease with an environmental trigger (as NIDA [a government agency] claims) what is the point of the drug war?

Ah. Persecuting people because of their genetics. Real. Good. Idea.

As to Japan. Perhaps they do not have the genetic makeup for drug use.

M. Simon · June 15, 2010 03:02 AM

Swift,

You have absolutely no friggin idea about the subject on which you are expounding. None. Zero.

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/11/is-addiction-real.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/10/round-pegs-in-round-holes.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/10/treatment-vs-recreation.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/heroin.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2006/04/ptsd-and-endocannabinoid-system.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/01/addiction-is-genetic-disease.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/10/law-enforcement-against-prohibition.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2009/10/herding-junkies.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2007/04/pain-in-brain.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/addiction-or-self-medication.html

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/12/genetic-discrimination.html

Should get you started. Now if addiction is a genetic disease with an environmental trigger (as NIDA [a government agency] claims) what is the point of the drug war?

Ah. Persecuting people because of their genetics. Real. Good. Idea.

As to Japan. Perhaps they do not have the genetic makeup for drug use.

M. Simon · June 15, 2010 03:05 AM

3) Again, I never claimed that drug prohibition has reduced drug use. In fact my point was that the laws do not need to reduce drug use to be justified.

If the law has no effect on the behavior you are trying to influence then what is the point?

Ah. You must be one of those socialist government lovers. Or a power and control freak.

The Drug War as a Socialist Enterprise by Milton Friedman

M. Simon · June 15, 2010 03:11 AM

There is one other possibility.

You favor price supports for criminals. An honorable position if openly advocated. However honorable the position it may be unwise.

M. Simon · June 15, 2010 03:15 AM