"The hidden money was interesting. The hidden beer was fun — maybe not well-thought-out, but [it had] good intentions. The hidden marijuana is a bit ridiculous," he told CBC News.
"The biggest concern is a young person is going to find this and consume it."
This pretty much says all it needs to about this western hypocrisy which, with the help of the 'UN propaganda machina,' has penetrated most of our society - and even more so of law enforcement - like a resilient mind-conditioning parasite.
I'd love to get the chance to crush it beneath my feet if I could, as it has created a devastating rift between prohibitionists and the street drug using minority, which has resulted in an unprecedented amount of chaos instead of any order. And as the laws became more oppressive, the end result was an increase in volatility, rather than the hypothesized rationale for the stricter amendments.
The following statistics of the negative consequences of the WoD, which are from the world's most prosperous nation in terms of annual GDP, and the biggest consumer of mind-altering substances, speak for themselves:
- 5% of the world's total population, yet, 25% of the world's prison population, making it the number 1 jailer of its citizens, 60% of which are in there for drug-related crimes (the majority of them being non-violent possession without intent to distribute).
- There are now more African-Americans behind bars than were enslaved in 1850, before the civil war.
- Over 2.7 million children in America have a parent locked up due to the WoD's draconian laws. These children are more likely to be locked up themselves in their lifetime than other children, thus, perpetuating the cycle towards exponentially increasing numbers.
- Approximately 13% of crack-cocaine users are black, yet, about 90% of crack-cocaine users who are doing time behind bars are black. This helps to perpetuate the vicious cycle of children with a parent behind bars to become locked up as well.
- Over $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) USD in tax payer money has been spent on fighting Nixon's drug war, with no progress made.
- The WoD has fueled the growth of street gangs in Los Angeles from two with a membership of less than one hundred 40 years ago to 33,000, which are now spread across the Nation's urban areas, with a membership of over 1,500,000.
- Over 70,000 Mexican civilians (the vast majority innocent bystanders) have been killed since former Mexican president Felipe Calderon decided to adopt a "tough on drugs" stance, at the behest of the American government. And that number continues to grow, as do the drug cartels' profits, and their infiltration/corruption of the Mexican government.
- It costs tax payers up to $50,000 annually to keep an inmate behind bars for drug-related offences, where (s)he continues to have access to street drugs, which are smuggled in by financially compensated corrections officers. It also costs tax payers up to $30,000 annually to pay for that same inmate's drug addiction treatment, which greatly increases the chances of the addict being able to stop using in the long term.
- RIchard Nixon was quoted as guaranteeing that the drug war would be won by the end of the decade of which it was started, meaning that by 1980, there would be no more demand for marijuana, and other street drugs in America. Apparently that didn't work out so well for him.
- In 1998, the United Nations stupidly declared that we would have a drug-free planet by 2008, committing member states to eliminate or significantly reduce use of opiates, cannabis and cocaine in a decade as they had all been "talked" into ratifying the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs treaties. Instead, global opiate use rose by more than one-third, with big rises also for cocaine and cannabis. Last year (2013), the British Medical Journal found that street prices had declined over the past two decades, while potency and general availability increased.
- Despite the fact that I could go on and on with these stats, I can't think of, nor reference any significantly positive results directly related to the WoD. It's all downhill unless I was to consider any and/or all the private prisons, rehab centers, methadone clinics, and so forth - which are making a killing by way of profiting off the suffering of countless non-violent drug users - as positive, which IMO is a damn disgrace to true freedom, liberty, freedom of speech/choice/expression/etc.
=======================
For all these decades, the only recreational drug which has seen a steady and significant drop in its demand and/or mind-altering usage has been nicotine constituent products, mainly tobacco. And what do ya know, it wasn't some draconian law that did this, but rather, the realization that nicotine can be very habit forming, and, that tobacco use typically results in some form of cancer, depending on how the tobacco is consumed. Also, some of the more selfless individuals realized that second-hand smoking can kill as well.
No DEA required, no war on tobacco/nicotine required. Unbiased research/reports/publications of various risks associated with the habit + various civil-focused ways (and not law enforcement) to help and/or encourage quitting. Much more effective in every way compared to the war on drugs. And, actual results.
Sure, there's still a lot of tobacco consumers who continue to strain the healthcare system, especially when it's a cancer diagnosis, but, as the decades have passed, the numbers have decreased (at least in America and other western nations) - again, without irrational criminalization intervention.
P.S. - Re. the potential negative implications (if any) of end of the DEA's existence:
"Massive job losses, for people that add next to nothing of tangible benefit to society." - Another BLer
