tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post6763051291606466686..comments2024-03-17T08:27:53.658-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: FutilityJim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-61780152424314068462008-04-19T00:18:00.000-05:002008-04-19T00:18:00.000-05:00I'm going to concur with Vince. To me the bigger ...I'm going to concur with Vince. To me the bigger problem isn't the competing agencies and corruption--tho' Jim and Nathan are right about that--it's that interdiction is itself a futile strategy to start with. As long as there's a profitable black market, there will be someone who does a quick cost/risk analysis and decides it's worth the trouble.<BR/><BR/>The solution is to treat substance abuse as a public health issue, instead of a criminal issue, and regulate the hell out of legalized drugs the same way we do for alcohol and tobacco and prescription meds. And get this whole stupid "war" out of our damn courtrooms. I don't know if you folks have any idea how much of your tax dollars are wasted on meaningless drug prosecutions when there are, you know, like, <I>rapists</I> and <I>murderers</I> who don't get tried because so much of a court docket has to be spent busting mostly-harmless crackheads. (Yes, yes, there are crackheads who get violent and crackheads who steal and crackheads who break into people's houses and cars--and then there are all the people who just sit around in cheap motel rooms until the police get a tip or who are just riding along in the passenger seat of a car that gets stopped and, oh look, they're dumb enough to agree to a frisk while carrying a bunch of rock. Smart folks, those crackheads, most of them. Well up on their legal rights, etc.)<BR/><BR/>Waste of everyone's bloody time, is what it is.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18275812152895151542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-82534940976161869232008-04-18T21:47:00.000-05:002008-04-18T21:47:00.000-05:00That's because we don't learn from history. Anyone...That's because we don't learn from history. Anyone who has studied prohibition could have predicted what the result of the war on drugs would be; the corruption, the obscene amounts of money, the power of the drug cartels. The money we waste jailing users and small-time dealers.<BR/><BR/>But oh my, suggest we decriminalize most drugs, tax and regulate them like we do alcohol, and people freak.<BR/><BR/>And I quote Shawn from yesterday on a different subject:<BR/><BR/>"...I think the general public is dumb. Not individuals (I think you personally are shiny), but rather as a whole."<BR/><BR/>Actually he was polite. I would say stupid.vincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16955307244053931069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-58208172654195489862008-04-18T15:56:00.000-05:002008-04-18T15:56:00.000-05:00And that, Nathan, is the principle problem - and i...And that, Nathan, is the principle problem - and it's even worse than you imagine. All of those agencies have different assets, and they <I>will not</I> share, and they <I>will not</I> work together. And it gets much worse, see, because they all have informers and secret agendas that they want to protect and so they will literally steer you away from a bust - actually feed you bad information in order to drive you in the wrong direction. They'll also do this in order to keep the bust for themselves. And they'll do it because many of them are on the take. It's totally fucking insane to have a Navy <I>Cruiser</I> out burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel chasing little tiny boats around the South Pacific. <BR/><BR/>And the real truth is that most of these agencies are compromised. The money is just so unbelievable that it's inevitable. I had indisputable proof on more than one occasion that somebody fairly senior on the JIATF watch floor was feeding information in real time to the smugglers. Hell, I <I>heard</I> it happen over the radio - nobody, <I>nobody</I>, wanted to hear it, or do anything about it - hence my statement in the post that the organization is rotten from bottom to top. <BR/><BR/>And I know from personal experience that the FBI, ICE, and especially the DEA have no real interest in killing the drug trade - it's their bread and butter, it's endless appropriations and job security. <BR/><BR/>When I returned from my last mission down there I wrote a 135 page follow up report that was utterly damming, I sited dates, times, names. I included detailed records and I got my chain of command all the way to Fleet to back it up. All of the senior staff at JIATF South were fired as a result. <BR/><BR/>And not one fucking thing changed.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-84032739520050124672008-04-18T15:42:00.000-05:002008-04-18T15:42:00.000-05:00What always pisses me off is how many agencies hav...What always pisses me off is how many agencies have overlapping jurisdiction. Why the fuck do we have a huge alphabet soup of agencies responsible for Drug Enforcement. Especially when those agencies get to pick and choose the sexy missions to pursue...not the effective ones.<BR/><BR/>Why the fuck is FEMA part of Homeland Security? That's a recipe for disaster.<BR/><BR/>I understand that DEA can't do their job without the Navy's involvement (and Coast Guard and Army, etc.), but why on earth should they have to compete with FBI and ATF? Yes, I know that guns and drugs go together. Why not combine ATF and DEA and tell FBI not to pursue drugs anymore...just turn over any drug info to the other new agency. FBI would still have plenty to keep them busy.Nathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00648438549121320566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-70820211127221257602008-04-18T15:24:00.000-05:002008-04-18T15:24:00.000-05:00You're welcomeIt's just that I can think of no mor...You're welcome<BR/><BR/>It's just that I can think of no more worthless pursuit than the War on Drugs - unless it's the War on Terrorism.<BR/><BR/>I see the headlines - 16 Tons of Cocaine captured, and know from personal experience that we get less than 1% of the total amount of cocaine entering the US from the South Pacific. And I know from personal experience that it could be much, much better, but due to the utter incompetent assholes at JIATF South it will continue on as it is. And every time I see some bust hailed as a great victory, I think back to my own experience and know that it's hollow at best.<BR/><BR/>Drugs are a supply and demand market. The demand is increasing every day - and the price of coke on the street has fallen steadily, we're having no effect at all. <BR/><BR/>And it just chaps my ass.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-52862578610009925762008-04-18T15:03:00.000-05:002008-04-18T15:03:00.000-05:00Gee, thanks, Jim for that bitter ray of Friday sun...Gee, thanks, Jim for that bitter ray of Friday sunshine. <BR/><BR/>I'm going to go build a "compound" now, for all my nearest and dearest...Janiecehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14190655869710465713noreply@blogger.com