There have been two news srories released over the last couple of days dealing with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In one story drug czar John P. Walters announces that Mexican drug cartels are taking over our National Forests and turning them into their own private marijuana farms complete with armed guards. According to Mr. Walters:
"Our national treasures are now ground zero for international and domestic drug cultivation and trafficking," said drug czar John P. Walters. "We must push back against the invasion of foreign drug-trafficking organizations through increased law-enforcement collaboration, enhanced intelligence and expanded investigations to reclaim our public lands."
This all sounds good right. It is comforting to know that the ONDCP has been fighting the good fight to drive these vicious criminals out of our parks. But is that really what they have been doing? This brings us to our other story. It seems while the cartels were busy building temporary camp sites, clearing land, cultivating, planting, and harvesting their crops officials of ONDCP were hitting the campaign trail for vulnerable republican congressmen at the behest of Karl Rove. From the McClatchy story:
The White House sent officials from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to 20 political events featuring vulnerable Republican members of Congress shortly before the 2006 elections, and at taxpayers' expense.
Is that evidence of improperly politicizing a government office? Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is looking into that question. He sent letters Tuesday to drug czar John P. Walters and former White House Political Affairs Director Sara Taylor requesting documents and interviews.
And
Waxman said that a memo written by Douglas Simon, the drug policy office's White House liaison, detailed a post-election meeting in which White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove thanked the office and other federal agencies for their help in the campaigns.
"Karl Rove opened the meeting with a thank you for all of the work that went into the surrogate appearances by cabinet members and for the 72 Hour deployment," Simon wrote. "He specifically thanked, for going above and beyond the call of duty, the Dept. of Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture, AND the WH Drug Policy Office."
Is there nothing sacred to this administration? Is there anything they won't do for one more vote? How many reasons for impeachment does our Congress need for they are willing to pull the trigger?
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Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change -- Andre Gide
ONDCP was founded for
ONDCP was founded for political headlines, one way or another. No one in Washington, either Democrat or Republican, cares about reducing the supply of drugs in the US.
It would be so much easier and more efficient to buy the Afghan poppy crop and the Peruvian coca directly from the farmers, and burn it up on site. Numerous Chiefs of State from drug producing countries have suggested this policy over the years. The farmers are happy, parents are happy in the US, and nobody loses except the pushers.
But NO! Let's keep arresting hundreds of thousands of mostly black and hispanic users and locking them up for obscene periods, and who cares if it doesn't reduce the supply of drugs or the number of addicts? It makes great headlines every time we capture a ton of cocaine, representing .0001 per cent of the daily supply.
Bush is a little more blatant than the Democrats about politicizing "drug control," but all of them are hypocrites and racists on this issue, and the problem has only gotten worse for the last 50 years.
__________________________http://jacobfreeze.com
I agree that the so called
I agree that the so called "war on drugs" has been a disaster for many reasons and that the wealthy and powerful people in this country don't want to end drug trafficking because they all profit in some way from it. There are billions of dollars of drug money laundered through legitimate financial institutions and businesses in this country every year. Drug money exists in every aspect of our economy now. This is why we need to develop a totally new approach to the problem. It needs to start with legalizing the growth, possession, and distribution of marijuana and taxing the profits. That is the first sensible step to getting control of the drug trade.
__________________________Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change -- Andre Gide
I think you're right. Twenty
I think you're right. Twenty years for selling a weed!
A reasonable tax dedicated to education could help with decreasing class sizes and restoring enrichment classes like music and art. But I'm not optimistic about any improvement in drug policy anytime soon, and meanwhile a lot of small-time dealers and users will go on serving ridiculous sentences in overcrowded prisons, and a lot of kids will go through school with nothing but endless drills on the basics.
__________________________http://jacobfreeze.com
It seems to me the problem
It seems to me the problem is making it part of the national agenda. I have no doubt that most voters would prefer to have it legal and taxed. Imagine if you legalized it and used the money to help keep social security functioning. That would be a win win for seniors. There just isn't a demand for it like there is to get out of Iraq or fix the healthcare crisis. We just need to make more noise and keep making it.
__________________________Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change -- Andre Gide