BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Watching Rick Perry have a brain fart over which departments he was going to dismantle immediately upon assuming the Presidency got me to wondering why none of the Republican Presidential wannabes are pledging to axe the only federal “agency” that truly is, and always has been, a bona fide American anathema. I’m talking about the one Richard Nixon euphemistically dubbed the “War on Drugs,” and later christened the Drug Enforcement Administration or D.E.A.; an utterly useless bureaucracy that has never accomplished even a smidgen of its chartered reason for being; a tribute to phony promise, false bravado and outright chicanery that hasn’t so much as a scintilla of success to show for the $2.5 TRILLION of your tax money it has pissed down the drain (and continues to at the rate of $500 a SECOND!). Why is that? Why do ALL of them (except Ron Paul, bless his little anarchist heart)–including the lone Democrat “candidate” whose own completely failed drug policies including recent actions in regard to the sale for medicinal purposes of a sixteen-state-and-DC-legalized garden-variety weed amount to nothing less than felony criminality on HIS part–appear so timid when it comes to even discussing this abomination? Why is it these “hopefuls” are so anxious to dispense with programs that might actually help people, while seeming so doggedly determined to protect the one that irrefutably does nothing but harm? Well, you’ve been fed enough hokum, here are some real-life facts:
A) Drugs are easier to obtain than ever before. Regardless of age, ethnicity, income level, or location, your drug of choice is right around the corner–literally (unless of course you happen to live on a farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere in which case some form of private transportation may be required to facilitate initial contact, but your supplier will no doubt be only too happy to accommodate home or nearby “drop spot” delivery thereafter).
B) Comparatively speaking, drugs are cheaper than ever before. In fact, for the most part, prices have been declining steadily for decades. It’s called market saturation. What does that tell you about the effect D.E.A. intimidation, eradication or interdiction efforts continue to have on reducing supply? On the other hand, we have been able to provide years of useless “make work” for thousands of agents who might otherwise have been providing truly beneficial services.
C) Drugs will be just as plentiful tomorrow as they are today. Drug suppliers ages ago were smart enough to come up with a near foolproof simple little anti-interdiction strategy. They reasoned that if, say, 25% of the demand for their product was going to be seized, why not just up the amount shipped to 125% of demand (and adjust accordingly depending upon the D.E.A.’s seizure rate at the time) and be done with it. They knew that the enormous profits to be made were such that the additional expense would be trivial. Brilliant! Sheer genius! It’s the kind of “rocket science” thinking that has gone over, under, around, and through the government’s grasp (literally) from the beginning.
D) Lastly, drug usage in the U.S.A. is still in “high” gear. Call it rebellion, call it peer pressure, call it escape, call it free will, call it anything you like, just don’t call it a lack of ludicrous D.E.A. intimidation, eradication or interdiction efforts to reduce demand. If you have any questions or quibbles surrounding this fact, you might want to take them up with your kids or your “next door neighbor.”
As American abominations go, the War on Drugs has out-cankered even the Iraq/Afghanistan pestilence. It’s like an evil Yogi’s deja vu all over again: TRILLION$ in tax money down the toilet, acres upon acres of silent epitaphs, countless wounded–both physically and mentally–who’ll never be made whole, and millions of lied-to-and-left-behind-to-mourn who’ll bear the scars of this despicable folly for generations to come. And as if that weren’t perversion enough, for the WOD we added a new sinister touch: cruel and callous unwarranted arrests, incarcerations and consequent criminal records to blight the futures of thousands upon thousands of Americans most of whom were (and are) simply young and justifiably disillusioned with their elders, or often nothing more than curious.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fed up early stage septuagenarian who has actually been most of there and done most of that. Born and raised in the picturesque Pocono Mountains. Quite well educated. Very lucky to have been born into a well-schooled and somewhat prosperous family. Long divorced. One beautiful, brilliant daughter. Two far above average grandsons. Semi-retired (how does anyone manage to do it completely these days?) and fully-tired of bullshit. Uncle of the Editor-In-Chief.
1,848 = The number of Americans killed in action in Afghanistan
18,342 = The number of Americans wounded in Afghanistan
0 = The number of financial industry kingpins indicted for having committed the most massive FRAUD in American history and wrecking the global economy, plunging untold millions into lives of misery and deprivation.