This article by Justin Scheck in the Wall Street Journal really points out why law enforcement is so opposed to any loosening of marijuana laws.
hasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, his budget under pressure in a weak economy, has laid off staff, reduced patrols and even released jail inmates. But there’s one mission on which he’s spending more than in recent years: pot busts.
The reason is simple: If he steps up his pursuit of marijuana growers, his department is eligible for roughly half a million dollars a year in federal anti-drug funding, helping save some jobs. The majority of the funding would have to be used to fight pot. Marijuana may not be the county’s most pressing crime problem, the sheriff says, but “it’s where the money is.”
We’ve got to cut off the federal anti-pot subsidies.
The federal government is paying law enforcement to help them keep marijuana prohibited and to spread
their propaganda.
If they were not paying them,even more law enforcement leaders and street officers would be members of LEAP.
Pingback: Tweets that mention It’s where the money is - Drug WarRant -- Topsy.com
Don’t worry, it’s gonna happen. It may take another year before the public realizes that drug prohibition is sucking down dollars the unemployed need desperately (especially with the recent cut-off of benefits).
But when the realization starts to hit, as it will when it’s reported that way in the news media (and which is already happening) we must be ready. We have to start talking in the terms the Average American understands: drug war means no money for those who need it. Hammer it, hammer it, hammer it home. Every chance we get. Every media exposure a reformer has it has to be brought up. And in those terms: “Look at our government spending billions and billions each year essentially chasing ‘pot-heads’ when there are people in this country whose UI bennies have run out and they and their families are facing fiscal Armageddon, and these ‘civil servants’ (points to Fed bureaucrats and pols) want to throw more money down this rat-hole?”
In an election year, that could be a devastating attack…and the worst part about it for our opposition is…it’s all too true.
Alphabet soup agencies will be particularly rabid in this ponzi house of cards economy. All the porkers at the trough will have to fight for the taxpayer bounty.
“In an election year, that could be a devastating attack…and the worst part about it for our opposition is…it’s all too true.”
When history looks back on the 40 years of Nixon’s jihad against drugs,what do you reckon they will say is the reason the government followed the stupidest policy ever conceived?
They have spent over a trillion dollars,locked up over 2 million people,and destroyed millions more people’s lives
following a policy doomed to failure from the start.
You cannot legislate moarality.
And all we have had to fight this stupid war with is the truth and our wits.
Man, you CANNOT tell me that the feds aren’t using Stoners as the new target minority for discrimination.
When you ended with “We’ve got to cut off the federal anti-pot subsidies” Pete I agreed with that and wondered what more could be done to accomplish this. With further thought on the subject it occurred to me that “we” shouldn’t have to do it, that “they” or “them” are the ones who need to change it. And they frakking know it.
It goes back to, for me, that I will Never, Ever, forgive any Prohibitionist for supporting the drug war, even when Prohibition is over, done, finished. I hate them now and I will hate them forever as they’re some of the most disgusting people ever to set foot on earth.
@Denmark: I have to ask — even if uninformed ignorance is the cause of their support for prohibition, would you still hate the people who were doing what they thought was right? I understand hating (even mildly loathing) the prohibitionists that lie to further their careers or fatten their pocketbooks, but like the mother who chides her child for eating paste and its possible detrimental effects, I have a softer perception of those people that are trying the best they can to be good. Of course, good intentions often have much worse outcomes, but some people truthfully do not know the causal evidence between prohibition and crimes. Perhaps a wary eye is best suited for those “acceptable prohibitionists”, as opposed to an evil one.
Many in the U.S. just do not know anything about marijuana that wasn’t fed to them through a DARE straw or dolloped with a scoop of ONDCP propaganda, so I can’t be too hard on them. We just have to educate people, let them hear the truth, and any that believe that still turn against us: we can hate them.
Regarding this thread, we’ll never have a just system of government or law enforcement as long as we have subsidies for the laws we prioritize, especially against the victim-less “crime” of drug use. Local law should prioritize the allocation of funding based on the crimes most prevalent and concerning to the constituency with violent crimes at the top of the list.
This most recent time I was in the library checking out some DVDs I came across one aimed at politicians and how to be picky with words to better craft statements. Also, I recall a show on PBS about how Republicans stopped saying “global warming” and replaced it with “climate change” on the advice of a political consultant.
I ain’t no high-priced anything. And I know I am but a pipsqueak surrounded by many others in the drug policy reform effort. I do not wish to be offensive, but I do not really see our aims as relaxing, liberalizing, or loosening drug laws; what we have now is drug anarchy; gun fights on the street, kids dealing drugs to other kids, no regulations on purity, etc… We are not trying to make things more relaxed, liberalized, or loose.
What we are trying to do is something else. I’m not sure “tighten” is the right word, but I have a few in mind. For now my favorite is “focus.”
Our drug laws are totally unfocused. They kill pets. They kill humans. They terrorize and harm innocent people due to screwing up a street address. They imprison sick people using drugs to improve their health (think mmj). They imprison people who need medical assistance, not a complete loss of freedom.
I think a very good case can be made that the Netherlands and Portugal focused their efforts, focused their drug laws, or at least have begun to (being hamstrung by the various U.N. “treaties”).
So I propose the use of “focus,” but would love to hear other suggestions. My aim is to find a single word, a verb, which can be used.
what Kap said, plus…
go to Google and paste in these words:
warrant outstanding law enforcement million (no quotation marks)
There was a story a couple of years ago (I think it may have been in the St Louis Post Dispatch), didn’t get much play when it really should have been plastered in every paper in the country… about the outstanding warrants backlog across the country and the failure of the criminal justice system.
Look at the results on Google:
Jun 19, 2010 … In an attempt to collect at least some of the $1.4 million owed to the city of Deer Park through outstanding warrants[…]
Aug 9, 2009 … But when people fail to comply with the law, judges are forced to issue … which overwhelms some courts and law enforcement agencies. … Houston alone has more than 1.2 million outstanding class C misdemeanor warrants […]
Pa. has 1.4 million warrants outstanding
Outstanding warrants chip away at the ability of the criminal …
This isn’t the article I was thinking of, but it’s close. Fugitives hide in backlog of warrants
Simply put, chasing WOD $ prevents our criminal justice system frm chasing the real criminals.
@ Drew… “drug chaos” not “drug anarchy”… please.
Yes Jared, because they are wrong and can be proven so. Hate is a strong word and it is effective in conveying ones utter disgust over WOD bull stuff.
Too many citizens want to see an end to Prohibition, I run into them often because it’s my subject of choice. I’ve already found two in my temporary hotel home. One is bold and will talk about it with me, the other is apprehensive to discuss it but aware enough. When I leave here they will remember what was discussed and hopefully be more active in ending one of the worst policies to ever hang over mankinds heads.
Hi allan420, please help me understand the nuance you are putting forth. I guess it has to do with a political interpretation, but am not positive, so I thought it best to ask.
My dictionary provides this for chaos, “complete disorder and confusion.” For anarchy, “a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority,” and offers this other sentence, “absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal.”
Based on that I still lean a bit towards anarchy since there is not quite complete disorder and chaos, given the cartels and gangs have organized in some sort of way, however fungible and blood-soaked. But they definitely have a disregard and nonrecognition for any authority but themselves. And the government is, for most intents and purposes, absent in regulating the drug markets.
However, I don’t consider my dictionary or me the final authority. 🙂
From the article:
“Marijuana may not be the county’s most pressing crime problem, the sheriff says, but “it’s where the money is.—
Proving once again that the focus, the mission of Law Enforcement is not public safety. No, the focus of American Law Enforcement is money. In their pockets.
Protect & Serve (Themselves!)
Grandfather pleads for abducted Missouri girl’s safe return
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/06/missouri.abducted.child/index.html
“Sorry sir, we can’t devote any time to locating your 4-year-old granddaughter. We have SWAT raids to plan, pets waiting to be shot to death, little baggies of marijuana the feds redeem from us for millions, she’ll just have to wait.
“Calm down sir! Maybe some day she might surface again, who knows? In the mean time we have to cling to our Evil Religion of Hate which states marijuana is dangerous instead of beneficial.”
There it is …AGAIN!! We are ruled by fear and greed…not intelligence. LE is more than ready to ruin countless lives/families in order to keep thier jobs…how selfish.