The drug warriors who have been fighting this immoral war for decades have dug themselves so deep into the muck that they’ve lost the ability to even see that they’re standing chin-deep in feces.
There are more bizarre elements of the drug war than you could count, but many of the more absurd derive from the fact that the drug warriors are unable to actually enforce the drug laws.
If that happened to rational people, they’d question whether the drug war is legitimate, but with prohibitionists, they just look for ways to subvert the principles of American law to assist them — whether it’s employing snitches, dismantling the fourth amendment, or even forcing people to do their job for them.
The latter is the basis for this latest DEA action:
Once a popular summer camp for kids, the property was purchased in 2004 by Jimmy Tebeau, a member of the Schwag, a Grateful Dead tribute band. He opened the grounds to recreational camping and float trips and began hosting the festivals soon after the purchase.
In the complaint, officials said investigators spent four years monitoring and interacting with concertgoers on the farm, witnessing drug use and completing open drug deals with participants during events. Officials allege that the owner and event operators were aware of the activity and “took no immediate action to prevent” the sale and use of cocaine, marijuana, LSD, ecstasy, psilocybin mushrooms, opium and marijuana-laced food.
Tebeau has not been charged with a crime. Nor would he have to be for the court to approve the seizure of the property under a civil asset forfeiture law that enables the federal government to take property that is relied upon by criminals as part of an illegal money-making enterprise. The complaint values the farm at $600,000.
That’s right. Because he didn’t enforce the drug laws that the DEA can’t begin to enforce, the DEA wants to seize his property.
Oh, and they also don’t want him to be able to do anything about it.
…Tebeau discovered this week that officials had cleaned out his bank account, yet he has not been served legal notice on that forfeiture.
“It’s pretty darn hard to hire legal counsel if you don’t have any money — and the government knows that,” …
Sickening, immoral, and definitely not the America in which I believe.
I’ve been following the drug war for 5 years now and everyday I see something like this that makes me say it can’t get crazier and more insane, yet it does. I wonder if the bill of rights comes in 4-ply yet?
Evil eats its own young. I actually cried real tears watching US troops coaxing Japanese women and children out of their caves at the end of WW2 while under constant sniper fire and leading them to safety.
They had been propagandized to believe the Americans would cut out their livers and eat them.
Now the pendulum has swung so far opposite its staggering to witness women and children felt up at TSA checkpoints, no-knock raids with children and pets killed, drivers tazered, property siezed, cars crushed,
Canada only two steps behind,,,I been through the Gestapo wringer-washer more times than I can count… patheticK.
You are correct about the DEA; problem is, Congress and State governments are no better.
It isn’t only the DEA. State and local LE pursue the same agenda with zeal. I experienced it myself. What becomes immediately clear as one witnesses the process firsthand is that they really don’t care much about the drugs. They really care about what they can take of value. The drugs are merely the enabler. Once they satisfied themselves they had sufficient evidence, they “shopped” through my assets and possessions, devoting enormous time to researching and appraising. All burdens of proof are reversed in this
legal process. It’s up to you to prove the innocence of your assets.
The person with 1 lb of cannabis and $10,000 is in more trouble than the person with 10 lbs and $1000.
This is probably the worst abuse of asset forfeiture I’ve ever heard of. And I’m a lawyer, I see this stuff all the time. All the lawyers involved with this should be disbarred, and since it’s the DOJ and Obama is ultimately in charge, it’s yet another thing I blame him for. I’ve never had such a case of voter’s remorse as I have with Obama. Worst president ever. Bush was actually better – he stuck to his guns and made decisions and held firm on his platform, no matter how bad and wasteful that platform and those decisions were, at least he pushed it through and didn’t needlessly compromise or placate the Democrats because of his cowardice and inner need to be liked by everyone. Obama is pathetic. I hope the republicans impeach his stupid, worthless ass. At the very least he’ll be tied up with subpoenas for the next 2 years. I’d love to see him impeached for the same crimes he let the Bush administration get away with because he wanted to “look forward not backwards.” Obama’s so pathetic he probably thinks the Republicans will pay him the same courtesy. Hah! The republicans ARE going to “look backwards” and they will only look forward to seeing Obama kicked out of office. I realize Republicans won’t do any better for the drug war, but Obama has been just as bad as any republican. I’d rather be just pissed off than both pissed off AND disappointed.
RICO laws are another tool of the plunderbund. It is reaching a point where there is not much left to loot in this country.
It should be the separation of church and state,
not the separation of morals and state.
It seems they really don’t give a holy crap about us toking, and can’t be that stupid to believe their own BS. Maintaining dysfunction is what pays. If pot hurt people the TVangelists would be falling down in jubilation. The Feds certainly have no budget for individual busts and thanks to Jimmy Carter, under an ounce is a misdemeanor in all 50 states. DEAth goons are pussies wrestling Polio victims to the floor. I’ve seen a dozen Santa Cruz WAMM hippies hold em off. SQUAT shooting Mother’s holding babies. Grandma’s in their beds, 36 times for good measure. Forced Snitch Labor killing chicks and urging children to turn in their neighbors, siblings and parents. Charlie Lynch mobs 404 gags leaving them unable to speak in their own defense. Mandatory Minimums for the few proud and brave 5% passing on the please bargains. Where’s the beef? The signed document verifying that Ganja fits as a schedule#1 highly addictive, non medicinal, menace to society narcotic. It took the FBI and 100 pigs to kill Tom and Rollie at the Rainbow Farm and the cowards couldn’t even face Peter to murder him. Angel should be a clear warning that they simply don’t give a rats hairy ass about the millions of American citizens or their circumstances concerning the Ganjawar.
Drug Cop Lies Sent over 150 to Jail 10.9.8
* Tom Crosslin – Nov. 10, 1954 – Sept. 3, 2001
* Rollie Rohm – Dec. 27, 1972 – Sept. 4, 2001
Rainbow Farm Massacre
Drug War Becomes a Shooting War
Ellen Komp, Anti-Drug War activist September 5, 2001
Grover T. “Tom” Crosslin, 47, who owned Rainbow Farm campground in Newberg Township, Michigan, was shot and killed by an FBI “observer” on Monday, September 3 after a four-day standoff at the campground. One day later, Crosslin’s roommate Rolland Eugene Rohm, 28, was fatally shot at the property by a Michigan State Police officer. Both men allegedly aimed guns at the law enforcement agents who shot them
Peter McWilliams sues Dan Lungren
“The lawsuit is simply asking Attorney General Lungren to do his sworn duty, nothing more.” The suit charges AG Lungren with four breaches of the California Constitution.
The Murder of Peter McWilliams Fri, 16 Jun 2000
— An Indictment, Not an Obituary – by Richard Cowan
There will be an autopsy, but whatever the immediate cause of death may have been, he was murdered by the United States Government as surely as if they shot him. Indeed, it would have been much more humane if they had just put a bullet in his head. No one should have to go through what he suffered at the hands of his country.
Klintoon and Blieden make GOPervert Drug Worriers look like whiskey mean drunk bumbling idiots. Between the audacity of adding ditchweed to increase eradication counts and simple possession arrests more than Nexxon Boosh and Rayguns combined, inhaling or not. Slimy Joe coined the term Drug Czar and his lying sack of dog shit RAVE Ax is one of the ways DEAth thugs can confiscate and forfeiture any event that doesn’t heed to their crystal balls. Obombo’s a lame duck and probably happy to ride out a single term kicking back playing executive without complications of even lamer quacks supporting the Ganjawar.
Drug labelling error forces retraction…After RAVE Ax Passes
Second Ecstasy Study Retracted Mon, 15 Sep 2003
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have retracted a second study linking the drug Ecstasy to a certain type of brain damage because once again the wrong drug was given to lab animals. Dr. Una D. McCann, a neuroscientist involved in both experiments, said a letter of retraction was sent Thursday to a medical journal, which she declined to identify until editors there decide how to handle the matter.
Biden’s Sneaky Rave Act Draws First Blood
On May 5th, 2003 Ethan Straffin wrote for BBSNews Sen. Joseph Biden is about to reap the whirlwind of outrage that will begin to build just as soon as that fateful first rave, concert, or (let’s just hope) Democratic fundraiser is shut down by the feds because The Organizers Should Have Known That There Might Be Drugs There.
What the WHO doesn’t want you to know about cannabis
Health officials in Geneva have suppressed the publication of a politically sensitive analysis that confirms what ageing hippies have known for decades: cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco.
The Rave Act stops NORML benefit concert
The Rave Act has hit very close to home. On the 30th of May the Billings chapter of Montana NORML/SSDP had organized a highly publicized and expensive benefit concert featuring a number of local acts, the proceeds from which would have gone to help the medical marijuana campaign in Montana in 2004. Unfortunately, not only did my probation officer arrest me the day before, but the DEA came and shut things down the day of. The reason being of course that due to the RAVE Act anyone caught on the premisis with marijuana would automatically subjects our generous venue to a fine of $250,000.
Drug Czar Manipulating Data in a Report to Congress
Bill Would Outlaw Internet Drug Information
more articles on the link above…
I’d like to say I’m shocked. I’d like to say “I can’t believe this” (which is what my wife said, I actually had to show her the post). But I’m not shocked. And it’s easy to believe.
And Bruce, as far as Obama is concerned, I’m with you. Those impeachment procedings are going to be a treat to watch, just because I can’t wait to see Nancy Pelosi’s face. After all, it was she who took impeachment off the table for the Dems.
…American ‘laws’…
One day the bottom will drop out from under these thugs, criminals, sadists…
…and there will be nice little cells waiting for them…
..Ill be sure to flick a few roaches there way hoping the smell of sweet kush causes them to puke… or fear the insanity they say it causes…
Im so sick of this hell they have created…all of them who would be kings..
…the Obama bashing…
..they are all the same…politicians, otherwise known as criminals…
…I didnt vote for him…hell I didnt vote..
…yes I still have the right to bitch, they take my taxes dont they…
..take the kings coin, do the kings bidding I say…were all kings now…
He won’t be impeached BruceM for the obvious reason.
Come on, we’re dealing with brain dead individuals and a public for the most part that has turned a deaf ear to the enormous abuses faced every minute by good people.
Asset forfeiture laws are one of the primary evils of the drug war. There is no due-process with these laws in my opinion, although the courts have ruled for them. They should only apply to persons and property directly involved in GUILTY convictions, but it’s a huge source of funds for many policing agencies and that’s where the corruption comes in. Letting the police departments keep what they take is a bad, bad idea.
The bottom line is that there are places in America where cannabis is basically legal, and others where it is not. The Feds cannot operate without the support of local Law Enforcement, which is elected. SO – in parts of the country where cannabis is illegal, it is dangerous to have festivals, etc., since the local yokels will not hesitate to complain and invite law enforcement to do their thing. It’s illegal in these areas because the local yokels are backwards. Even in CA, prop 19 failed – why? Because 70% of people over 65 voted against it. We just have to wait until the brainwashed children of “duck and cover” die off. They are not teachable, which is such a sad irony since cannabis is so useful for the aches and pains and crankiness of old age.
The War on Drugs is the revenge of the old and feeble on the young and creative, sponsored and enforced by authoritarian bullies. WHy do they hate America so much?
Oh ya – why would the Republicnas impeach a president who is doing everything they demand?
They have his nuts in a drawer.
In my opinion (and that of those who founded this country) the primary purpose of the government should be to protect the lives and property of its people. So what’s it called again when the police have the power to legally take any property or lives of anyone for basically any reason? Whether people have drugs or not doesn’t matter to them.
With AZ now making up one third of our nation having m/m
laws and the ONDCP/DEA still holding marijuana in schedule 1.
Can anyone left in America doubt that they are protecting
big industry from marijuana/hemp legalization and not the children?
This last weekend I learned from a private source that it’s common for DEA agents to speak before church groups; and to so within the confines of church walls.
Talk about a captive audience. Many Americans get their politics and world views from their religious affiliations. It’s these same religious voting groups whom drug law reformers often fail to influence.
If there were ever a justification for separation of church and state, the DEA is its perfect poster child. It would come as no surprise were the DEA human resources department exposed as getting most of its raw recruits from religious institutions. After all, anti-drug crusades would certainly appeal to contemporary apologists of racism, inquisitions, witch hunts, and alcohol prohibition.
The work is simple enough. As DEA jobs go, there’s no expectation of achieving anything significant. Job security is guaranteed by popular ignorance. And the job perks obviously include a license to steal.
More coalition-based legalizers need to address church groups directly. Prohibition hypocrisy and horror stories that will terrify the church ladies are abundantly available. Since reformers need not manufacture terror as the DEA does, candor is made a reform policy advantage.
“why would the republicans impeach…?” Because they can. Just watch.
@divadab, it’s interesting you’d blame the “duck-and-cover” crowd. I remember doing that shit in the fourth grade (1964) and that was one of my primary motivators for experimenting with drugs by 1969.
I figured we’d be blown up soon so why not check some of this stuff out? I personally know a lot of “duck-and-cover” aged folks who have been fighting prohibition their entire adult lives.
What I’d like to know is what happened to the young voters that came out in 2008? Legal cannabis in California too boring to vote on, or is your age group unteachable? Not to get in a generation war or anything here, but kids my age had five or six times the vocabulary that today’s kids do.
What “duck-and-cover” taught me even at a young age was that my government was full of shit. We’re on the same side, so have some respect for the people who’ve kept this movement alive. Peace.
Blaming each other is getting old. Want to point the finger of blame? How about the ghost of Harry Anslinger?, Or Holder, for his threats, or the California newspapers, who followed in the asinine tradition of yellow journalism by editorializing against prop19 at every opportunity. Blame Sheriff Chewbacca, who doesn’t realize that cops enforce laws, not make them. Or how about the entire Obama administration for blindly continuing the war on drugs in the face of public opinion? How about we look in the mirror and accept our own share of the blame? what could you (or I) have done to push this a little further? Make a single other person see the light, or persuade another of your cohort who thought it wasn’t perfect realize that the perfect can’t be the enemy of the good?
If you’re blaming each other, look around at who you’re blaming, because you’ll be working with them again if we want this to fly in 2012.
Anybody else got someone in the movement to blame? There’s the door….
Na, I blame them because they’re degenerates. You say the rape victim is at fault for wearing provocative clothing? I take no fucking blame for Neocon moneysluts or do I recognize their legal lies as law. Appeasing the degenerates is weak.
Oh I forgot to mention. It is not uncommon for circumstances to arise in forfeiture where you are still liable and obligated to pay income taxes on the forfeited money. In my case they took my money in December and as a self employed filer, they took money set aside for taxes. I was then compelled to pay income tax on the seized money. That is something you don’t often hear about.
Medical Marijuana Advocates Bring Attention to DEA Confirmation Hearings
By Americans For Safe Access – Monday, November 15 2010
Acting DEA head Michele Leonhart, a Bush-holdover, led aggressive campaign against medical marijuana.
After more than two years as acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Michele Leonhart, who served as Deputy DEA Administrator during George W. Bush’s presidency, is scheduled to be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee this Wednesday, November 17th at 2:30pm EST. …continued
NORMLizer – Holy Smokes?
Reefer religions vs. the highest court in the land.
Since the 1970s, numerous religious-exemption cases have been litigated, but few have succeeded; the latter include a small sect of Native Americans who have traditionally used hallucinogenic peyote buttons in their religious ceremonies, as well as the occasional Rastafarian who could prove a long history of practicing the faith and used a modest amount of marijuana. Regrettably, appellate courts have consistently denied religious exemptions to members of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, so-called New Age faiths and other Christian-oriented religious sects. …continued
F.E.A.R.
http://www.fear.org/
@divadab, I’m 66, I have always been anti-prohibition, so have my friends (most of whom don’t indulge in any illicit drug use) and most of the people I know in my parents’ generation, who lived thru prohibition of alcohol are against the war on drug(user)s, too. You’re blaming the wrong age groups there, I don’t know where you got your figures, but I’d guess they were made up out of whole cloth by someone who is a prohibitionist and wants to use one age group against another to thwart the end of this prohibiton.