A very powerful and fascinating read in Spiegel Online: Failing Drug War: When Cops Become Criminals
When you follow the story of Martinez and his journey from fresh DEA agent to prison convict, what’s really fascinating is his own perception of right and wrong…
In prison, Martinez developed his own opinion of his actions. Today, he says that he was innocent. What he did wasn’t right, but it also wasn’t wrong, he says. He was simply applying the methods he had learned.
It really points out how little difference there is between the hard liners on both sides of the drug war. The drug war corrupts them both, making them believe that what they’re doing, while maybe not right, isn’t really wrong.
And we keep pouring fresh meat into that grinder.
whTs depresing is that this guy is still making a living from the drug war as a bail bondsman and kidnapper. legalization just doesnt “feel right” to him. how many other criminals convicted of planning a child murder get out in seven years and are able to set up as a bondsman i wonder?
Thirty years ago there was a very good (in my estimation) movie called Flashpoint which had an interesting take on the JFK assasination. In the movie, a corrupt Federal agent (played by Kirtwood Smith), makes an interesting speech: “”Every morning I get up, I thank God for drugs, murder and subversion…because without them, we’d all be out of a job”
If you think this was ‘artistic license’, you’d be wrong. Just go to DEAWatch and you’d see the same sentiments echoed in real life.
The Scots have a saying: “Once you touch the Devil, you can never let go.” Drug prohibition, due to ‘deep politics’, it being inextricably interwoven into modern banking, etc., is a very real analog to the Devil. Touch it and you can’t let go.
By it’s very nature, drug prohibition eats through most people’s integrity – assuming the victim had any to begin with – effortlessly, just like hydrofluoric acid does. And given that governments are involved in the trade, government agents who (foolishly) assume they can make a difference are ‘played’ as much or more as the drug cartels they target. The scope, the length, breadth and depth of the farce is beyond comprehension.
And what of those who possessed that integrity and maintained it, bloodied but intact? They will eventually share the same fate as Michael Levine and Celerino Castillo, or wind up like Gary Webb, Danny Casolaro, and a whole slew of others whose mysterious deaths are linked to seriously trying the thwart the drug trade. For the whole idea was never to win an unwinnable war, but to maintain it for its’ more nefarious uses vis-a-vis governemnt policies…and economic rewards to those who ‘play the game’.
Medical marijuana should end up big winner after today’s sequester
http://tinyurl.com/ab8dafo
Unlike most politicians who felt the need to go through their bucket list before today’s automatic budget cuts kick in, MMJ dispensaries can actually view the sequester as an achievement.
According to a report from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, the Drug Enforcement Administration stands to lose $166 million from its current $2.02 billion staffing and appropriation budget.
With such a dramatic reduction in budget, there’s reason to believe that the DEA might finally stop wasting resources on medical marijuana considered legal by governing states.
In addition to the DEA’s spending reduction, the historically pointless War on Drugs is set to suffer budget cuts throughout the board:
DOD’s Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities budget of $1.6 billion will be reduced by $157 million
DOJ’s Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement budget of $528 million will be reduced by $43 million
The DEA Diversion Control Fee Account budget of $335 million will be reduced by $25 million
The Office of National Drug Control Policy budget of $25 million will be reduced by $2 million
The High-intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program budget of $239 million will be reduced by $20 million
“Other Federal Drug Control Programs,†with a total budget of $100 million, will undergo $8 million in cuts
But sadly our DoD budgets will get cut while drugs are still illegal, which will place our nation at greater perils than before (as seen in Detroit on Christmas) . . . which will further rob our vets and their families of benefits they fought for –fought because drugs are illegal and thus sent them to fight a drug war after a drug war 9/11 attack. Too bad we are not seriously talking about trading places: U.S. military at home, while the DOJ is in Iraq, Africa and Afghanistan where Federal law clearly states they belong . . . if Federal Law doesn’t require the average American cop/DOJ worker to be in combat, then we have no proof the DEA are legally allowed to leave America, let alone operate outside of America . . . I though the police were supposed to go after drugs and drug offenders, not the U.S. military . . . I thought fighting crime and apprehending organized crime was something cops did. Too few cops are dying for their jobs, which is a crying shame since they have every right to die for their beliefs and job if death merits the struggle –just like death merited the struggle for defeating Nazi Germany and southern slave owners.
Those cuts are so minor, and they are just decreases of the increased intended future spending, so they WILL have as much money as they had last year, which is more than they had the year before. I do not believe we will see any significant reduction in enforcement or forfeiture activities in the near future, unless, of course, they finally get it and repeal all laws prohibiting drugs. Unfortunately, I do not see that happening any time soon, if ever.
The significant point is that this is the first reduction in force and funding since the wosd started,,budget increases yearly since the inception of the DEA.
It sent a message that the drug warriors were not bullet proof in a budget situation,,now maybe the trend will continue.
I’m sure Hitler believed he was doing good for the German people as well. I bet when the DEA aligned themselves with a Paki Jihad terror group which invaded Mumbai, India in 2008, they were thinking of it as neither wrong nor right. This is why we have to vilify the DEA at every level or in the future, the DEA will be killing people for another War Against (place object or group). It’s a crying shame that far too few of our dear DEA and our local law enforcement aren’t dying in this War on Drugs/Terror fiasco . . . if they even had the balls to share the graves with our U.S. Marines and Soldiers, we would have ended this war long ago and we might even have more law enforcement officers with a consciousness who can discern from right and wrong. He got a Criminal Justice degree: there is nothing more offensive than to see a group of Criminal Justice Majors at your local university, most of them being cops or are going into cop related fields in the future . . . this is akin to an academic environment that will edit history, philosophy, literature and art for content . . . its offensive to allow college courses that teach our police or citizens how to further take away our rights and why the Law cannot be questioned or boycotted as long as it’s the Law.
“paki” is usually considered a racist term. when you use such words many readers switch off for that reason
War Vet used the term “Paki” correctly – “stan” means “land of” (like Afghanistan = land of the afghans, Baluchistan – land of the baluchs”, and so on). So Pakistan = land of the Pakis. From Wikipedia:
“Etymology
The name Pakistan literally means “Land of (the) Pure” in Urdu and Persian. It was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never, using it as an acronym (“thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN”) referring to the names of the five northern regions of the Indian subcontinent: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan”. The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name.”
nevertheless the term is used in an abusive and racist way in many countries where pakistanis have immigrated over the last fifty years. i am simply advising wv of the way many readers will interpret a post using that term.
“Freedom includes the right to say what others may object to and resent… The essence of citizenship is to be tolerant of strong and provocative words.” — John Diefenbaker
Besides, as divadab wrote, it’s not really a slur in the first place.
suggest you ask some pakistanis how they feel about this “non-slur”
I’ve heard the term ‘paki’ used by British citizens (should we call them Brits?), and at least in England it’s taken on a derogatory connotation. It’s not commonly heard in the U.S., and this is only the second time I’ve encountered it here.
‘Paki’ does have an Anglo-Saxon, four-letter bluntness to the sound of it, which for some people comes too close to making it useful as a four-letter slur, and so the term ‘Pakistani’ becomes the formal and neutral terminology.
My uncle is from Pakistan and I don’t think it’s physically possible for it be a slur in the U.S. as long as the terms Brit and Arab exists as the words describing one’s national origin . . . these words are not something akin to the ‘N’ word or ‘K’ word or ‘S’ word or ‘K’ word or ‘S’ word or ‘WB’ word or ‘C’ word. If you are from a place where the word can be bad, then it is bad, but if you are from a place where it is not bad, then it isn’t bad. But I do agree with Servetus about it having more negative meaning in England than here in the States. We let people call us Americans, though no such country exists –but simply because it is a shortened version for calling a person from the United States or the United State of America. But why are we allowing racists to own such words like ‘Paki’ in the first place . . . I never gave them permission to own such words, nor do I respect the rights of racists to own such words in the first place . . . to believe the word ‘Paki’ has a racial tone is to give them permission and to thus approve of the use of the word by allowing it to be taboo on our behalf.
wv i think you should read up a little of the history of anti south asian racism in countries like britain where “paki bashing” by extremist groups like the english defence league are a daily threat to many. also there is no “here” (presumably the us for you) on the internet. dwr is read in many different countries and, if we are to be effective as drug reformers we need to avoid alienating individuals and groups by using racially charged terms. youre free to use any terms you like in the end within the limits imposed by the site just as i am free to stop reading a post if it uses racist terms.
in case you think this is unique to britain canada also has a history of racism directed against “pakis”
I don’t believe that is what Dief meant. His quote was about ideas, not racial slurs. Provocative ideas may be difficult for some to accept, but only bigots use racially charged words. FWIW WV did not seem to be using it in a racially charged way, just carelessly.
This is what happens in every prohibition, regardless of substance. The line between paladin and malefactor gets erased, and in the end, it becomes ever harder to discern any daylight between the two.
Indeed, the ugly fact is that substance prohibitions create a sick symbiosis which has led to the equally sick distortion of society’s priorities. The cop needs the dealer, and the dealer needs prohibition laws that provide justification for the cop to chase the dealer.
Insane? Of course. Unfortunately, America has not reached the point that Churchill noted long ago when he said:
“You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing…after they have tried everything else.” (Emphasis mine -k.)
We’re close, but not there, not yet. I just hope that it doesn’t take something gruesomely spectacular to achieve that particular satori.
Though I’m sure it was the last thing on your mind from happening: Something gruesomely spectacular for the whole prohibition show to get over would be a drug money bought or created nuclear weapon being used . . . I do recall reading the ‘Commission Report’ where Osama was supposedly ripped off with fake nuclear material back in the 90’s. And given the date when Pakistan was able to make their bomb in 98’ (decades after India and decades after they bagan), it’s my speculation that drug money paved its way since it was supposedly the CIA that helped Pakistan to become a multi-Billion a year drug producing/selling nation during the war with Russia. Brookings, NPR, NY Times etc etc did a whole list of stories on North Korea remaining a nation simply because their economy exists off of meth sold worldwide . . . while the most drug users live in Iran (per-capita), this postulates the notion that State Sponsored terrorism can quite literally mean designated drug dealers protected by the state. Of course our nation allowed 200 U.S. Marines to be blown to bits in 1981 . . . far too many people calling themselves Doctor have stated that Lebanon as long used drug money to finance war and terrorism . . . makes me wonder how many people were killed from drug money by Syria’s president, since illicit funds from a renewable source seems to be the best way to spend millions of dollars without using a single penny that the people, government, big business and economy rely upon.
The drug war gives the power of life and death over its “enemies” (including most of the posters herein!) to its enforcers. As Lord Acton noted “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And because the foundation of the “war on drugs” is fraudulent, based as it is on lies and fear and preservation of monopoly profits, its entire edifice is corrupt and corrupting.
Unjust dominion. Punishment for non-crimes. This is an oppressive regime that is corrupting our entire commonweal. This is how a police state is founded – by making enough activity illegal that anyone can be a target of selective enforcement.
Why do these people hate America so much? I mean, they claim to love it, swear an oath to defend the Constitution, but yet every time a police officer asks to look in your trunk he is pissing on what he swore to defend.
My response (which I’ve used only once”) is “thanks for giving me the opportunity to defend the Constitution”. That sure gives them pause.
We have met the enemy in the ‘War on Drugs” and he is us!
Man, I should use your term of thanking the cop (knock on wood, that I’ll never have to). Usually I speak really loud so the microphones can hear me . . . but I’ve camouflaged my car with military stickers, a politicians sticker and ‘so and so’ for Sheriff sticker, which I hope reduces them asking me dumb questions. I’m lucky that I live in a state where being a vet and having dog tags in your car usually keeps the cops mouths shut (“He’s a vet, what legal right do I have to ask him if I can searchâ€) . . . carrying around one’s VFW hat also helps as well. Of course, I’ve always wanted to tell a cop that if he doesn’t leave or at least write me my ticket and let me go that I’ll place him under citizen’s arrest . . . but I’m not thinking that will work out well unless it scares him away.
You said the ‘drug war gives the power of life and death over it’s enemies’ –this is so true, but sadly I believe it gives life and death over it’s allies and neutrals as well . . . I’m convinced an inside 9/11 job utilized drug money because of what the CIA taught us, just like a Jihad attack would have utilized drug money as well and I’ve interpreted it as: the twin towers fell because someone got busted for pot seeds in Miami, Florida –people were jumping out of the Twin Towers because some poor farmer in Nebraska got busted for meth. I’ve long thought that the War on Drugs affects more non-drug users than it does drug users . . . the drug user simply goes to jail, while the non-drug user loses their legs or is forced to witness a dozen Mali/Guinea-Bissau rebels rape one’s mother and sisters: all for drugs –all because drug money allows and finances evil.
Every time I get a chance to write to a politician who is pro-medical marijuana, I always begin the letter as following: Thank you for stopping international terrorism and saving the lives of our troops in combat operations . . . it’s a well known fact that medical marijuana saved the DoD at the very least, half a billion dollars of our tax money from being used up in the War on Terror by medical pot reducing the sale of illegal pot and by reducing pot users from having access to drug dealers selling something white and originating from the Golden Crescent . . . medical pot reduces one using pot smuggled from Lebanon or Morocco or Afghanistan, which reduced the amount of money we spend on the war on terror. Five to twenty grand less a smuggler makes, equals at the very least, a few million dollars the U.S. saves since everyone’s spouse or next of ken gets one million dollars from the government as soon as they die in a war zone . . . not including a reduction in air strikes, medical services, artillery, blown up vehicles, spent rounds, local corruption, and fewer wounded. I think legal pot in Holland has saved dozens if not hundreds of Dutch people from dying from a Jihad attack (and many others from surrounding European nations because of pot tourism decreasing illegal sales of pot in Germany or France) –If I’m wrong, I’ve thus proved no such terror attack ever occurred in Spain or London.
Heard that ScumBuddy that owes me and several others money saw fit to blow it elsewhere Hogging down two illicitly gotten Viagras. Said it hurt and he’d never do it again. Awww. Mental Cases. I tried not to laugh. Ironic how Suicide can sometimes be praised as a good thing.
This is pretty good reporting. There are awards for great reporting, including the Pulitzer prize. There is far more bad reporting than good. There should be an award created for the worst reporting. There could be categories, like worst analysis of international events, worst reporting on crime, worst reporting on drug prohibition, racial relations, etc. etc. I nominate the Chilliwack Times and the Medicine Hat News in the worst overall category.
“When Drug Cops Become Criminals”? When they become drug cops.
Excellent discussion over at the New England Journal of Medicine:
Medicinal Use of Marijuana
And there are two articles in one:
* Option 1: Recommend the Medicinal Use of Marijuana
* Option 2: Recommend against the Medicinal Use of Marijuana
with discussion largely from doctors. It’s obvious there are still true Prohibitionist believers among the MD community but they are overwhelmed by their literate and understanding peers.
and there is a poll near the top of rt hand column…
I posted the prohib side the other day,,it was a doctor of psychiatry recommending that medical doctors not prescribe marijuana as medication because of one case he had either experienced or heard about,,wasn’t able to read the entire diatribe because after basing his psychiatric opinion on what is or isn’t medicine on one case,,I lost it and went straight to comments.
As always, the prohibs fall back to predictable and simultaneously lame arguments:
1. What if it affects her driving ability! (I’m pretty sure spewing your guts out from chemo might be the main cause of driver impairment).
2. What if it affects her memory! (she’s dying you stupid braindead fucks)
3. Fungal spore! (well, the FDA refuse to regulate cannabis as a herbal medicine, so whose fault is that?)
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strayan, what about the children? Have you forgotten how many of those people will end up suffering from the fiction of merrywanna addiction if they see a cancer patient feeling better because their medicine? Do you know how many of our children today abuse cancer chemotherapy medicine for that exact reason?? Haven’t you ever heard of robotripping??? Getting drunk on Listerine???? The Lost Generation????? Infant mortality?????? How automobile airbags can be fatal to children and midgets?????? Pedophilic Popes??????? Oh well shit, I appear to be almost out of question marks and still have lots of posts to write elsewhere so I need to save them. But rest assured that…goddammit Pete Bulkner stole my entire literary device below. Hey Petey B. we have a social contract in this column with very specific and reserved roles. Exercises in stupidity are my bailiwick here. In the future if you don’t follow the rules I’m going to hunt you down and purposefully get your children addicted to merrywanna! Trust me, you won’t like the way it will make them question your authoritay!! Now go jump through some hoops, you bother me.
The FDA never regulates herbal medicine because their not drugs stupid stoner.Why dont you craw back into your mothers basement and smoke your retard sticks some more. Maybe you’ll die off sooner from lack of braincells. Cause you smoked them to death. You marijuana addicts are all the same.Get so addicted you start mainlining your weed.
what about the lives lost due to their unresponisable use. They deserve the best.They don’t mind getting arrested because it teaches them not to mess with drugs. Pot’s the leading cause of homophobic-phobia. Marijuana’s the #1 cause of spousal abuse,unresponsive date rape, second in admissions of mental health facilitys(stoners think their dogs tell em how weeds bad) and their right! marijuana is bad!
It cause that disese where you wake up in your underwear inside a giant bowl of captian crunch peanutbutter ceral(with a side of braincancer) calling up your brother asking him what happend the night before in your marijuana benge,Then you realize you dont even have a brother(Wow man thats some good shit man hehe)
doesn’t matter anyways Holder will just nullify those ballot measures becauae their illegal .ITs ILLEGAL to legalize a illegal drug,That is not up to the public voters,Those measures voilate so nmany laws.
Marijuana has cause 8 time of vecuilar homicide,hit in runs, homosexualitiy exposure, people who hit a joint once has imcreaased
I guess it is a good thing that WA and CO only legalized weed and did not make it mandatory,,you will never know the grace of the lady,,and that is a good thing.
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Pete Bulkner, you’ve made me think of my ex-girlfriend from the middle 1980s. She was very fond of peanut butter enemas. Afterward she’d say “ooh, you got peanut butter in my chocolate!” and then she would have Reese’s Feces®. She was a very weird chick.
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This one is from the “I wish I lived in the Land of Lincoln” category:
Mississippi Ratifies 13th Amendment Banning Slavery
How the heck did I miss that one? I must concentrate on trying to get out of my cave from time to time. It’s still good to see Mississippi decide to finally move into the 19th Century. BTW, Mississippi was also the last State to repeal drinking alcohol prohibition doing that almost 5 decades before letting go of being a slave State.
….she was weird? It’s too early, that’s (almost) too disgusting to be funny. UGH.
I second that.
Peanut butter enemas? Ugh.And the last part about ‘chocolate’…(Shudders in revulsion, looking sadly at now-unappealing Reese cup.)
You just had to share that, didn’t you?
(Sputtering, raucous laughter) Oh, jeez, thanks for brightening a gray Sunday morning!
Please tell me, are you actually a writer for “The Daily Show” or “Colbert Report”? Or maybe one of the the worthies at The Onion? If not, you should contact them and send this along as a sample of your satiric genius! I’m quite sure they’d hire you on the spot!
That is, of course, if you were being facetious…
Sadly based on Pete Bulkner’s comments at stopthedrugwar’s chronicle, he is being completely sincere. Note that most of his comments and the replies have been deleted. While its true that Bulkner is a know-nothing prohibitionist extraordinaire trolling for a reaction, I don’t like the censorship.
I went there and didn’t find any traces. And yes, I agree, I’d rather see such – honest expressions – than censorship.
Because the prohibs damn themselves with very little in the way of assistance from us. I am not a religious person, but I am reminded of the Bible line that said something about it’s not what a man puts in his mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of his mouth that does. In this case, what emits from his keyboard.
Mr. Bulkner’s evidently inchoate thought processes are mirrored in his writing…and is sadly typical of the very lowest ranks of the opposition. Another reason why we’re winning…
Pete…seek help. Marijuana is good medicine for a lot of ailments but AFAIK it’s not effective on Tourettes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome
Sounds like a drunken troll.
Have another Coors Pete.
I don’t think Pete B is being serious. I think he’s making fun of the high school drop out mentality of most of our police, judges, DA, jailors and politicians.
White House Drug Czar to speak at Marquette
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/194227441.html
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The White House drug czar will be in Milwaukee next week.
Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, will speak at Marquette University on Wednesday.
The former Seattle police chief is expected to talk about his approach to drug policy. He says it should be treated like a public health issue along with a criminal justice issue.
Hopefully he posts a transcript online before going there. Wait, what am I saying, what happened to open debate?
The Spiegel-Online article truly is a powerful story. In the simple black-and-white world we’re spoon-fed by authoritarians with double-digit IQs, such stories should not exist. Not only do stories exist, they’re paradigmatic.
Whatever Mr. Martinez’s skills might be as a drug warrior cop, it’s obvious he doesn’t read much. If he’s the good Christian he says he is, he may be compelled by his religious affiliations to avoid reading, cinema, and anything else that might swerve him from the path of wrongness. Salvador Martinez is the perfect dupe in a drama he can never hope to understand.
Fall guys like Martinez end up being victims of the drug war along with civilians and the rest of society. The worst examples of inhumanity include the manipulation and exploitation of numbskulls by tyrants who disguise themselves as avenging angels. It’s not hard to find and hire people like Salvador Martinez, people who never question authority, who are willing to do anything they’re told while going beyond the call of duty for themselves. They become both perpetrator and victim, and thereby lose any proviso for pity and sympathy.
Here is something that the drug war has created:
“The Supreme Court ruled patient-to-patient sales of medical marijuana are illegal, so dispensaries are illegal.
Here’s the absurd part: Patients can buy marijuana — it’s their right — but no one can sell it to them.
It’s like saying we have free speech but no one can listen”
http://tinyurl.com/d9hphwm
We have a Government who now blatantly thumbs its nose at its own voters. Its time to re-evaluate how we describe this new type of Governing system.
It is time for a Constitutional Committee/Convention formed by every state gov and his AG,,that gives 100 votes,,chaired by the Supreme Court. Any laws that are in violation of the Bill of Rights in any form should be struck down and removed or re-written.
And something has to be done to shrink the number/size of bureaucracies and their powers. Bureaucrats should never have the power to create laws or policy,,their policy should be from the legislature,not something they think up.
How about a citizen committee to sit with the Supremes keeping them honest, so someone doesn’t load it up with 9 Scalia’s.
OT
China has its own DEA, complete with drones:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/china-execution-parade-tv
Peter, I think the way of the future is for every citizen to get his own:
http://tinyurl.com/bmkjyzc
For an initial purchase price of $300, I think there are enough neighborhood mechanics around that can help us equip them.
there’s a pic of the Chinese DEA drone on the guardian link
In Aviations Regulations, the Pilot-in-Command is given in many instances the choice between ‘Should’ (Recommended), and ‘Shall’ (Mandatory). 1984 cloned Orwell-as-A-Handbook Smitten Tyrants just adore the latter Legalese when foaming the Spigot of rule-making, even in cases where it is unworkable and often downright stupid.
‘Because Love is lacking Leaders, and Leaders are lacking Love..’ (Shakira)
We really should dial back this Madness on both sides of the spectrum or we shall surely endure our Children slapping us around when we are Old.
According to Pittsburgh NORML, Holder will be making his ‘big’ announcement on Wednesday. He won’t disappoint, because you can’t be disappointed when you have the lowest expectations.
Hey, Pete; the little thingie on the main page that gives the number of comments is stalled at 4 for this string. Obviously needs a shot of WD-40 or a little percussive adjustment.