Another drug-free goal!

You’d think they’d learn.
First we had the 1986 crime bill that set into law the “fact” that the country would be drug free by 1995. Newt Gingrich then said we’d be drug free by 2001. The world was supposed to be drug free by 2008.
What next? West Virginia!
That’s right. The latest idiot to mortgage his citizens’ future for an empty promise is Governor Manchin, in his State of the State address:

And for the future health of all of our citizens, we must continue our war on illegal drugs in West Virginia. In the past, we have committed extra money to this effort, but this year, due to the hard work of our State Police as part of an investigation led by federal prosecutors, we will be receiving over $44 million to help combat our state’s drug problem – and I believe that within the spending guidelines and requirements given to us by the federal government, we can make tremendous strides toward winning our drug war once and for all.
As I said in this chamber two years ago, I want our drug criminals to continue to know that wherever you are and wherever you may be hiding or hiding your illegal drugs, our troopers will find you.
Therefore, I am proposing that we use these new funds to institute my strategic spending plan for a drug-free West Virginia. [emphasis added]

That’s right. He’s going to win the drug war and create a drug-free West Virginia. It’s magic!
Now, there are some other issues in West Virginia. Forbes has rated West Virginia 49th (beating only Louisiana) in ranking of best states for business, and experts have said that the work force is dangerously under-educated.
But Governor Manchin is ready to deal with that… after fighting the drug war.

So next to tackling our drug problems, the best thing we can do to improve our work force is to target our higher education and work force development investments toward meeting the needs of the state’s growing and emerging industries.

Uh huh. Education and development are second to the drug war in improving the work force.
I suppose that might be true if you’re only working on developing your prison workforce.