Pure evil

DdC · 01-04-2011, 07:47 PM

Pure evil

Quote:

It seems that no matter how cynical you are on the drug war, if you search hard enough you can find some piece of evil that still exceeds your worst projections. ~ Pete Guither DWR

Quotable from Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings:
No matter how bad it seems, it’s worse

One of the gifts I got for Christmas was the book Cocaine Nation by Thomas Feiling. And even though I’ve already read a lot about the drug war, even though I read Radley Balko’s blog daily and even though I’m incredibly cynical, reading this book I realize that the drug war is even worse than I thought. I already knew about asset forfeiture, racial profiling, the CIA turning a blind eye to drug traffickers, and so forth, at least in broad strokes. However, seeing details that I hadn’t seen before, specific situations that I hadn’t been aware of, the thought going through my mind as I read it is that the drug war is even more evil, more of a clusterfuck, than I had previously realized. It seems that no matter how cynical you are on the drug war, if you search hard enough you can find some piece of evil that still exceeds your worst projections. I know that many of our readers don’t believe in a God, but if you read enough about the drug war I think you’ll have to believe in a devil. For all I know, Lucifer himself is the Drug Czar, and he simply changes his face every time a new President is sworn in. It would explain a lot.

I wonder what it will take to end this monstrosity. I wonder if it’s even possible to end it. Legalizing pot is probably on the horizon, but it will be a long, long journey from legal pot to legal cocaine or legal heroin. I realize that some people balk at full legalization of those drugs, but the battles waged to curtail the trade in those drugs are just as failed and inflict just as much damage as the battles fought to curtail the marijuana trade, and the people who profit (on both sides of the law) are just as evil (if not even more evil). As harmful as those drugs are, it would be far better to address those harms in a framework that doesn’t involve prisons and doesn’t involve gangsters.

The one thing that gives me hope is that, as sparse as the opposition to the drug war is, it at least spans the spectrum. There are only a few issues on which lefty civil libertarians and conservative free market economists are in 100% agreement, and this is one of them. If, at any point, more of our society wakes up and senses that there is something wrong with this policy, no matter where they fall on the ideological spectrum they will find a legalizer willing to explain it in their language.

Aggressive Marijuana Busts Prompt Protests in California
Medical marijuana advocates plan to protest against what they claim were aggressive and uncalled for raids on local cannabis delivery services at a rally planned for Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 a.m., in front of the San Luis Obispo County Courthouse.

During the December 27 arrests, one man suffered a heart attack, guns were held to the heads of children as they were drug from their beds, family pets were kicked, grandparents were handcuffed and forced to lie on the floor and children were removed from their parents’ custody, multiple sources said... At least six agencies and 50 agents participated in the investigation and arrests of 15 people.

Aggressive Police Actions Taken Against Medical Marijuana Delivery Services
During the raids on five medical marijuana providers, police kept people handcuffed face-down on the ground, including a grandmother and two children. One man suffered a heart attack.

The now iconic photo of the ribbon cutting ceremony with the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Janice Peters
His shop scrupulously followed Golden State laws and when he opened his shop in Morro Bay, local officials attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. And that kid he provided medical marijuana to? A high school athlete who had lost a leg to cancer and had a prescription from a Stanford-trained doctor (and in any case, Lynch only dealt with the boy's parents). Yes, a common drug dealer.

A SNITCH Exposed in Charlie Lynch Case by Kylie Mendonca
Snitches. Rats. Turncoats. Squealers. There's no shortage of names for people who start their criminal justice career on one side of the law, and then, through a series of self-preserving acts, find themselves working on the opposite side as confidential informants. Police informants get evidence, they help make cases, and they put themselves in danger to do it. Cops and prosecutors call them indispensable.

Quote:

"The informant created a drug deal
that never would have happened otherwise,"
~ Chris Bleicher

Who's A Rat?
Website which allows people to post photos and information about informants.

Morro Bay Lynching of Lynch
His shop scrupulously followed Golden State laws and when he opened his shop in Morro Bay, local officials attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. And that kid he provided medical marijuana to? A high school athlete who had lost a leg to cancer and had a prescription from a Stanford-trained doctor (and in any case, Lynch only dealt with the boy's parents). Yes, a common drug dealer.

The Obama Admin's Anti-Marijuana Manifesto (thread)

Multiple DEA Raids Target Marijuana in Hawaii

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