cannabisnews.com: Drug Office At Risk in Bush Request 










  Drug Office At Risk in Bush Request 

Posted by CN Staff on July 05, 2005 at 07:56:51 PT
By Mike Soraghan, Denver Post Staff Writer 
Source: Denver Post 

Washington, D.C. -- President Bush's plan for streamlining the war on drugs could spell the end of a regional anti-drug task force based in Denver. Police officials say the group's departure could hamper drug-fighting efforts in the region. Bush has proposed cutting the budget for "High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area" programs by 56 percent, from $227 million this year to $100 million next year. The administration also wants to move them from the office of the White House "drug czar" to the Justice Department.
The Rocky Mountain program, which serves Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana from an office in the Denver Tech Center, likely wouldn't survive such a budget cut, said Tom Gorman, the local program's executive director. The Rocky Mountain program has a staff of 20 and a $9.2 million annual budget. "You'd have to prioritize, and you'd prioritize the New Yorks and Chicagos," said Gorman, who also is president of the National HIDTA Directors Association. "We'd be somewhere in the middle." Nationally, there are 28 such programs, which work with local and state law enforcement agencies to coordinate anti-drug efforts in their regions. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area programs identify illegal drug threats, fund anti- drug task forces, provide analysts and intelligence, and train state and local officers. The Rocky Mountain program helped take down the Mario Oregon-Cortez drug-trafficking organization in 2002. Serving as the Denver hub of a Tijuana drug cartel, the organization reportedly brought in 1,100 pounds of cocaine monthly from Tijuana to Denver. Task forces supported by HIDTA indicted and arrested 21 people. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/hidta.htmSource: Denver Post (CO)Author:  Mike Soraghan, Denver Post Staff WriterPublished: July 05, 2005 Copyright: 2005 The Denver Post CorpWebsite: http://www.denverpost.com/Contact: openforum denverpost.com CannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml

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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on July 06, 2005 at 20:40:59 PT
Play it again, Sam!
" . . . while Walters and his crew warned that Reefer Madness was sending a generation into drug treatment, a new SAMHSA report released this week showed that the majority of people getting treatment for marijuana were not there because they or their families or their doctors or counselors thought they needed treatment, but simply because they had been arrested. According to SAMHSA's June 24 Drug and Alcohol Services Information System (DASIS) report, 58% of all marijuana treatment referrals came from the criminal justice system. "http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/393/mjtreatment.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on July 06, 2005 at 17:23:26 PT
Jose
He's been commiting fraud for years and people are finally starting to call him on it. Good.After a few thousand police officers are out of work and their families suffer just like people who like to smoke a joint in the evening have suffered, they won't be so quick to support the drug war anymore. Good.
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Comment #3 posted by jose melendez on July 06, 2005 at 10:32:03 PT

OverwhelmSam
Apparently, the "Justice" Department got the message that the False Claims Act deems it a felony crime to authorize or receive federal funds based on a lie, since Walters himself is promoting the HIDTA cuts:http://somd.com/news/headlines/articles/2225.shtml BTW, my lawyer's secretary told me she was pulled over and harassed by an HIDTA road block, where cops were standing around like, well, like road construction workers. I encourage EVERYONE to carry video camcorders with fresh tapes and hot batteries!apologies if this was posted twice . . . please feel free to delete or ignore any previous duplicates
see also: Walters slashes HIDTA funding across country
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Comment #1 posted by OverwhelmSam on July 06, 2005 at 04:27:06 PT

According To Walters...
...They're winning the war on drugs. Drug use has declined significantly. So why do you need High Traffic Area Drug Task Forces? You don't, unless someone (WALTERS) is lying.Don't worry you fanatical drug warriors, I'm sure you can get a job as night security somewhere. Cheers!
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