cannabisnews.com: A Losing Drug War A Losing Drug War Posted by FoM on January 16, 2000 at 09:20:58 PT By Pat Flannery and Dennis Wagner Source: Arizona Central Arizona is Ground Zero in America's war on drugs. Every day, guerrilla smugglers invade the state's southern border with payloads of pot, coke, meth and smack. The drugs are spread across the country - to schoolkids in New York, to stockbrokers in Phoenix, to farm workers in Seattle. The United States has spent billions of tax dollars on border checkpoints, undercover agents, air patrols and money-laundering probes. We've crisscrossed the globe with agents, developed an arsenal of technological goodies to ferret out narcotics, even aimed spy satellites at Colombia to count the coca plants. From Agua Prieta to Yuma, dope smugglers and impoverished illegals dodge a gantlet of interdiction forces. Government agents, most of them dedicated and downtrodden, hunt down the dumb and unlucky. The result: As a new millennium dawns, agents along the Southwestern border are seizing more drugs than ever. Yet they've barely made a dent. In Arizona alone, more than 150,000 people were arrested for drug offenses during the 1990s. Nationwide, prisons teem with a quarter-million dope offenders. But no matter how many are locked up, new drug runners and users take their places, spawning an epidemic of crime, cost and social calamity. The truth is inescapable: The fight against narcotics, which costs Americans nearly $18 billion a year, is the nation's most failed police action since Vietnam. During a seven-month investigation, Arizona Republic reporters spoke to dozens of drug officers, smugglers, drug counselors and residents on la frontera, the 350-mile border separating Arizona from Sonora. They reviewed law enforcement files, court records, congressional reports, expert research, drug legalization tracts and literature from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Nearly every voice, every report, reaches the same conclusion: The drug war isn't being won, and it's not about to be won - not as long as the United States is rich and Latin American countries are poor; not as long as one has drugs and the other wants them. Published: January 16, 2000 Copyright 2000, Arizona About This Series: During a seven-month investigation, Arizona Republic reporters spoke to dozens of drug officers, smugglers, counselors and residents on the Mexican border. The conclusion: We're losing the war on drugs. Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by media000 on January 17, 2000 at 08:33:10 PT the Black Knight ... Black Knighthttp://www.atmos.albany.edu/student/eric/BlackKnight2_small.jpg"I'm not dead yet."http://www.atmos.albany.edu/student/eric/better.au [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on January 16, 2000 at 10:03:58 PT It's Barry McCaffrey's Flying Circus! With apologies to the venerable Monty Python troupe.In an earlier post, I likened the US WoSD as resembling a scene in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail movie. King Arthur is confronting the Black Knight, who won't let him across a bridge. The two begin to swordfight, and Arthur slices off one of the BK's arms. Arthur relents, and expects the BK to stop, but the crazed man tries to continue the fight.Arthur: But your arm's off!BK: No, it isn't!A: (pointing at the severed arm on the ground) Well, what's that,then?BK: Tis but a scratch!A: You *liar*!BK: C'mon, you pansie!Arthur then procedds to cut off the other arm, but the BK keeps goading him, until he's left without any limbs at all.Need I say it? The ONDCP, the DEA, the entire military/police/prison/industrial complex is the BK. They have been outmatched in every arena, undermined by massive corruption, been betrayed by their own cynical leadership, (which cheerleads from the rear while preparing their resumes for 'bigger and better' positions) and they still haven't the sense God gave a flea to realize they've been had. They keep trying to fight a war they lost from the moment it was declared. And they wonder why they bleed so much. Very sad. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: