Pubdate: Fri, 18 Aug 2006
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Section: Feature Article
Website: http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
Author: Jacob G. Hornberger
Note: Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of 
Freedom Foundation - www.fff.org
Referenced: The Washington Post article 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n1059.a06.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/DEA
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

DEA SNAKE OIL

Don't ever suggest that federal bureaucrats are not smart. Take, for 
instance, the DEA, the federal agency that has the responsibility of 
waging the war on drugs, a war that has obviously failed to achieve 
its objective after 30 years of warfare, not to mention all the 
collateral violence that the drug war has spawned.

Amidst growing discussion and debate in the mainstream media on the 
libertarian idea of ending the war on drugs by legalizing drugs, 
guess what the DEA is using as a way to distract people's attention 
away from that solution.

Yes, you guessed it! The DEA is employing the magic word, the word 
that gets everyone's knees a-knockin' - the word that causes them to 
pull the duct tape out and start sealing their windows - the word 
that induces them to beg the government to "temporarily" take away 
their freedoms.

Yes, the DEA is saying that the drug war is necessary because of ... 
(drum roll) ... terrorism!

Much like the snake-oil salesmen of old, the DEA is touring the 
country with a traveling exhibit in which a post-9/11 President Bush 
waving a flag is juxtaposed with an African-American woman lying in 
bed next to her baby as she smokes crack cocaine. There are also 
photos of the noted terrorist Osama bin Laden on the walls of the 
exhibit alongside noted drug dealer Pablo Escobar.

The irony of all this is that to the extent that there are terrorists 
financing the operations through drug sales, it's a direct result of 
the exorbitant profits that the drug war produces, which would 
disintegrate with legalization.  Thus, what the DEA officials fail to 
realize (or not) is that it is their own war that provides the monies 
to finance the terrorists. It's just another perverse result of 
another perverse federal program.

According to the Washington Post, the exhibit claims that heroin 
sales supported the Taliban, while conveniently omitting not only 
that the Taliban regime opposed heroin production but also that 
heroin production has soared in the wake of the U.S. government's 
invasion of Afghanistan to fight terrorism.

Of course, the sad part about this is that many Americans will walk 
through the exhibit and never figure any of this out. They'll see the 
photos of 9/11, Osama, Escobar, and drug deals and quickly draw the 
conclusion that the DEA wants them to reach: "Drugs and terrorism go 
together.  Please keep going with the 30-year war on drugs and the 
perpetual war on terrorism to protect us from both the drug dealers 
and the terrorists." It will never occur to some people that it is 
the U.S. government's own policies - the drug war and an 
interventionist foreign policy - that have engendered both the drug 
lords and the terrorist blowback against the United States.

As people fall for the obviously deceptive propaganda, the DEA 
bureaucrats will cheer because they'll get to keep their budgets, 
jobs, and salaries as the drug war continues. The drug lords will 
cheer as well, for the same reason.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake