Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jan 2014
Source: Stillwater Gazette (MN)
Copyright: 2014 The Stillwater Gazette
Contact:  http://www.stillwatergazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3246
Author: Brad Ayers
Note: Ayers is a Stillwater native who began writing for the Gazette 
while still in high school in 1952. Now 78 and semi-retired, he 
writes from his wilderness home near Frederic, Wis.  His background 
is well documented on various internet search sites. Ayers' 
hardcover, non-fiction book, ZENITH SECRET, released in November, can 
be downloaded from the internet or ordered from the publisher or 
local bookstore.

REARVIEW MIRROR - THE DRUG WAR IS A FAILURE

Any astute observer of the American sociocultural scene cannot ignore 
the increasing popular momentum for the realistic, practical 
acceptance of a broad range of non-violent human behavior, whether it 
be sexual preference or the decriminalization of the sale, possession 
and use of marijuana as a "recreational" narcotic, comparable to the 
use of alcohol.

A growing number of states are legalizing weed, and I reflect upon my 
own experience in another age when I zealously became involved in the 
drug issue.

Nowadays typically relegated to the back pages of the print media, 
and seldom even mentioned on TV/broadcast/cable news coverage, is an 
ongoing 30-year war that has cost our country more than Afghanistan, 
Iraq and all the other military battles of the past three decades combined.

It's America's so-called "war on drugs." One has a tough time finding 
any comprehensive accounting of the expense associated with the engagement.

In the late 1970s, I lost someone I cared deeply about to substance 
addiction. I might have married her, but the dope kept interfering 
with our relationship. Only in her early 30s, she suffered a life 
disabling aneurysm. I felt profound guilt for not having acted to 
intervene in her self-destructive life-style. My grief and sense of 
helplessness gave way to anger and determined vengeance for the loss 
of what had been so promising. I wanted to bring down every drug 
pusher I could find. As a private detective licensed in three states 
identified as critical in narcotic trafficking, I decided to test the 
premise that all the best actors are not in Hollywood.

So, when the Reagan-Bush Administration announced an all-out war on 
drugs in the early 1980's, the opportunity presented itself. As a 
former military and CIA covert actions specialist, licensed 
commercial pilot, I volunteered and was signed up as an undercover 
contract operative with the Drug Enforcement Administration. I made 
my first significant drug buy connections at the Lowell Inn, the 
Afton House and T.J. Frosts in St. Paul.

I didn't look or act like a cop, and because of my extensive 
background in the Caribbean, I was then assigned to the DEA's South 
Florida Task Force headed by Vice President George H.W. Bush. I was 
detailed to work under the supervision of the Joint Task Force office 
in Key West. The Florida Keys, the Bahamas and Central America, areas 
familiar to me from my CIA and air charter flying days, became my 
beat. From the fall of 1982, beginning my undercover work in the Twin 
Cities and Chicago, ending up in Ft. Myers, FL in the fall of 1985, I 
served honorably and at high risk with DEA. My cover prevented me 
from carrying a gun, and a Swiss Nagra miniature tape recorder was 
frequently taped to my abdomen when I went into the field.

I obviously managed to survive the experience. My service is 
officially documented as is what this undertaking cost me personally. 
With my life in disarray, I returned to the St. Croix Valley in 1986 
after testifying about my DEA experience to Congressional 
investigators in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal/probe that 
nearly brought down the Reagan White House. Much has been written 
about this and is available on the Internet.

I come forth now, as a former frontline combatant in the drug war to 
publicly state, in good conscience, that our country's war on drugs 
is an exercise in futility. I do this as I'm encouraged to see a 
number of states and nations maturely and pragmatically begin to 
modify their sociopolitical and cultural views on the drug issue, 
narcotics law enforcement and related criminal penalties. The time 
for this is long overdue.

Public opinion is evolving to an acceptance of the fact that our 
present approach to the drug issue is impractical from every 
standpoint, and the law(s) are fundamentally unenforceable. The 
costs, policing, apprehension, criminal legal/judicial criminal 
process, incarceration, etc. far outweigh any positive end result 
when balanced against our collective social interests.

The existing morality-based rationale in dealing with the matter only 
serves to perpetuate the problem and make it ever more lucrative drug 
trade in America. Our prisons are crowded with petty sellers and 
users at great expense. Has anything been achieved? We have made 
little progress over the years in the attempt to eradicate what is 
really an uncontrollable supply and demand phenomena. Drug 
enforcement laws have created the same kind of artificial economy and 
gangland criminal subculture that was born of liquor prohibition in the 1920s.

The human animal has and will continue to do whatever it can to 
achieve temporary nirvana whether it be from intoxicants, drugs, sex, 
money or power. Some cultures traditionally accept the use of 
narcotics as a means of achieving a higher level of intellectual and 
spiritual insight, and they survived. Should we also outlaw the 
Internet on moral grounds because a few hedonistic narcissists post 
obscene photos and pictures of their body parts on cyberspace sites? 
What are we afraid of?

Let's get real. If a certain segment of society wishes to waste 
itself on booze or dope, so be it. With our national and state 
economics in free fall, let's figure out a way to decriminalize 
common demand now-illegal substances and relieve ourselves of 
fighting another war that cannot be won. Put recreational narcotics 
in a controlled marketplace, as we have with alcohol, and tax the 
sale appropriately. Penalize those who abuse the use and, if under 
the influence, threaten public safety.

Given the present economic dysfunction in America, and the apparent 
huge demand for drugs, we could probably wipe out those budget 
deficit problems in no time flat.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom