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April 19, 2009
How Drug War Lies Threaten the Policy
Yesterday evening as I was driving home on the Nimitz Freeway, a DEA stooge I’d never heard of was interviewed by an NPR person ( Robert Siegel on All things Considered, I think) about the recent flare-up in Mexican border violence. My jaw dropped when he announced that not only was -marijuana the most commonly smuggled drug, despite its bulk and tell-tale odor, it also rewards its distributors with the highest profit margins. Think about that for a while: pot, the pacifist drug of peaceful stoners and the subject of inane word play has matured as the bloodiest illegal drug market and earns Mexican cartels, their biggest profits.A few moments later I nearly went ballistic when the DEA stooge claimed that overall illegal drug use in the US is down significantly and only 4 percent of all Americans are repeat users. I became even more upset when Siegel seemed to accept those answers without question. I remained angry for most of the evening over what I’d heard because I’d just had my own beliefs reinforced by a second straight day of patient histories and was thus acutely aware of just how lame the federal position really is.
By this morning, I’d calmed down enough to think a little more constructively and could discover no mention of either the DEA stooge or his message. That allowed me to realize the potential for pot’s popularity, it’s role in provoking bloodshed, or the illegal profits it generates for turning both the drug war and the DEA into objects of ridicule. All it would take is for someone to begin asking the right questions; like “how long can you guys miss stuff that’s right out in front of you?”
At some point DEA absurdity has to embarrass its academic defenders; whether it’s the phony Pharmacology, imaginative Economics, or Psychiatry’s reliance on the absurd DSM is less important than breaking a malignant policy’s grip on power,
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at April 19, 2009 02:03 AM