The Feds Can't Catch the Cartels' Cocaine-Filled Submarines: Is the War on Drugs a Waste of Money?

Throwing a company under the bus while you're in front of a crowd is easy and does no real damage to the company. On the other hand, the backroom deals that go on behind closed doors do damage to this country. It's people who call those who seek the truth a bunch of pot heads sitting around a bong in their parents basement that end up with egg on their face at the end of the day. If I told you I don't even smoke weed you'd dismiss it as a lie because it's easy for you to live in a world where politicians are trustworthy and care more about you than their bank account or their position of power.

You're last line is precisely my point - politicians generally care more about their position in power than anything else.

With that mind, there is no reason for them to legalize drugs. There is no upside to them doing that - the public just isn't behind it. You can dismiss it as a corporate conspiracy, but that's not it. The public isn't calling for it.

The number of people who want marijuana legalized goes up every year. The people are calling for it. Business people, spiritul people, stupid potheads, millionairs....every single demographic is increasing in number who see the extreme benefits to legalizing marijuana across the board. Let's focus all of those resources on fighting illegal immigration and better, more truthful education about why serious drugs like meth, heroin and prescription narcotics are dangerous and can ruin your lives. People respond better to being free than they do having their hand forced and being lied to.

In 2011 Gallup polled and found that about 50% would support legalization. In Nov 2011, CBS News asked the same question and found that about 40% support legalization while 51% feel it should continue to be illegal. That's far from a cry for legalization.

Also, it's not just Marijuana that we're talking about. It's heroin, cocaine, etc. that are a big part of the problem. Legalizing pot will not stop the need for a war on drugs. What would you suggest we do about those?

If marijuana we're legalized we would have more resources and money to attack the source of the manufactured drugs. A large part of the funding of these drug cartels comes from revenue generated by marijuana. If marijuana was produced, sold and taxed under legitimate American businesses, there would no longer be a need to support the cartels by buying illegally imported weed. Marijuana is no more of a gateway to harder drugs than alcohol is for spousal abuse. You're either that type of person or you're not. There is no justification for marijuana prohibition.

Absolute waste of all resources devoted to it ... hasn't made a dent ... it's simple economics -- as long as there continues to be a demand, there will continue to be a supply .... principles (NOT) learned from 'Prohibition'.

...... NOPE, fighting drugs and drug related crime is a good thing.

Now then, there is a much more efficient fashion of going about it.

Confiscated drugs should be warehoused by DEA for future use, and used like this :

1- Periodic release of Confiscated dope to DEA Agents .... either Super-Refine it for maximum potency or contaminate it.

2 - Joe DEA Agent sells Refined / Contaminated dope to Major League Drug Dealers.

3 - Utilize prisoners on Daily Work Release to sweep up bodies on routine schedule.


Benefits ....

1 - Number of NARC related deaths plummet.

2 - Use money from Drug Sale to Dealer to fund Program.

3- Taxpayer saves via reduced crime and fewer Drug Rehab Participants ... they just frikken' croak.

4 - Only criminals die as Illicit Drug Use is a Crime.

5 - The problem pretty much ' Self-Eradicates '

6 - Fewer Government funded drug programs and expenditures for warnings

7 - Need for DEA and police diminishes



Problems ....

1 - Pansies with the ' What if it's your kid ' stupidity

2 - Unemployed drug dealers

3 - Unemployed Rehab workers

According to what you said, we need more NARC-Related Deaths . . . In fact, those that can't be locked up for breaking the Law; go ahead and kill'em. If you have to walk around with a "crazy brain" then you are useless, anyway; so you might as well stop feeding that so-called BRAIN oxygen, all together. What happens when a brain is deprived of oxygen because of paralized neuro-inhibitors in the brain is depending on the location of the neuro-reception. Actually, you could get a Brain Surgeon to give you THAT (Splendor??) for the rest of your life, if you desire to be de-oxygenated in your brain. You could go in for surgery, and he could cut your head open and snip some of them and staple your head back and send you on the way. No Law Enforcement Agency is even going to touch you. Then you wouldn't have to smoke anything at all . . . That is why some addicts do some really stupid things when their brain is deprived of oxygen for so long . . .Or even a short amount of time; it's to do with the "dangersous" indvidual . . . NOT the so-called "dangerous" drug.

they just keep wasting time and money to try and stop these drug runners and they can never stop it completely. its a waste of time.

Nixon's war on drugs is lost. Legalize POT at the least. No one have ever OD'ed smoking Pot. 50,0000 people die in America every year from alcohol related abuse. At the least the Fed government needs to let the states decide on their own Pot laws. Legalizing POT would create jobs and generate taxes. Better to keep the money here in the USA instead of letting it go to the Drug Lords.

Multiple Millions are wasted each year on the alleged "war on drugs". Multiple Millions are wasted on stockpiling prisoners and paying for their upkeep. Multiple Millions are spent on investigating drug related murders and thefts. Make them legal and controlled by the government and billions will be saved on law enforcement and billions will be gained in taxing the drugs.

Prohibition does not work. Regulate it, tax it and save our tax money to pay down the debt.

These people are "pure evil". They prey on our teenagers and small children. I wish there was a way to eliminate them from the world we live in. They certainly don't deserve to live among the rest of us.

I was once asked to sit on a jury for a fellow who was caught selling drugs near one of our schools.

I told the judge, "I have two small children (I did at the time). I don't believe I'd give this man a fair trial. If I had my way this man would be dragged by a horse throughout the town until he was dead."

He said, "I understand."

To give up on the war on drugs, would be like handing over our children to them. My children are grown up now. Even so, I see the small children in my town and the teenagers (who seem to be skateboarding everywhere) and I can't imagine giving them up to such evil people. Whatever it takes to make their (those involved in the sale of drugs) lives a bit more inconvenient, I am willing to spend. I refuse to surrender to such vicious people.

there has to be a smarter way to deal with illegal drug smuggling ... decriminalization of some drugs mabey ... I don't think cocaine should be decriminalized however .. follow the money if you really want to impact it

You can skip around it with every kind of drug but the truth of the matter is people are going to find their fix whether they get it down the street or have to get it from mexico. It doesn't mean addictive substances are good in any way, but they will always be there. Fighting it with money won't get rid of the problem.

It seems like it. But I'm not really sure what a good alternative would be? I don't think drug runners can be stopped.

They'll be stopped when people stop buying their product, but I don't see that happening either. I think it depends on the users whether or not the stuff sticks around.

150 billion a year on the drug war spent on favored corporations. About 2 billion per year per state spent on locking people up for victimless crimes. We would save 100's of billions a year and end all drug related crime overnight is we legalized all drugs. the war on drugs is one of the biggest scams ever committed against the American people. Prohibition doesn't work...fact.

As it exists right now, YES. There are a couple of other options thought. #1 is to make it legal, grow it locally and apply taxes accordingly which would pretty much eliminate the drug cartel having to supply it. Or #2, lace every brick with a cyanide derivative and let it run it normal course, which would eliminate the demand side of the equation.

"Hypocrite"? Please explain why you would call me a hypocrite. Either solution would be more effective that what is presently being done. Two months ago there was a documentary about a "cigar" boat running from Puerto Rico to Florida. The spy plane kept tabs on it for three hours and attempted to direct the Coast Guard to intercept it at the 12 mile mark. Unfortunately the drug smugglers were able to avoid the CG in the heavy seas at 60 knots and made it to the coast. When the boat was finally discovered abandoned they estimate that it contained about 1800 pounds of cocaine and heroine with a value of about 10 million dollars. I would have rather seen the "cigar" boat blown out of the water at fist contact instead of wasting three hours of time involving two CG ships and an intercept plane with all the personnel involved. As for underground tunnels, a percussion blast to cave-in the tunnel and bury everything in it. Extreme, YES. A solution, DEFINITELY.

You don't have any vices? Why don't we lace them with cyanide. I don't support drug cartels but poisoning drugs is genocide, even worse than the cartels.

My vices are legal. So therefore you are suggesting that we legalize the drug trade, grow it locally, and tax it to care for the health issue that it will cause, thus putting the drug cartels out of business. I can go for that.

Yes, legalize it all. health issues would become far less with legal drugs, kind of like alcohol (prohibition?) The billions we save on the drug war could go into things like health care. there is absolutely no plus side to criminalizing drugs and if there is please tell me. “I’d rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
 —  Thomas Jefferson

We will never arrest our way out of addiction.

Shameful, we should fire these people and put someone in charge that will get the job done. How in the hell can that be, I think we have candy asses for leaders in our leadership of this nation. We should declare all out war on the drug pushers and go in and kick ass with our special forces. I sometimes wonder if the big money drug problem has made many of our elected officials and enforcement persons wealthy playing along as if they are really concerned and against drug dealers. Money the old saying makes the world go round so if we wipe out drugs many will be with out money and revert to robbing, cheating etc to make a buck. I wish we had elected officials more concerned about wiping out drugs but less face it as long as we have drugs, drug dealers and users we have jobs, We the People are dealing with a Hoax when it comes to some elected representatives, they are representing their desires and wishes not We The People. Clint has it right when he said its time to let these people go and give Romney and Ryan a Chance at a real Change, its time to let Obama and his Regime go, hit the road.

The drugs war is a farce.. For fook sake they couldn't ban booze( they tried and failed) and they should learn that the only way to control it is legalize it, take it away from the dealers /gangsters....

just think if alcohol and nicotine was discovered today would it be legal??

Largest, costliest, silliest boondoggle since the Volstead Act.

Ask this guy

The war on drugs is doing very well. We have a large population of worthless feeders to continuously keep the factories of our prison industrial complex buzzing with productivity. It has also been very effective at maintaining dependency and disfunction in “urban” (hint hint, wink wink) populations.
The prisons do a great job, helping to keep America productive, safe and strong. We must support the further development of larger prisons and the privatization of such. Its good for business and a great investment. Don’t believe the liberals who just want to have our streets full of these criminals to further their warped socialist agenda.


*I am auditioning to work for a conservative think tank. I know there are agents of such browsing these posts. I want to get paid for thinking of this evil $#@!. I do well in my chosen profession but I have found that it would be quite profitable and very easy for me to be a conservative writer. I was trained with an elite university debate team, have no real passionate affiliation to any political party, so I’m free to be non emotionally attached. I am also a natural unethical opportunist @$$ hole so there is nothing to deter me from indulging in bogus narcissistic hyperbole. *

A huge waste of money and resources.

Start punishing the users and the field will dry up ,$50,000 fine first time , and death penatly the second done at time of arrest no trail.

Yea that will realy work... are you on drugs???

You must be a Muslim....or Christian

I don't think you understand how addicts work. They'll die for their addiction, so you lose. Next.

What about the "pushers"? Do they get off free?

You do realize everyone in America has the right to a trial by jury, right? You may want to brush up on the Sixth Amendment.

wouldn't it be so much easier if we just legalized drugs and produced our own!

Wars............ End!