You are currently browsing the Blog weblog archives for the day 3. July 2008.
3. July 2008 by admin.
In the 1960s and 1970s the
Vietnam War. In 1973 President Nixon established the Drug Enforcement Administration to spearhead the global war on drugs. In the beginning the DEA had 43 foreign offices in 31 countries, about 1,500 special agents and a budget around $75 million. Today the DEA boasts 86 foreign offices in 62 countries, about 5,250 agents, and a budget around $2.3 billion.
After 35 years, what has DEA done besides get bigger? Well, it spent over $30 billion dollars of tax payer money.
It does not seem to have decreased the amount of drugs available since during its tenure the amount of marijuana and heroin taken by law enforcement has doubled and the amount of cocaine has remained the same. Moreover, the price of drugs has dropped during that time indicating that the available supply has increased. If drug interdiction was working you would expect the price to increase as supply decreased. When the price goes down, you assume the supply has increased accordingly.
From 1981 to 2003 the price of cocaine has dropped by 4/5ths, the price of crack has dropped by 2/3rds, the price of heroin has dropped by 5/6ths and the price of meth has dropped by half.
Marijuana, the least harmful of the recreational drugs has doubled in price so that could be a win attributed to DEA — encouraging the use of hard drugs over marijuana?
On top of price drops for hard drugs, the potency has increased during DEA’s tenure. Cocaine is 50% more pure, heroin 3 times more pure, crack the same, meth the same. Marijuana has actually doubled in potency consistent with its price increase. These are all lessons we learned during the prohibition of alcohol. Then high percentage alcohol liquids were encouraged since the importers would ask a higher price for less liquid.
So DEA can claim that after 35 years and $30 billion dollars we now have more powerful, more plentiful but cheaper drugs. In government nothing succeeds like failure.
And, as you might imagine, the percentage of people using drugs has increased as DEA’s budget has increased. In 1979 31.3% of persons 12 or older had used drugs; in 2006 45.4% of persons 12 or older had done so. So, the percentage of drug users increases by half. Based on population, DEA heralded in an increase in lifetime drug users from 56 million to about 110 million. In government nothing succeeds like failure.
The DEA did triple arrests of Americans from over 600,000 to over 1.8 million from 1973 to 2006, about a three time increase.
In 1979, over 500 Americans died from overdoses on opiates, coke and meth. By 1998 we lost about 5,000. After that date, the federal government started mixing in deaths from prescription drug deaths so we cannot track the DEA’s death toll on the American public.
Another government boondoggle; in government nothing succeeds like failure.
We represent people charged with DWI/DUI, reckless driving, speeding tickets and people injured in car crashes. If you have questions about any of these topics please look on our site for the information E-Books: http://www.bobkeeferlaw.com. Attorney Bob Keefer has been practicing in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia for over 25 years. He routinely goes to court in Rockingham County VA; Harrisonburg VA; Augusta County VA; Staunton VA; Woodstock VA; Shenandoah County VA; and Waynesboro VA. His other sites are http://www.keefercard.com; http://www.duidriver.net; http://www.recklessdriving.net
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3. July 2008 by admin.
The most dangerous part of a traffic stop is not the car’s inhabitants it is the passing traffic. Virginia recently enacted a law requiring motorists to move over and give emergency vehicle room. Only idiots were not doing this in the past. The real problem is that the highways are too crowded. Who controls the highways? The government. Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.
We represent people charged with DWI/DUI, reckless driving, speeding tickets and people injured in car crashes. If you have questions about any of these topics please look on our site for the information E-Books: http://www.bobkeeferlaw.com. Attorney Bob Keefer has been practicing in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia for over 25 years. He routinely goes to court in Rockingham County VA; Harrisonburg VA; Augusta County VA; Staunton VA; Woodstock VA; Shenandoah County VA; and Waynesboro VA. His other sites are http://www.keefercard.com; http://www.duidriver.net; http://www.recklessdriving.net
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