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Editorial:
Stopping
Bongs,
Not
Bombs
(Evidently)
4/7/06
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/430/stoppingbongs.shtml
David Borden, Executive
Director, [email protected], 4/7/06
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 |
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David Borden
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Americans hold a diversity
of opinions on how best to fight the "war on terror." But we're just
about unanimous in wanting to see it go well -- we want the next attack
on our soil (and attacks elsewhere) to be prevented. We have differences
in our views on immigration and the flow of the undocumented crossing our
borders. But most of us, whatever we think about illegal immigration,
would prefer to see actual "bad guys" -- people who are willing to kill
other people and have a high probability of doing so -- get nabbed rather
than get through.
How comforting, then to know
that the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Division (ICE, formerly the INS) has every danger to America as well under
control as it possibly can, and has enough resources to spare to also raid
Florida head shops (sarcasm). It's a higher priority, and rightfully
so (additional sarcasm) to have at least some Homeland Security agents
spend their time confiscating bongs, rolling papers and pipes, instead
of doing a little more investigating of terror cells or searching a few
more of the crates entering our wide-open ports.
I'm not surprised at all,
and that's not cynicism talking. I am not surprised because I have
heard firsthand reports about the situation. Last year I had a conversation
with a former employee of the Customs office in a major US city that is
a hub for international travel. Not surprisingly, the office was
extensively involved in fighting drug trafficking, but too extensively
-- even the counter-terrorism division, where this person worked, focused
primarily on drugs.
To be fair, that was before
9-11. Surely they got their priorities back on track after the shocking
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, no?
No. The counter-terrorism
division of this Customs office continued to focus primarily on drugs.
Even after 9-11.
In my opinion, that demonstrates
extraordinarily poor judgment, as does the choice by the ICE agents to
spend their time looking for bongs, not bombs. Homeland Security
does not exist to confiscate bongs. Homeland Security is supposed
to be looking for bombs.
I do not, however, believe
that all these agents and their supervisors are stupid. I believe
that drug-fighting is so alluring to a large number of our police and investigators
that they just can't help it. Even if they're supposed to be working
on something other than fighting drugs, if they can find an excuse to drop
what they're supposed to be doing and go fight drugs, they will!
(If I'm right about that, it's another good reason to legalize drugs.)
The 9-11 Commission discussed
this problem in its July 2004 report (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/347/report.shtml).
Evidently southern Florida's Homeland Security officials didn't bother
to read it. Or maybe they just forgot. Or maybe they didn't
want to hear it.
Too bad for America.
-- END --
|
Issue #430
-- 4/7/06
Editorial:
Stopping
Bongs,
Not
Bombs
(Evidently)
|
Feature:
Measure
to
Make
Drug
Czar
Research
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Fungus"
to
Destroy
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to
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Under
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