Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
Organized law enforcement has some problems with Attorney General Holder's announcement last week that the Justice Department would not seek to block Colorado and Washington from implementing their marijuana legalization laws. In a joint letter last Friday, the leaders of seven major law enforcement groups expressed "extreme disappointment" with the move.
While law enforcement has long argued that its role is to enforce the law, not set policy, the police associations clearly felt they should have had input in the Justice Department's decision-making process.
"It is unacceptable that the Department of Justice did not consult our organizations -- whose members will be directly impacted -- for meaningful input ahead of this important decision," the cops wrote. "Our organizations were given notice just thirty minutes before the official announcement was made public and were not given the adequate forum ahead of time to express our concerns with the Department's conclusion on this matter. Simply 'checking the box' by alerting law enforcement officials right before a decision is announced is not enough and certainly does not show an understanding of the value the Federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partnerships bring to the Department of Justice and the public safety discussion."
Beyond their issues with process, the law enforcement groups made it clear that they did not agree with the policy decision. The sky would fall if people could buy and smoke pot legally, the cops warned.
"The decision by the Department ignores the connections between marijuana use and violent crime, the potential trafficking problems that could be created across state and local boundaries as a result of legalization, and the potential economic and social costs that could be incurred," they wrote. "Communities have been crippled by drug abuse and addiction, stifling economic productivity. Specifically, marijuana's harmful effects can include episodes of depression, suicidal thoughts, attention deficit issues, and marijuana has also been documented as a gateway to other drugs of abuse."
As if that were not enough, the cops also warned of "grave unintended consequences, including a reversal of the declining crime rates" of the past decades. But they didn't explain how allowing for legal marijuana sales in Colorado and Washington would cause crime to increase.
For the cops, though, the bottom line was not enforcing the law, but setting policy.
"Marijuana is illegal under Federal law and should remain that way," they wrote. "While we certainly understand that discretion plays a role in decisions to prosecute individual cases, the failure of the Department of Justice to challenge state policies that clearly contradict Federal law is both unacceptable and unprecedented. The failure of the Federal government to act in this matter is an open invitation to other states to legalize marijuana in defiance of federal law."
Maybe law enforcement should just go back to enforcing the laws, not trying to write them.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
This is just part of the game
The prohibitionists will just turn to groups like this to speak for them, because of course organizations of police are highly respected, and their words give pause.. but note they are not speaking for all cops everywhere. The Seattle Police were handing out bags of Cheetos at Hempfest, for crying out loud! And of course we can't forget our friends at LEAP.. Law Enforcement AGAINST Prohibition.
You would think Police would be happy about legalization.. it frees them up to go for real criminals and not just a few kids having a toke.
Also how does legalization NOT take money out of the cartels and drug gangs pockets? After decades of the war on drugs, these gangs are still in business.. you can't eliminate the drug trade because you can't eliminate demand. All demand reduction programs have failed. They also don't have the power to eliminate supply in foreign sovereign nations. This is the best harm reduction approach, period.
And last but not least "entire communities have been devastated by drug abuse and addiction." Really? More like entire communities have been devastated by drug LAWS.. not the drugs themselves. See: Breaking the Taboo documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman.
At this point is hard for anyone to deny that opposing drug law reform is SUPPORTING the illegal cartels and gangs. It just doesn't make any sense!
Poor lil fellas..
What you are watching, is how hard it is to retrain and condition an organization, after decades of training it to be intently bigoted against a legitimate cross section of the population.
As it is, what I hear these law enforcement agencies saying is 'we resent those who hire us, telling us we can not be predators to some of the communities friends and neighbors for doing an activity that we just 'don't like' personally. No science, no facts, we just 'don't like it'.
Drug Enforcement Mafia Duly Warnedâ¦
For decades it’s been clear to those who knew how messed up the drug war is that it could never last. There have been so many signs prohibition was sinking the rats should’ve abandoned the Plague Ship Prohibition long ago.
But now the enforcers, along with their King Rat union bosses, cry foul because they don’t see the obvious, that drug enforcement jobs are doomed, and that the DEA and prohibitionist and rehabitionist bad fellas need to find a different line of work really fast.
Unfortunately, there’s an evolutionary standard called adaptation that’s demanded of the DEA and their partners in crime, and it doesn’t look as if they’re going to meet it. Instead, thousands of prohibitionists will now qualify for the Darwin Awards. Oh, well.
 well first off let me say
well first off let me say WOW!...since when did the police force have the right to dictate laws for us to follow...2nd ,when did it turn out that the federal government was god almighty...this is a country of freedom,and the pursuit of happiness is for all...we the people...democracy...so on so forth...simply put,the people vote for what they want,the state enforces those laws,and the federal government enforces state laws throuout...its not the federal governments place to dictate what individual states decide their laws to be,and it sure as hell isnt the polices right to try and tell the people what the can or cant do...they are there to enforce laws,not harass and bully people around...i see a cop and think what a bunch of hot headed bullies...my rights have been trampled by them since i was a teenager...
do you want to know why i hate the police force so much!...hmmm cant walk down the street without them harassing me for id...all im doing is walking...no you cant have my id... im am doing nothing wrong...where are you coming from,non of your buisness...where are you going,again...none of your business....in the end i always am cuffed,for simply not answering questions they have no right to ask...our so called free country ended up half ass backwards...i remember working in Tampa Florida at a convenience store and a fight broke out in my parking lot...it was pretty brutal and this poor woman was stuck in the middle...the cops,ALOT of them were right across the street on a drug bust for some pot dealer,musta been 15 20 of them cops over there not 75 feet away...i yelled over for help to break it up...an officer looked over at me and just shrugged his shoulders and kept on walking...REALLY! i thought to myself...so after this guy threw the other one through this womans car window i decided i had to stop the fight...i housed the guys and the freaking cops arrested me O.o...welcome to our free country....the whole thing was caught on video surveillance so the charges were dropped,but not till after booking and bail and losing my job...maybe i shoulda let them kill eachother,or the poor lady trying to get out of the parking lot,that had nothing to do with it...i have way more storys of police negligence,and abuse on me...but ive already written a book here so,moral of the story is...something has to change here in our country,and i believe that legalizing maryjane for adult recreational use is perfectly acceptable and far safer substance to use then alcohol...gives the police time to focus on real crime and gets the prisons cleared out from non violent pot offenders,inturn helping decrease our ever growing dept...
If the cops and DEA had just
If the cops and DEA had just a 30 minute notice to bust everyone they would be fine with it. Dirty bastards.
boo fucking hoo
Awwwwww.
Poor "Chicken Littles" are disappointed.
Add new comment