DEA OFFICIAL: DRUG WAR MAKING AN IMPACT

[Alfa]

DEA OFFICIAL, CITING DROP IN AVAILABILITY AND USE OF NARCOTICS, SAYS DRUG WAR MAKING AN IMPACT


GATLINBURG - The war on illegal drugs is making slow but steady progress despite allegations by critics who charge that law enforcement has proven ineffective in stemming drug use, the head of the nation's anti-drug efforts said Tuesday.


Administrator Karen Tandy of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said that aggressively pursuing the drug war has led to a reduction in drug use and availability, but she complained that the media doesn't report the issue fairly.


"Good news doesn't sell," Tandy said. "You won't read about it in the press."


Tandy, who addressed an auditorium packed with police officers and prosecutors as part of the annual Gatlinburg Law Enforcement Conference, took the stage about two hours before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales arrived.


Tandy said that LSD use among teenagers "is at the basement level"


because of strict enforcement of drug laws, that cocaine use has been falling and that there has been a 61 percent drop in ecstasy use during the past two years.


Tandy also said she was especially proud of the amount of money that has been seized from drug offenders, although she conceded that "we've barely hit the tip of the iceberg" in denting the $65-billion-a-year illegal drug trade in the United States.


Tandy said that drug seizures are "on track this year to hit $1 billion" and predicted that amount will eventually climb to $3 billion a year.


"And that's more money, by the way, that will be going back to you,"


she told the assembly of hundreds of law enforcement officers in a reference to state and federal laws that allow funds seized during drug busts to be returned to the agencies that confiscate them.


East Tennessee officials who attended the conference were especially concerned by the amount of methamphetamine use in the area, and Tandy said the good news is that meth is waning in popularity with teens.


Still, she said, more attention needs to be paid to the most vulnerable victims of the meth problem - children who are exposed to toxins during the clandestine manufacturing process.


"We have to work as hard to get these children channeled into a system that gives them a chance," Tandy said, "You are their chance at life."


She also said that agencies have been instructed to pool their resources and channel the worst meth offenders into federal court, where they face longer prison sentences if convicted.


Russ Dedrick, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, discussed the activities of the South/East Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force.


The task force coordinates the efforts of dozens of agencies to combat meth throughout East Tennessee, Dedrick explained, and has led to the conviction of 500 people on meth charges in federal court and "three times that many in state courts."


Tennessee leads the southeast U.S. in the number of clandestine meth labs discovered by authorities, Dedrick said. In 2004, for instance, authorities busted 1,355 meth labs in the state compared to only 321 seized in North Carolina, according to figures provided by Dedrick.


Dedrick stressed the important of interagency cooperation and educating the public about the dangers of meth. "We've got to be responsible in our enforcement efforts," he said.

[BrugmansiaBrujo]

Tandy is so full of bullshit. Typical spin to try and get public
support for the drug war. And to try and get the cops at the
speech to believe they are doing the right thing. Many cops, and
ex-cops realize the drug war is wrong.



In another speech to a different audience Tandy will say that the drug
lords are making more money than ever before and must be stopped. This
will be an attempt to get more funding from congress.



The two points cannot both be true. Drugs on the street are cheaper and
more plentiful than ever before, allowing for inflation. If she/they
are making headway, how's come profits are up if prices are down? The
only logical answer is the truth, drug use is up and Tandy is
full of bullshit.

[sands of time]

Why do they always speak about protecting the children? Thats so wrong of them to say that, because if a kid is caught with drugs, they are treated just as any other criminal. There is no sympothy for addicts.

[Zandorf]

way to go, you busted our last good source of LSD DEA



yeah sure LSD use among highschoolers is down, they can't get it, so
they're irresponsibly using research chemicals or Corricidan whatever
else they can get their hands on instead.

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[dopefiend]

"way to go, you busted our last good source of LSD DEA "



The last good source of LSD isn't busted. There was no 91kg seizure of LSD and
theres plenty of it to go around. (Maybe not in some circles.) All i
know is acid is out there for those willing to use enough of their
resources to find it. "They" would like you to believe it's gone, but
that's far from the truth.



Most of us can't get PCP, does that mean it's gone? Ketamine,
shrooms, meth, all of these can be seasonal and/or difficuct to find in
some places some or all of the time, but people don't say there "gone".
I'm just tired of everyone complaining about the lack of LSD goin'
around. Just because you don't have a connect don't mean it ain't out
there.



Peace,

Jesse


Edited by: dopefiend

[Zandorf]

i scored it twice and it was weak and expensive.



no one should have to try to find it, its supposed to be the psychedelic for the masses.



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[Unsolved]

I have to agree with some of this. LSD, and XTC are way hard to find now. At least where I live in the Northeast. However weed is very easy to find, opiates (oxyconteins), and especially Coke. Way to go DEA I can't find LSD or XTC but it's no problem to find coke. What would you rather have the "children" doing?

[uqlfy]

Originally Posted by Unsolved

I have to agree with some of this. LSD, and XTC are way
hard to find now. At least where I live in the Northeast. However weed
is very easy to find, opiates (oxyconteins), and especially Coke. Way
to go DEA I can't find LSD or XTC but it's no problem to find coke.
What would you rather have the "children" doing?

Im in the northeast as well and not only is X cheaper than ever,5-10$ a
pill, it's sooooo easy to get. Just go out to any techno
club.

[BrugmansiaBrujo]

If you live in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in the desert, it ain't
easy to find. Also as you get older, especially if you are a stranger
in town.



Hypothetically speaking, how many of you, if you were selling LSD,
would sell to a 50 year old man you've never seen before? Yet
you'll sell to a 20 year old you've never seen before.



If you are an older head, and you move around a lot with your job from
town to town, it can be damn hard to score sometimes. Takes much
longer to get "in" with a connect when you are older, and moving around
a lot and having to start the process of looking for a connect over and
over again doesn't help.

[wann]

Found on another forum:



America's drugs plan collapses in chaos</span>





Washington's "war on drugs" in Colombia is collapsing in chaos and
corruption, while drug producers remain the winners. 'Plan Colombia',
which has cost the US more than 3 billion dollars (£1.6bn) in
the past 5 years, is being abandoned, Condoleezza Rice has announced.





Last year, the hugely expensive effort to poison coca bushes - whose
leaves are the source of cocaine - by aerial spraying ended in complete
failure. More bushes were flourishing in January this year than in
January 2004. Meanwhile, complaints have been multiplying regarding the
damage done by chemical poisons to the health of humans, especially
children, as well as to livestock, fish and the environment. Plan
Colombia was designed to eradicate narcotics, control powerful
left-wing guerrillas and strengthen the position of the US military in
South America. The scheme was eventually expected to cost $7.5bn.





The government of Colombia, the world's principal source of cocaine,
has sent out an emergency appeal to the Bush administration for an
extra $130m to supplement the $600m it already expects to receive in
2006.




Colombia's appeal for more cash comes in the wake of the details
quietly put out by the White House during the Easter holiday about last
year's spraying débâcle. On January 1st, 2004, US satellite pictures
showed 281,323 acres of coca in Colombia. Nearly 340,000 acres were
sprayed with poison, in vain. The acreage of coca bushes has since
increased and will probably continue to do so.





Consequently, as Congressman Bob Menendez, leader of the Democratic
caucus in the US lower house and a critic of Plan Colombia, remarked
last week, the international price of cocaine has refused to rise - as
it would have if the anti-drug efforts had dented its availability.





Drug profits have corrupted some US troops stationed in Colombia. This
month a US Green Beret lieutenant-colonel and a sergeant were caught
selling 32,900 rounds of ammunition to the right-wing death squads who
are flush with drug profits. In March, five US soldiers were arrested
after 16 kilos of cocaine were found in the aircraft taking them from a
military base in southern Colombia back to the US.



Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...tory.jsp?story =638590

Originally Posted by BrugmansiaBrujo

Hypothetically speaking, how many of you, if you were selling LSD,
would sell to a 50 year old man you've never seen before?

If you look like the dude in your avatar... I'd take the risk.

[xwinorb]

If someone does happen to know, please extend more on the following ( copied and pasted from the original post ) :


Tandy also said she was especially proud of the amount of money that has been seized from drug offenders, although she conceded that "we've barely hit the tip of the iceberg" in denting the $65-billion-a-year illegal drug trade in the United States.


Tandy said that drug seizures are "on track this year to hit $1 billion" and predicted that amount will eventually climb to $3 billion a year.


Is it an unusually high increase? How do they expect it to happen, border interdiction or what else ? Just curious.

[BrugmansiaBrujo]

They expect to take YOUR car from you, YOUR house from you, YOUR boat
from you, YOUR ATV from you, etc. And mine as well, if we are
caught. The more they tighten up the drug war penalties, and tie
it in to "profits going to fund terrorism" (which is B.S.), the more
likely it could happen to any of us. Not just the trafficers.



Much of the great outdoors where people camp, fish, hunt, ride off
road, if Federal land (BLM or National parks, etc). When you are
on that property you do not fall under state law, rather harsher
Federal law.



Maybe you like to smoke LOTS of weed. In Alaska you can have 4 ounces
in your house. In other Jurisdictions, getting caught with that
much, even if it truly was personnal stash and you NEVER ever shared
even one joint with anyone, your nosy neighbor could report you if he
saw you smoking. Then they come in, and see 3.2 ounces, and they gig
you with possession with intent to distribute, just because you have
food storage bags in your kitchen (which virtually everyone does).
bang, there goes the house, car, and what ever else you own.



Thanks to the Patriot Act, they don't even need a warrant to come in anymore, or to bug your phone for that matter.

[Diphenhydramine]

How is cocaine use falling? It seems the most fashionable drug in
some circles these days. I believed it to be growing in
popularity.

[korky8097]

well i dont believe its fallen 61% for coke in 2 years. Maybe
since the later 80's or something. I call bullshit on this all,
even if it is true, they have a LONG way to go until they reach that
goal. And they say the money is coming back to us? HAHA i
believe that money is going strait to iraq as more tanks and
planes. I guess im just gonna have to start doing more
drugs! The US is gonna spend 10 fold the money we have alredy
spent if they dont stop this madness.

[Unsolved]

I think they are just talking out of there asses on this one. I doubt they have any real statisics on this one, there just guessing and hoping the numbers are going down.