Why the War on Drugs continue
While some law enforcement professionals see the stupidity and terrible waste, in dollars and lives, of our War on Drugs (I’m thinking, for example, of LEAP: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), others see big money in the fight: Federal grants to buy all sorts of fun equipment—build your own SWAT team!—and of course bundles of cash, fancy cars, and other goodies through asset seizure.
And when there is money to be had, some people will get right to work and organize things to maximize the money they get. I don’t think the War of Drugs was directed at this goal, but that is what it has become. And those who are making money (on either side of the law: drug dealers and the DEA alike) do not want ANYTHING to turn off the spigot of cash. So we find resistance to ending the War on Drugs, not because the War reduces drug availability but because too much money is floating around.
Watch this clip and think about what is happening.
