Ah, sweet victory DrugWarRant / Pete Guither / 09,01,2010 DEA announces “historic victory” in the war on drugs And what exactly is this historic victory? The San Antonio Police Department has “hit the jackpot.” Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Antonio handed over the largest ever drug forfeiture checks to local law enforcement. Wednesday, DEA Special Agent Mauricio Fernandez awarded nearly $800 thousand dollars to the San Antonio Police Department. [...] The DEA also wrote a check for more than $3 million dollars to the McMullen County Sheriff’s Office. See, that’s one of the great things about war. Sure, there’s the killing of the children, and the raping of the women, and the burning of the village, which is all fine, but then… you get to do the looting. And this is some really good looting… $800,000.00 — $3,000,000.00 The other great thing about loot is that it helps cement the loyalty of the troops. After being rewarded so handsomely, they’ll be the first to volunteer to attack villagers the next time. They’re not going to be swayed by local politicians, or referenda, or public opinion, or… laws. Their first and only allegiance will be to the provider of all that loot — their benefactor, the DEA. They’ll be a lot like the Trashcan Man in Steven King’s The Stand…My life for you! … bumpity bumpity bump… As police ignore violent crimes to chase the drug money rewards. DEA announces "historic victory" in the war on drugs SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Police Department has "hit the jackpot." Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Antonio handed over the largest ever drug forfeiture checks to local law enforcement. DEA Special Agent Mauricio Fernandez handed over a check for nearly $800,000 to the San Antonio Police Department. "That money will go into our asset seizure fund," said SAPD Chief William McManus. "Those funds are used wherever needed. [They] could be for training. [They] could be for equipment." The DEA also wrote a check for more than $3 million dollars to the McMullen County Sheriff's Office. "Whenever you can take money away from criminals and use that against them, you've struck a good note in Texas," commented McMullen County Sheriff Bruce Thomas. DEA officials said the seized money is from organized drug operations that traffic narcotics from Mexico into the United States. Special Agent Fernandez said the seizure represents a historic victory in the war on drugs. "Seizing these revenues operationally and financially has disrupted these many organizations," explained Fernandez.
It seems to me that Mexicans are fighting a revolution over Americas' insatiable demand for drugs. The killing of the children, raping of women, and burning of villages is not hypothetical, it is happening for real, in Mexico... Not the U.S. So, if the DEA wants to confiscate 3,800,000.00 dollars from people who are transporting illegal drugs over the border into the U.S., and use it against them, then fine by me. It is not like Californians are unused to federal harassment, but then again their drugs are legal, and their cause is just... Proposition 19!
If they used the funds for stopping traffickers and bulk loads of drugs it would be fine but for every "load" they stop,5000 or more possession charges of small quantities occurs.