Coming soon to a doorstep near you!

Weerd wants you to sleep tight.

This is even more disturbing to me now because after we moved, a cop came to our door looking for someone who must have been the previous occupant.

Glad the previous occupant didn't do something that would cause the police to pick up automatic weapons, put on heavy bulletproof vests and black masks, throw flashbangs through our window, break down our door, and shoot us unarmed, stunned, deaf, and blinded in bed for having guns within arms reach while failing to comply with instructions we couldn't hear.

You know, something heinous like have an ounce of pot?

But I don't even have to worry about that when most of these raids can't be bothered check the goddamn address of the house before they go all SS on the occupants.

I wonder if they'd shoot Ava, our house rabbit. Actually, I'm sure they would, why wouldn't they if they're shooting dogs that are IN CAGES?

A moment of silence for those innocents lost in the monumental failure we call the War on Drugs.

40 years of failure, and no end in sight!

AP IMPACT: US drug war has met none of its goals

There can be no war against inanimate objects. There can only be war against people.

4.5 SWAT raids per day in ONE COUNTY in MD

Maryland's SWAT transparency bill produces its first disturbing results
ONE COUNTY in Maryland discovers the excessive use of SWAT on non-violent and consentual offenses.

That means more than 100 times last year Prince George's County brought state-sanctioned violence to confront people suspected of nonviolent crimes. And that's just one county in Maryland.

Hey, you gotta justify those big budgets for all that sweet kit, and top-of-the-line training right?

A related post by Marko;
Playing SEALs and robbers

Obama Admin raiding medical marijuana growers after Obama said they wouldn't

Denver Post: Owner who bragged of large medical-pot operation jailed in DEA raid

A memo in October from Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden said federal agents should not target people in "clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana." The memo led many in Colorado's medical-marijuana community to believe that federal agents would no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries or growers.

Yet here we are.

Obama promising to stop the raids pre-election, and Obama's AG, Holder, saying ending medical marijuana raids is policy one month after his inauguration.

What is up with this Administration?

Who's in charge here?

Obama Admin. schizophrenic on war on drugs

You put your left foot in!
You put your left foot out!
You put your left foot in!
And you shake it all about!

Shot once in the throat, once in the back, and in the leg while trying to run away

The war on drugs just kicked down your doors, zip-cuffed you and your daughter, shot your dogs, then said "whoops," and left.

One of the dogs was shot three times: once in the throat, once in the back and the last time in the leg while trying to run away, Rita Patterson said.

They were probably afraid the dog was retreating to get a gun.

The police had a warrant for the home, but it named no suspects. It said only that investigators were looking for a white male and Hydrocodone. Information that led to the warrant, according to the warrant itself, came partly from an informant, Rita Patterson said.

Well, it was another warrant for a house (no word if they arrested the house) hastily drawn up on information from dubious informants whos' identities must remain sooper seekrit.

But at least they had a suspect. A white male. Hey... Are YOU a white male? Is there any reason to believe a white male might be in your home?

Do people realize the police can, at any time, break down your door, gun you down in self-defense (it looked like you were going for something, you gonna believe a cop or a dead man?), say "oh shit, sorry!" and leave?

"Executing a search warrant, police never know what they’re going to find on the other side of that door," DeGeorge said. "In most cases, these can be life and death situations."

He's right. Executing no-knock search warrants is very dangerous business.

So dangerous, in fact, that they should probably do things like, check who's home at the time, surveil the house, or even, hell, I don't know, check the goddamn address before they kill another 92 year old woman, protecting her life from unidentified assailants.

Tell me again why it's "life-or-death" important that the cops break down a door, and overwhelm the occupants with force, without so much announcing that they are policemen?

Oh yeah, because someone might flush a baggy a drugs down the toilet if they say they're police seconds before rushing in.

Hey, if these raids have the slightest chance of locking up people to do drugs, who cares how many innocent people are gunned down in the process?

Certainly not Obama.

Just more American collateral damage in the War on Drugs.

Obama has medical marijuana both ways?

A bit ago I was happy to write "Good job, Obama" in response to his apparent policy change toward medical marijuana.

He said he would stop the raids in states where medical marijuana is legal, he waited, then he issued this policy statement.

Yet here we are again.

So did Obama really change his policy? Or is this one of those, "I change the policy, wink wink, nudge nudge, and you can keep getting them on technicalities."

I guess we can find out when we find out either what he does about it, or if these "technicalities" keep popping up, and keeping the DEA door-kickers with doors to kick.

Obama, Legalization, The Economy, Change, Violence in Mexico, and Economics.

At a town-hall style meeting, Obama answered questions voted upon via internet.

But after 3.6 million votes were cast, one of the top questions turned out to be a query on whether legalizing marijuana might stimulate the economy by allowing the government to regulate and tax the drug.

Note, please, that the question was not; "Dude, like, dude, you should totally make bud legal, bro!" This was a legitimate question, made even more legitimate by California's consideration of doing the very same thing.

Obama's answer came as a surprise to me.

"I don't know what this says about the online audience," Obama said in the session in the East Room, drawing a laugh from his live audience, which included teachers, nurses and small-business people. "The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow the economy."

Of all the presidents in recent memory, I would expect Obama to be the one not to crack a joke at this question. Especially considering he was for legalization, before he was against it.

The debate tape from Jan. 21, 2004, at Northwestern University shows Obama proclaiming the war on drugs an "utter failure."

"We need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws,". he said to scattered applause. "But I'm not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana. What I do believe is that we need to rethink how we're operating in the drug war. Currently, we're not doing a good job."

This must be part of the change he was promising. I'm not sure what he means by saying we should "decriminalize our marijuana laws," even though he says he's "not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana." I'll just say he Kerry'd that line, and move on.

So Obama says, "I don't think that is a good strategy to grow the economy." Lets play for a moment in the fantasy world that the income from taxation of legal Marijuana, would be nonexistent. Lets assume marijuana sales bring in no additional income. What income does legalization free up?

How many people are incarcerated for minor drug offenses, and sucking money from state and federal coffers every day? How many man hours, and overtime hours are spent pursuing these same offenders? How much money is spent on investigations to stop large shipments of marijuana? How much federal money is paid out to families of accidental victims of the drug war? How much money is spent in court costs trying those same cases? How much money does the coast guard spend seeking, and destroying smugglers' boats? How much money can be saved by cutting the overhead and processing of almost every police agency in the country?

How much money (and lives) is that President Obama? How much money will that free up, which can be spent on economic problems elsewhere?

California estimates it can charge $50 per ounce of marijuana, and almost guarantee sales, because those prices still beat the black market. Do you have any idea what percentage tax $50 is on an ounce of a plant that grows in the dirt? It's practically criminal. But people will pay it. You will instantly have income from a billion (trillion?) dollar market, already in full swing.

There's also the added effect of striking a heavy blow against the drug cartels south of the boarder. Want them to stop fighting over territory? Take their buyers away. Stop a large chunk of their income. Give them less to fight over. I keep hearing you talk about the violence in Mexico, well now you have the chance to do something about it.

Hillary Clinton was wrong when she visited Mexico, and said America had an "insatiable" appetite for illegal drugs.

America has an insatiable appetite for drugs that have been declared illegal.

Politicians declared these substances illegal.
Politicians created the black market for these items.
Politicians are responsible, not the nature of humans to seek what they want.

All the force in the world will not eliminate market pressure.

The DEA commands billions of dollars, top-of-the-line guns, and even tanks. TANKS. Let that sink in! They're still being beaten. Soundly.

What does the DEA have to show for itself in THIRTY SIX YEARS in operation? Except a bottomless pit in which we dump money, people incarcerated and living off tax dollars, the blood of innocents caught in the crossfire, and an availability of illegal drugs that has never so much as stopped to catch its breath?

As long as someone wants something, and someone's willing to sell it to them for a reasonable price, that transaction will always take place.

You can either profit from that transaction, or waste money trying to stop it.

How's the latter been working out for us so far? I seem to recall a certain Senator calling it an "utter failure."

So what has changed since then, Mr. President?

Politics or reality?

Drug war a tremendous success!

Huge Mexican heroin ring raided

Authorities arrested 48 members of the so-called Mendoza family, seized 20 kilos of heroin and $100,000 in cash during the early morning raids, officials said.

WOOO!!! Yeah! Take that drugs! 20 kilos! $100,000 in cash! Good luck making that up, motherfuckers!

The raids capped a seven-month investigation by immigration officials, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department...

Wow! 7 months of investigation! Cooperation between Immigration, DEA, and LASD! We're kickin' your asses drug lords!

...into a ring that allegedly made $2 million a month selling heroin in suburban L.A. County as well as Ventura and San Diego counties.

Wait? $2 million a month? They only caught them with $100,000. Oh, well, you know, they were doing this for a scant 7 months, and then, BAM! SHUT DOWN! Take that drugs! You may have made 14 million dollars during the investigation, but not any more, you sons of bitches!

On March 12, a federal grand jury indicted the 48 members of the Mendoza family...

YEAH! ROCK AND ROLL! Shut those fuckers down! 48 rats down the hole!

...who authorities said had arranged to smuggle large amounts of black tar heroin into the Los Angeles area from Mexico for the last 15 to 20 years.

Wait what? These 48 members of this drug "family" pulled in up to $480 million dollars smuggling drugs into our country, and selling them for up to 20 years?!

Well, at least this will take black tar heroin off the streets for a bit.

No?

Well, at least the gap left by shutting down these drug peddlers won't be instantly filled by another merchant of death.

Really?

Well, at least they got $100,000 out of the drug cartels' hands. It's not like the illegal drug trade likely nets billions a year.

Oh...

So this raid is barely a blip on a blip in the tremendous failure of the war on drugs?

Ahh.

Well, at least the fight is worth it, right?

Oh no...

Obama stops medical marijuana raids

He kept saying he was going to do it, and now he has.

The feds will no longer target medical marijuana distribution centers in states where marijuana is legal for medical purposes.

Good job, Obama.

UPDATE: Do I have to take that back?

The war on drugs claims another victim.

No, not some drug-addled cokehead, a mom-and-pop business selling a product that could save your life in a Katrina-like disaster. Hey, if you want to win the war on drugs, you've got to break a few eggs. And if you're still not winning, you just need to break more eggs. And if you STILL aren't making any difference, well shit, you better hire some more people to keep breaking eggs until something happens.

I hope no one tells the DEA that Dihydrogen Monoxide is often used in the creation of drugs. I use that stuff a lot, and I would hate to be put in some database somewhere just because I need it to live.

I'd pay money for the opportunity to dig around under a DEA agent's sink to see if I can find any dangerous chemicals that could be used in a terrorist attack.