While I do support the legalization of now illegal drugs, regardless of your opinions on that very subject, the DEA is a complete joke.
1. It is a HUGE money maker and the easiest platform for politicans to use.
2. In a ten year span, drug use has increased. Coke by 30%, Bud by 10%. So what exactly are they doing?
3. Well, here is what they do... 1980 aprox 500k were in prisons due to non-violent drug offenses. Now? 2.3 mill and and another 5 mill in probation.
4. California has documented budgets where in 1980, 10% of budget when to higher education, 3% to prisons. Now? 11% to prisons, 7.5% to higher education.
5. Using Obama's budget (not a pro or anti Obama tidbit), the War on Drugs budget is an estimated 26 BILLION. DEA's budget? 2.1 BILLION.
Fox News has reported (take it with as much weight as you would like for a news source) that in the 40 years since Nixon declared the War on Drug, over 1 TRILLION dollars has been spent on said "War".
6. 60% of said budget is spent in prevention of drug supply both internationally and domestically (Numbers from Office of National Drug Control Policy)
And sure you can spew forth more.
Regardless of your opinions on drug legalization, these types of number should piss you off.
If you support legalization, these numbers certainly anger me. These are huge numbers and fuel the mega-prison buisness.
If you dont support legalization, do you feel the money being spent is truly keeping a good handle of the "drug war"? If you believe in drug enforcement, has this program supported your opinions on regulation for the money spent?
Again, not trying to spark a pro or con for drug legalization, just observations of the programs in place.
