Posted on 01/20/2014 3:45:55 AM PST by Wolfie
DEA operations chief decries legalization of marijuana at state level
The chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday called the legalization of marijuana at the state level “reckless and irresponsible,” warning that the movement to decriminalize the sale of pot in the United States will have severe consequences.
Capra’s comments marked the DEA’s most public and pointed criticism of the movement toward decriminalization in several states, where local officials see it as an opportunity to generate tax revenue and boost tourism.
“It scares us,” James L. Capra said, responding to a question from a senator during a hearing focused on drug cultivation in Afghanistan. “Every part of the world where this has been tried, it has failed time and time again.”
Capra’s comments marked the DEA’s most public and pointed criticism of the movement toward decriminalization in several states, where local officials see it as an opportunity to generate tax revenue and boost tourism.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Did he clear his comments with Obama? He might find that Dear Leader doesn’t see the problem.
Let him decry. It isn’t the government’s business.
So true. His job(and agency) shouldn’t exist.
Surprisingly to me, every psych text, all liberal evolutionary pro-homosexuality and pedophilia bunch of them, are against the use of marijuana.
It is my understanding that the US federal government is a creation of the sovereign states. So, how does a federal government employee get off being critical of the policies of one of the sovereign states?
Perhaps he is fearful that, if drugs are legalized, he will be out of a job?
I do agree with him. If it is to be legalized it has to be on a national level, and I could only support that if we had a good test for level of impairment for driving. To the best of my knowledge the only test we have will tell if someone has smoked it in the last 2 weeks. So, if someone smokes they can’t drive for 2 weeks? That is not workable.
Suddenly, for the Feds, unemployment is a problem.
Obama is pro-legalization, so I’d say this guy is actually pretty brave.
The roots of the DEA are in the end of alcohol prohibition.
Gotta find jobs for those warm federal bodies!
Really? Which bill for legalization is he supporting?
This was my first thought on seeing this.
The war on drugs is a good thing. It shows there is shred of morality left in the USA and that some things are wrong. This message is especially aimed at our kids. Ask any pot head if they want their teenager doing bong hits before school if pot is so benign.
It’ll take a while, but it will be interesting to see how things work out in the pro-hemp states.
The way I see it, if a state can invalidate Federal law and get away with it, anything becomes “fair game”.
And every study indicates tobacco consumption is unhealthy and should be avoided, but yet the federal government has only regulated its use instead of banning it.
People who support legalization of marijuana should be working at the federal level, because of the way the feds do things. Most of the time if feds find small quantities of pot (sometimes what they consider small is less than 300 pounds!) person is turned over to state or county for prosecution so that person is not subject to mandatory minimums of fed drug laws.
If marijuana is legal at the state level and illegal at the federal level and the feds catch you with even a small amount and have no one to turn you over to I imagine many more people will be subject to federal drug prosecution.
I don’t think it’s benign. I just don’t believe this DEA guy’s crocodile tears.
The DEA (TSA, DHS, EPA, ...) needs to go away. There’s nothing in the Constitution about their existence or authority.
Testing is a big “unintended consequence.” A urine test can only tell if you have smoked in the past weeks. They need to draw blood to test if an impaired driver is actually high. So expect lots more needles from paramedics and cops, and this will be abused to give an excuse to jab folks the cops don’t like, like the recent forced anal exams in hospitals.
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