There’s No Boat With This Dope
By FITSNews || This feels like the second time we’ve addressed this in recent days, but if you’ve never seen the movie The Usual Suspects you really do need to make arrangements.
Like … this weekend.
It’s one of the best crime dramas of all-time, and the masterful development of its central character – the mythical crime God Keyser Söze – is a build-up to one of the best twist endings in movie history. Hell, The Usual Suspects started the whole “twist ending” craze, as far as we’re concerned.
You also might want to watch it because we repeatedly pepper FITS with references to the movie, like when its protagonists stormed a cargo ship in the San Pedro harbor only to discover that “there’s no dope on this boat!”
Well, it looks like the cops may have found all of that dope – more than 2,000 pounds of it, anyway – in Columbia, S.C.
In fact, Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s officers working in conjunction with the Greenville Police Department and State Law Enforcement Division pulled off one of the biggest drug busts in state history Thursday morning – a raid in which authorities also seized several duffel bags full of cash.
Courtesy of La Socialista – a.k.a. The (Columbia, S.C.) State newpaper – here’s SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd describing precisely how much “dope” the cops found …
I’ll tell you how much it is. It’s a boat load. A boat load of dope and a boat load of money.
Given our oft-expressed “respects” for Reggie, you might at this point be confusing this for a feel-good story about a major victory in America’s “War on Drugs.”
Let us quickly disabuse you of that notion.
Fighting a war on drugs is stupid, and America’s “War on Drugs” is a costly, expensive and unmitigated failure. Yet unlike Prohibition, the government refuses to acknowledge this failure, which means taxpayers keep pouring money into a war we’ll never win and shouldn’t be fighting in the first place – a war that only fuels violence, addiction and the unjustified incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people.
Look, if people want to buy and smoke marijuana (or even snort up a line or two) they should be allowed to do so – it’s not like the “War on Drugs” is stopping that (or will ever stop that).
In fact, we’re willing to wager that the confiscated cash (which has now been taken out of the economy, thank you very much) pales in comparison to the government resources expended to pull off this “bust” – to say nothing of the cost to the taxpayers of incarcerating the “criminals” that were arrested.
And for what?
To temporarily drive up the cost of a “quarter sack” at the University of South Carolina by a couple of dollars?
Please …
Sing it, Bob.
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Comments
By cgi-bin laden on January 15th, 2010 at 10:21 am
I think this is one of the few issues you and I are in complete agreement on.
By Carolinabeve on January 15th, 2010 at 10:26 am
The war on drugs is one that can’t be won. A good film on this subject is American Drug Wars, by Kevin Booth. It really shows the CIA connection from Ollie North’s Contras to the streets of LA.
By Liberty For Me on January 15th, 2010 at 10:31 am
You are preachin to the choir….but keep on preahin brother.As the generations change as well as the poilitcal climate,Liberty will gain traction.(and I use nothing but NewCastle Ale)
http://naturalresourcereport.com/2010/01/or-ca-wa-nv-marijuana-efforts-advance/
By stimulus on January 15th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Stimulus Package for SLED
By ohara on January 15th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Not in favor of the “war on drugs” but having seen the results in the ER on young & old from alcohol, coke, hash, grass (yes you can screw up your brain/lungs on grass sprayed w/pesticides) meth & every other illegal substance that is obtained as easily as buying a slurpee at Circle K, I certainly do wish there was a better way to get this crap off the streets.
What is worse is when you find that the trafficking of drugs is made possible with sale of guns to the Mexican crime families by our commendable private citizenry, you really begin to wonder what kind of idiots we are (maybe the Reggie Lloyd type) that we can intentionally try to screw ourselves over just to make a quick buck. I know retired military that were selling guns to Mexico back in the 70’s. What kind of morons are we?
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/mexico/090401/investigation-us-retailers-fuel-mexicos-drug-wars
By mohanna on January 15th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I’m so tired of paying for both sides of the “War On Drugs”.
By sid on January 15th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
So, when you reported these “retired military” making illegal sales to the authorities, ohara, how many were prosecuted successfully?
Trafficking of drugs is not “made possible with sale of guns to the Mexican crime families by our commendable private citizenry.” It is made possible through corruption on the south side of the border, probably corruption on the north side of the border, and porous border security. The guns aren’t being used to fight their way across the border so they can get their stuff to market. The guns are used to kill rivals, a few honest officials, and any civilians who get in the way. And most of the guns the drug lords prefer are of the military variety, not the “military style” variety. Those are not available to “our commendable private citizenry.” The drug lords get them through the huge, global black market for military armaments.
I would wager that most of the non-military guns that show up down there, and originated here in the US, also came through the black market. These are stolen guns and guns acquired in other illegal ways. A trace on a firearm to determine where it originated does not tell you how it got to where it ended up. It just tells you where it started.
By NunYah on January 15th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
With this, you hit the nail on the head Mr. “Hammer” Man…
“In fact, we’re willing to wager that the confiscated cash (which has now been taken out of the economy, thank you very much) pales in comparison to the government resources expended to pull off this “bust” – to say nothing of the cost to the taxpayers of incarcerating the “criminals” that were arrested.”
Lemme just say that I concur (i.e. you spoke for me) and I’ll leave it at that.
Regards,
NunYah
By ohara on January 15th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Sid-
Since I’m commenting on it, it was reported. When’s the last time you worked law enforcement? Ask the DEA about it. I’m sure they’ll give you case numbers-the ones I saw weren’t the only ones prosecuted.
“It is made possible through corruption on the south side of the border, probably corruption on the north side of the border, and porous border security.”
PROBABLY corruption on the north side of the border? You’re joking. No Americans sneak into Mexico with guns-the deal are all done north of the border.
Your theory is stolen guns, huh? All those guns were stolen in the US & then sent south of the border? Try unregistered guns, new guns, coming in from China legally via US importers. Mexican law makes it nearly impossible to buy guns there legally, so they use US contacts to get them.
The Federalis have stockpiles of confiscated weapons from the US sitting in warehouses all over Mexico. 90% of those sent to ATF thru e-Trace by the Mexican government show US ownership. Those are just a drop in the bucket compared to assault weapons that, yeah, US citizens, ie importers, are making money off of. I cannot believe you are that naive.
By sean on January 15th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
legalize and regulate marijuana and medical marijuana before 2012. let me live.
By Carolinabeve on January 16th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Look at who is behind the “Partnership For A Drug Free America” It is big pharma, the tobacco, and alcohol manufactures. Todd Snider said it best. “It’s not that you are on drugs, but whose.”
By political hack on January 16th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Two names: Crockett and Tubbs
The problem is that there is too much money in this trade. Billions are spent just to launder the money, which our great financial institutions are more than willing to do, and will not stop to do as long as they are getting fat pockets from all the corruption in Mexico. Billions are spent to provide resources to agencies’ who attempt to police the trade, and this is a never ending black hole unless there are serious efforts to fight the drug trade, or to go ahead and admit that the markets are too powerful to destory and merely tax the shit out of them. The ironic thing about the drug trade is it’s simplicity: those involved supply a product that people demand. The risk involved pushes the prices higher and gives the suppliers a massive return on that risk, which allows them to expand their operations. The more our laws promote risk, the higher the profit returns will be, and hence, the situation we are in now with a neverending war on products that there will always be demand for. If government were smart, they would legalize drugs, tax the shit out of them, and further expand their welfare state to care for all the drug addicts that legalization will produce with the proceeds from taxing the products. It is no different than the methods they are currently using, and could allocate resources more efficiently…
By sid on January 17th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Glad you turned them in, ohara. Give me some names and dates. These are public matters, so nothing to hide. Just want to make sure you’re not lying, as I suspect you might be.
As for my “theory,” I said black market. That encompasses a lot more than just stolen guns. Or is that all you can wrap you mind around? Since few states have registration, yes, most of those guns would be “unregistered.” Are you that stupid, or intentionally misleading?
As for sneaking guns across the border/corruption, that was in reference to drugs, moron, not guns.
Mexican laws make it nearly impossible to buy guns legally, huh? So, your theory is that drug lords would go through legal channels to buy their guns, if that was possible. Really? Now I know you’re not that stupid, so the “intentionally misleading” theory is gaining momentum.
Wait, I guess the Mexican laws on pot, cocain, heroin, etc., are so lax that that’s why so much drugs come through there. Just like your guns from America theory.
So, how do you explain the true military type firearms in the hands of Mexican drug lords? They cannot be coming from here, so where do they originate? Let me give you a hint. Criminal enterprises are extremely good at furthering their criminal enterprises. They get their guns through…wait for it…a criminal enterprise. They use the black market, which includes, but is not limited to, stolen guns.
I wonder if Mexico might want to try to divert attention away from its failures to control the drug lords in its country by pointing its finger at the U.S., and blaming our gun laws? I also wonder if they would select the guns to trace as being the ones most likely to have started through normal channels, just to support that claim? Out of roughly 30,000 guns seized in ‘08, only about 7,200 were submitted for tracing. Why so few, I wonder?
But that’s not really the point, anyway. The point is that guns are not the reason for the drug trade, as you state. But you sound like you don’t like guns, so you were probably just looking for a weak connection to promote the idea that our gun laws are not strong enough. My wife always says she’s suspect of any man who supports an anti-gun agenda. I’ll have to tell her about you, presuming you are male.
By Christ Almighty on January 17th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
To Sid,
Nice retort. U R such a legolept. You killed Ohara after the first paragraph. Where to bury the body?
Peace Out.
By Old Bike Dude on January 18th, 2010 at 7:51 am
So sid, you two were once married? still are…jus wonderin’.
By sid on January 18th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I’m not sure what you are asking, OBD. I am married, but your “you two” comment implies you are referring to someone common to this thread. I just can’t figure out who. Nonetheless, I’m not married to anyone even remotely related to this thread, or any other on this site. You still a homophobe? Just wondering?