Illegal Drug Production, Distribution, and Sales Control Huge Illegal Drug Industry Profits

 
Legalizing U.S. drugs is not about the effects of the drugs.  Rather the argument is about controlling source of a drug’s production, distribution, and sales and who has control of huge illegal drug industry profits.    

Resulting from huge illegal drug industry profits, California politicians, Congress, and President Obama support and promote illegal immigration "sanctuary city-state" and "medical marijuana city-state."  

Vietnam War Era produced a large national drug culture of student activism, who blamed the "establishment" for causing Latin American social inequities. American “left progressive” political movement was born. "City of refuge" politics/policies arose in the 1980s-1990s when the United States was backing the governments of El Salvador and Guatemala and the U.S. government did not recognize most of the refugees from those countries as having legitimate asylum claims.

To hinder federal deportation from the U.S. of undocumented aliens, illegal immigrant “underground railroads” to "sanctuary cities" were established within U.S. left-progressive political cities. Illegal immigration population grew in size and became much more expensive to support.       

While growing the illegal immigration population within a "sanctuary city," a systematic illegal drug problem develops. Whereas "sanctuary cities" shield the citizenship status of illegal aliens -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot find and deport illegal alien felons. Politicians got involved with "MEDICAL marijuana" sales that form 60% of the illegal drug profits.

The prison populations grow: prison guard unions grow stronger, the justice system prospered and increased, also police unions grow stronger.

Sanctuary-city politics resulted in enabling some criminal illegal-aliens to expand "illegal drug" sales/activity. Resulting from 1980s-1990s "sanctuaries," international drug-cartel activity (DTOs) has infused itself within American society, American prison systems, American legal system, American sovereignty, economy, and American politics.

The U.S. has been spending about $69 billion average per year worldwide for the last 40 years, for a total of $2.5 trillion, on drug prohibition -- with little to show for it. Profiting from illegal drugs are:  

(1) The first groups are the drug lords in nations such as Colombia, Afghanistan, and Mexico, as well as those in the United States.

(2) The second groups are the street gangs that infest many of our cities and neighborhoods, whose main source of income is the sale of illegal drugs.

(3) Third are those people in government who are paid well to fight the first two groups.

(4) Fourth are the politicians who get elected and reelected by talking tough -- not smart, just tough -- about drugs and crime.

(5) The fifth groups are people who make money from increased crime.  

(7) And last are the terrorist groups worldwide that are principally financed by the sale of illegal drugs.

Total money wasted on poorly conceived and executed "illegal drug" laws exceeds $5.0 trillion.

"Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) are the most pervasive organizational threat to the United States." --"National Drug Threat Assessment, 2008," National Drug Intelligence Center, U.S. Department of Justice

Little people try to protect their neighbors from illegal drugs and multinational drug gangs, but it has proven to be a lost cause due to the massive amount of drug corruption within U.S. politics. Who are the losers in this drug war?

"Police targeting gangs and drugs in Kennett (PA) area: 'It’s easy to sell drugs to people in this area'"

Published: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Southern Chester County Weeklies Pennsylvania

By Fran Maye

Edwin J. Colon isn’t surprised the feds earlier this week busted a drug ring that distributed cocaine and heroin to street-level dealers in downtown Kennett Square and Avondale. An indictment charged 12 people with smuggling the drugs from Panama into the area.

In fact, Colon believes more of these types of arrests will occur more frequently in the future.

Colon of Kennett Square, a criminal attorney with a specialty in immigration cases, said he’s witnessed a disturbing trend of gang activity in the Kennett area recently, and he claims it’s the result of illegal drug activity.

“Mexico’s drug trade has escalated out of control,” said Colon, who at one time worked at Chester County Prison. “The traffickers there set young boys up with cash and firearms and they get them over here. I’ve seen it. Gangs and drugs – one goes with the other. For decades the Mexican economy has been blamed and U.S. immigration court are backlogged here, people go and come back across the border.”  

Colon claims the Kennett area is being targeted because of the wealth in the area.

“It’s easy to sell drugs to people in this area,” he said. “But the problem is the gangs. The gangs we have here are very aggressive, and they work in packs. I saw it in my work at the prison. Here, it’s all about drugs and turf. They have got pretty daring in an area with a big police presence.”

Colon said most of the illegal aliens who come to the Kennett area are “God-fearing, peaceful people,” some of whom even pay taxes, but it’s the few who want to make quick riches who are the problem.

Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) were singled out in a report by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released last month entitled “Eastern Pennsylvania Drug and Gang threat Assessment.” In it, the report states “Mexican DTOs are the leading wholesale suppliers of cocaine and heroin to drug distribution groups in …southern Chester County.” [Reference: search ‘DOJ National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) "National Drug Threat Assessment 2011"’]

The report says that there has been a “significant” increase in the distribution of cocaine and heroin supplied by Mexican DTOs since 2008. Philadelphia and southern Chester County are now among the most prominent cocaine markets in the entire eastern United States, according to the report.

The drugs typically arrive to the area with traffickers using private vehicles equipped with hidden compartments and mechanical traps, especially commercial vehicles, trains, boats,  and package delivery services. Mexican traffickers transporting drugs here use 1-95 or 1-81 directly from the Southwest border or through Atlanta or North Carolina, the report states. Private vehicle cocaine and heroin shipments come to southern Chester County in quantities of 10 kilograms or less, and commercial vehicle shipments arriving here are much larger, generally 100 kilograms or more, according to the report.

The U.S. Department of Justice report makes a direct tie between gang activity and illegal drugs.

“Gang members in eastern Pennsylvania usually obtain their weapons through home invasions in exchange for drugs or through straw purchases conducted by female associates,” the report said.

Indeed, Kennett Square this year responded to a number of home invasions, and arrests were made in every case.

“This is a wake-up call for southern Chester County,” Colon said. “It all goes back to illegal immigration. I think we’re going to see an outcry from the well-to-do in the area.”

Fin

"Illegal drug" and dope use has increased in the U.S. since the 1960s, resulting in increased violence and laying waste to sections of drug supplying foreign countries and American society.

Under the San Francisco City's 1989 voter-approved sanctuary ordinance, police officers and other city employees are prohibited from inquiring into immigration status.

In 2008, the brutal and senseless murder last month of Tony Bologna and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, at the hands of Edwin Ramos, a native of El Salvador and known member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang, was a reminder that inviting illegal activity can turn deadly. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Police Department "cited 'numerous documented contacts' that officers had with Ramos and [his companion] Lopez, and said both were active members of the MS-13 street gang.'" Even on a local level, there's some indication that people are getting fed up with the city's insistence on emphasizing left ideology over public safety. It is this ideological dependence upon social protests and communism that left Democrats follow, common good of the majority is forced to fold within the left Democrat minority ideology.   

The Latin American countries would be much better off if they no longer interdicted illegal drugs bound for America.   

Controlling the source of a drug’s production, distribution, and sales controls huge illegal drug industry profits. Control of drug laws creates illegal drug industry profits that produces resistance to drug law reform.  

ILLEGAL and LEGAL DRUG LAW REFORM  

Considered within our illegal drug law as having the same harm a heroin and “Reefer Madness” propaganda exploitation, U.S. law enforcement has been able to impose the political will of this 113th left U.S. Senate upon 100,000s pot smokers. Kids know more about the effects of marijuana than corrupted elected official are willing to admit. The only way to reduce crime within the U.S. is to reduce criminal profits and get rid of untoward politicians.     

Drug or other substance are placed in any schedule of the Controlled Substance Act (CSA 1970) according to what is identified to be harmful by the politics of the U.S. President, U.S. Attorney General, and international U.N. drug laws. Society and individuals are harmed more by drug laws than the harm produced by the drugs.  

CSA (1970) Schedule I drugs or substances are defined to have "a high potential for abuse." The Schedule I drug has no currently "accepted medical use in treatment" in the United States, and there is a "lack of accepted safety" for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. For too many "illegal drugs" it is false to say there is no "accepted medical use in treatment."  

To quote a very old statement, "If politicians are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem."

What Makes it an Addiction? - Although the precise symptoms vary from one addiction to another, in clarifying what is an addiction, there are two aspects that all addictions have in common. Firstly, the addictive behavior is maladaptive to the individual. So instead of helping the person adapt to situations or overcome problems, it tends to undermine these abilities. Secondly, the behavior is persistent. When someone is addicted, they will continue to engage in the addictive behavior, despite it causing someone troubles. So an occasional weekend of self-indulgence is not addiction, although it may cause different kinds of problems. Addiction involves more frequent engagement in the behavior.  

Heroin - Heroin is one of the most addictive drugs. Heroin addiction can lead to many challenges in daily life, ranging from safety and harm reduction issues, to financial issues, and sometimes, simply surviving.  

Recreational Drug Cocaine? - "Is cocaine addictive?" is yes, but whether or not you become addicted if you take cocaine, and how that addiction plays out, is quite individual. Statistically, the rate of addiction among people who have ever taken cocaine seems quite low -– research shows about 80% of cocaine users are not addicted two years later. However, the remaining 20% may be in for serious problems. You should avoid cocaine use, or indeed any substance use, and seek help for the problem itself, rather than trying to overcome or avoid it through cocaine use.   

Recreational Marijuana - Marijuana is the most widely used illegal recreational drug. Often considered to be a "soft" drug, marijuana has recently become recognized as a legitimate treatment for a wide range of conditions. Medical marijuana is used to treat nausea, particularly from chemotherapy cancer treatment, chronic pain, MS, and glaucoma.

Many of the arguments against the legalization of marijuana are based on the idea that any softening of the government's position of drugs is dangerous, and will lead to an increase in drug-related problems. Many of the pro-legalization arguments are based on the idea that marijuana use cannot really be controlled, and that efforts to control marijuana use causes more problems than they solve. These pro legalize marijuana arguments are pragmatic (pragmatic - dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations). Pro marijuana arguments do not necessarily state that marijuana use is a good thing, but that recreational and medical marijuana use is not going away so we may as well benefit from it as a society by taking control of production, taxes, distribution, sales, and use.

Methaqualone (Quaalude) - Quaalude was a actually a legitimate, useful drug named Methaqualone. In 1984, because it was being abused, the FDA moved Methaqualone to Schedule I -- illegal to buy, sell or possess. Thus, one of the most useful drugs to patients of that time, became unavailable because of misdirected overreaction to misuse and abuse, and is hardly remembered today outside of its reputation as a street drug.  Rather than address 1970s street protests and drug abuse problems, politicians just made recreational drugs illegal, but kept legal the use of alcohol and tobacco production, taxes, distribution, and consumption.  

Medical Drugs - An Editorial in the 2006 issue of The Lancet (Volume 367, Issue 9518, Page 1214, 15 April 2006), entitled "Reviving research into psychedelic drugs," makes points along the same lines. The editorial begins...

"That psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and MDMA (ecstasy), can be effective treatments for various psychiatric illnesses is an old idea. Once considered wonder drugs... Although such bans were largely put in place to quash concerns about rampant recreational drug use fuelling the counter cultures of the 1960s and 1980s (LSD and MDMA, respectively), criminalisation of these agents has also led to an excessively cautious approach to further research into their therapeutic benefits."

The closing of the editorial is certain to please patients, many researchers, and patient advocates...

"...the social prescription against psychedelic drugs that hinders properly controlled research into their effects and side-effects is largely based on social and legal, as opposed to scientific, concerns. To maximise research into therapeutic benefits without exacerbating real social harms a legal structure that recognises this distinction is sorely needed."

Sadly, if left to their own devices, I fear that administrators and bureaucrats such as U.S. Attorney General and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials are unlikely to admit the sound logic here, even if they were to read and understand it. After all, it was the DEA who issued their "Prescription Pain Medications: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for Healthcare Professionals and Law Enforcement Personnel" in August of 2004, withdrew it in October of 2004, and despite promises, has yet to reissue the document or any document to address the prescription pain medication issue.  

In 2004, Senior Scientist, Director, Pain & Policy Studies Group, University of Wisconsin, Madison Medical School, commented:

"I want to emphasize a few points. This is an important educational initiative. Among clinicians, law enforcement and those who regulate drugs and professional practice, there is a need to update their knowledge about pain management with accurate information about pain, drugs and addiction.

But it is more than that. The medical and regulatory environment for pain management is worsening: We already knew that for years physicians have been concerned about being investigated if they prescribed controlled substances, but now we hear that doctors are becoming even less willing to prescribe, because they fear the profession-ending high-profile arrests that they are hearing more about. Even if they are acquitted of state charges, as some have been, their profession in medicine is damaged if not finished. We already knew that some patients were wary of using pain medications, but now we hear that patients can’t find a physician who will prescribe opioids, or are being cut back or dropped entirely. We knew that some pharmacies did not carry opioids, but now we hear that some have posted signs that say this! In some ways, pain management has become a crime story rather than a health care story."

When will government agencies charged with the health of the nation begin to work with health care professionals? When will such issues be treated as health care issues rather than law enforcement issues, or at the very least, with due consideration for the negative effects to legitimate uses for such drugs?

Politicians deal in creating legislative images that meet their political needs, which has resulted in U.S. drug laws benefiting political need, and not scientific or social reality.    

It is sad to say that such important issues as global warming temperature increase, illegal drug reforms, medical use of drugs, population growth, and groundwater depletion are not addressed by a calcified news media, President of the U.S., and U.S. Congress. The public is left sitting and waiting for the end too soon to come.  

1996 Ushered In The Welfare Gang Industry

By David G. Eselius

“Britain tackles the welfare state”

By George F. Will, Published: August 10

Washington Post

LONDON

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has a dry, sly sense of humor. George Osborne, 40, says Britain escaped the sort of housing bubble and crash that staggered America because, whereas America recklessly expanded its housing stock, “We were saved by the fact that you can’t build anything in this country.”

He exaggerates, somewhat, Britain’s regulatory impediments to dynamism, just as he exaggerated, somewhat, his prediction, when he became chancellor 15 months ago, that in six months he would be Britain’s most unpopular man. His and Prime Minister David Cameron’s wager is one that should interest Americans — the bet that Britain can simultaneously shrink the state and stimulate the economy.

Since growth resumed here in 2010, it has been a tepid 2.2 percent. In 2011’s second quarter, it was 0.2 percent, worse than America’s dismal 0.8 percent in the first half of this year. Some say the royal wedding distracted British workers. Really. (The riots of the past few days have incited dubious sociology, the theory that social-service reductions propel desperate mobs of young men to storm Nike shoe stores. But perhaps not everything is caused by politics.)

The shrinkage of government is supposed to be more severe here than in America, where the supposedly “savage,” “draconian,” etc., cuts recently agreed to mean that for a decade Washington must scrape by on $43.7 trillion rather than $46.1 trillion. Really.

The British state is morbidly obese. For a third consecutive year, government will spend more than half the gross domestic product — partly because half of all jobs created during the 13 years of Labor Party governance that ended in May 2010 were in the public sector.

Britain’s debt, now 62 percent of GDP, is scheduled to rise to 71 percent in 2013-14 before declining. Government devours 47 percent of national income.

The five-year goal of reducing it to 40 percent will be difficult because Cameron has a tepid mandate. In 2010, Conservatives almost suffered a fourth consecutive defeat, and they failed to win a majority against an exhausted and unpopular Labor government.

This may be one reason Cameron has flinched from seriously reforming the established religion. No, not the Church of England, the National Health Service. It is sometimes adequate regarding medicine but is a sensational jobs program: It is the world’s sixth-largest employer (behind the Chinese army, Wal-Mart, China National Petroleum, China State Grid Corp. and Indian Railways).

Osborne says America’s welfare reform of 1996 “helped change the debate over here.” Perhaps, but almost 30 percent of public spending here is still for a welfare system under which an unemployed single mother with two children has more disposable income than a postal worker. There is, Osborne says, considerable resentment among people who “go to work at seven in the morning and the blinds are down next door.” Almost a fifth of British households have no wage earner, while immigrants are 13 percent of the workforce.

Fortunately, in Britain, as in much of the United States, labor unions are fading forces. British unions have only 7 million members, down from 13 million 30 years ago. When, in June, leaders of a large public employees union engineered a one-day strike, the members were not enthusiastic and the public was not inconvenienced.

Almost half the Conservative members of Parliament were first elected in 2010 and, like Republican members of the U.S. House first elected that year; these Conservatives have a Tea Party-like indifference to conventional pieties, the worst of which celebrate the European Union. Such has been the leakage of Britain’s sovereignty to Brussels; Cameron’s ability to deregulate his nation’s economy is significantly circumscribed. Only 22 percent of the British consider E.U. membership a “good thing,” now that the E.U. is busy transferring wealth to those who do not create it.

With a wary eye on Greece, and a possible contagion from it to Italy, Spain, Portugal and others, Osborne fears a “sovereign debt rerun” of the financial crisis triggered by the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. He also worries that Britain might be unfairly tainted by Asian and other investors deciding that “Europe is a basket case.”

Well, yes. The Economist reports that three weeks ago, at an emergency meeting of eurozone leaders, Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, distributed a ranking of countries deemed by markets most likely to default: “Greece, Portugal and Ireland were at the top, riskier than Venezuela and Pakistan; Spain was less safe than revolutionary Egypt.”

Next year may be cheerier. London will host the Olympics, and the nation will celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee — 60 years of her reign. This year, however, the refurbishing of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle has been deferred.

Fin

America’s welfare reform of 1996 ushered in the American illegal drug gang industry as an expanding economic sector for the political low-income class.

In 1996, California Proposition 215 legalized drug sales (marijuana).  Sixteen state legislatures have now legalized illegal drug sales.

U.S. welfare reform of 1996 also included expanding illegal immigration, sanctuary cities, and state immigration “shield laws.”

In 2010, for heroin the wholesale price for a kilogram in Britain was typically $US 29,569, in America $US 71,200, and in Australia a whopping $US 221,304. For ecstasy the wholesale price for 1000 tablets was $US 10,000 in the US, $US 6,468 in Britain, and up to $US 25,344 in Australia. Marijuana in California U.S. street price is about $US 4,000 per pound (0.45 kg) or $US 8,888 per kilogram.

The reason U.S. State Legislatures legalize illegal drug sales has to do with political corruption.  There is now a great deal money transferred within the illegal drug industry—politicians get their cut of the drug money.  Globally (which includes the UK) the illegal drug industry is more than a trillion USD a year tax free business.

U.S. Gangs - Resulting from 1996 political values, within the U.S., approximately 1 million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs are criminally active within all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2008. Local street gangs, or neighborhood-based street gangs, remain a significant threat because they continue to account for the largest number of gangs nationwide. Most engage in violence in conjunction with a variety of crimes, including retail-level drug distribution. Gang types are: Street Gangs, Prison Gangs, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

To ensure a consistent profit stream from the wholesale drugs they purchase from Mexican drug trafficking organization, Hispanic prison gangs distribute drugs through street gangs that they largely, if not entirely, control. Through force or intimidation, Hispanic prison gangs exercise significant control over local gangs that distribute their drugs.  

Gang members are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural communities, expanding the gangs' influence in most regions; they are doing so for a variety of reasons, including expanding drug distribution territories, increasing illicit revenue, recruiting new members, hiding from law enforcement, and escaping other gangs. Many suburban and rural communities are experiencing increasing gang-related crime and violence because of expanding gang influence.

Current estimates include approximately 1,000,000 gang members residing within local communities across the country and more than 147,000 documented gang members incarcerated in federal, state, and local correctional facilities, according to state and federal corrections data. Increased gang membership is most likely the result of gang recruitment efforts and the release of incarcerated gang members.

Criminal gangs commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in many communities, according to law enforcement officials throughout the nation. Typical gang-related crimes include alien smuggling, armed robbery, assault, auto theft, drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, home invasions, identity theft, murder, and weapons trafficking.

Gang members are the primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs. They also are increasingly distributing wholesale-level quantities of marijuana and cocaine in most urban and suburban communities.

Street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs pose a growing threat to law enforcement along the U.S.-Canada border. They frequently associate with Canada-based gangs and criminal organizations to facilitate various criminal activities, including drug smuggling into the United States.

In America drug crimes pay quite well and have low judicial risks. Mexico’s criminal problems are a result of the large consumption of illegal drugs within the U.S.   

On August 12, 2011, authorities in the central state of Mexico arrested a suspected drug-gang leader who confessed to directly carrying out 300 homicides and ordering 600 others. Oscar Osvaldo Garcia Montoya, a deserter from Mexico's marines, is one of the country's deadliest drug assassins.  Over 7,000 people have been killed in Mexico this year.

The only reason there is not similar violence within the America is that the U.S. illegal drug economy corruption is a quite and effective influence within the U.S. political system and judicial systems and has local, state, and federal political representation.

Depending upon the local politics of crime reporting, accuracy of gang and crime activity statistics can vary.

New York gangs - The influence of drug-trafficking organizations and gangs from the New York area — New York City and northern New Jersey — reaches nearly every sizable drug market in eastern Pennsylvania.

While maintaining their gang allegiances and drug connections with associates in the New York city-area, the gang members use this infrastructure to recruit local teens and young adults to join the gang and distribute drugs. Gang members often facilitate their transition from the New York city-area to smaller drug markets in eastern Pennsylvania by forming relationships with local girls and women.

East Coast Dominican drug-trafficking organizations and gangs are the most active of these groups, and their influence within the region is increasing.  However, in some East Coast drug markets, Mexican drug-trafficking organizations are dominant and growing.

Mexican sources are increasing the flow of cocaine and heroin from the southwest U.S. border directly to Philadelphia and Reading, ensuring a more stable and consistent availability of those drugs.

Pacific Region Gangs - Approximately 6,900 gangs with more than 237,000 members are criminally active in the Pacific Region.  Hispanic gangs, specifically 18th Street, La Eme, Nuestra Familia, and MS 13, will continue to fight for control of retail-level drug distribution in locations throughout the Pacific Region.

Gang-related criminal activity in the Pacific Region is significant and likely will remain significant as gang members continue to fight for control of territories. Gang-related extortion and firearms violations likely will increase. MS 13 poses a significant threat to local law enforcement. The gang is involved in criminal activities including drug trafficking, extortion, and firearms violations.

The latest 2011 count shows California's 33 prisons housing 143,565 inmates. California’s prison system illegal immigrant population is much greater than the national 17 percent average (some place California’s illegal immigrant population more than 50 percent of prison population).

Including illegal immigrant welfare costs and prison costs for illegal immigrants, taxpayers pay many billions of dollars per year to support the political retention of drug violence and the illegal drug economy within California and the U.S.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed out that, in 1980, 10 percent of his state’s budget went to higher education and 3 percent to prisons; in 2010, almost 11 percent went to prisons and only 7.5 percent to higher education.

I can think of better things to do with a trillion USD than keeping drug cartels and politicians building the welfare illegal-drug business.