Privatizing the Drug War Inside the U.S.

So the DEA is actually considering privatizing parts of the ‘war on drugs’. My bet is on Haliburton for the contracts, seeing as they have so much experience with drug shipment anyway. While at face value this seems rather innocent and almost not worth mention, the ramifications of private firms becoming involved with federal law enforcement are staggering.

Recent months have witnessed stories exposing private companies and organizations for digging up personal data and even ‘intelligence’ on American citizens and turning it over to the Federal Government. What happens if the checkpoints, house raids and other enforcement techniques now being used to persecute the American people are privatized? There will be even less recourse for those of us who’s lives have been interrupted and even derailed because of the CIA’s wish for slush funds.

Ramifications past the drug war are also staggering. What if private companies are ‘contracted’ to check out your library card records, or to execute a search warrant? Will corporations be deputized into traffic enforcement?

Even if youre the most anti-drug tightass on the planet, this could potentially have serious consequences for you too. We should all be worried by this. Read carefully in the coming months….

Posted on Sat Aug 13th, 2005 at 12:43:51 AM EST
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is recruiting private security forces to load, transport and unload “multi-ton” shipments of seized marijuana en route to destruction in Arizona. It’s conducting what is known as a “sources sought” inquiry to determine the availability of commercial firms that can provide on-call deployments of armed contractors to protect these bulk transports of pot.

“The work to be performed will be the loading of multi-ton quantities of marijuana at a secure site, providing protection and security enroute to the destruction facility, offloading multi-ton quantities of marijuana at the destruction facility, and providing security until all the marijuana is destroyed,” the sources-sought notice said.

The document, which was added to the federal Electronic Posting System database on Thursday (Aug. 11), said that initial security “runs” of the cannabis shipments will take place in and around Tuscon, Ariz., as well as between Tuscon and “Nogales and/or Sierra Vista, Arizona.” Future locations may include “Yuma and/or Phoenix,” it added.

DEA and its private security agents will transport the marijuana tonnage “on an irregular basis, and will not be scheduled more than a few days in advance,” it said. “Runs may…

Posted by SmeegTheSkreeg
Smeeg, sometimes called Slart, is an Eagle Scout, currently finishing up a degree in History and International Studies. He enjoys computer games, snowboarding, good bier and bitching about how screwed up the world is getting. He speaks german and used to...

RELATED ITEMS

• Drug War Reality Tour
  Posted by silverback on Friday, October 22nd 2004
• The Vice Lords of the Replacement Economies
  Posted by anthony on Tuesday, June 28th 2005
• Drug Test Nation
  Posted by Namaste_Rich on Friday, February 11th 2005
• U.S. Threatens to Pull Venezuela Drug War Certification
  Posted by SmeegTheSkreeg on Thursday, August 11th 2005