Government Subsidized Lies

It seems the DEA is telling lies again about the drug war.

Cocaine is as cheap as ever, according to a new analysis of government data by a Washington, D.C. think tank.

The findings appear to contradict claims by U.S. law enforcement officials that the drug has become more expensive. "[Over] the last two years there's been a sustained increase on the price of cocaine," said Drug Enforcement Administration operations chief Tom Harrigan in a recent interview with ABC News. Harrigan credited efforts by the United States, Mexico and local U.S. governments.

But the retail price for cocaine in 2007, the most recent year studied, was less than half what it was in 1984, when Jay McInerney's novel of a coke-addled Manhattanite, "Bright Lights, Big City," was first published, according to the report by the policy group Washington Office on Latin America, which cited a newly-released analysis by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Well what would you expect of a policy that weeds out inefficient competitors faster than market forces? It is an intense Darwinian struggle where only the fittest survive.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, the "law and order" response by our politicians only intensifies the problem. Instead, they might turn to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to glean insight as to why these "common sense" reactionary solutions often are counterproductive.

As illegal drugs become easier to obtain and more potent, politicians respond in a knee-jerk manner by ramping up law enforcement. After all, drugs are bad so why not escalate the war against drugs? Politicians get to look tough in front of voters, the drug war bureaucracy is delighted with ever expanding budgets, and lots of low-level bad guys get locked up. Everyone wins - including, unfortunately, the major drug traffickers.

As politicians intensified the drug war decade after decade, an unintended consequence began to appear. These "get tough" policies have caused the drug economy to evolve under Darwinian principles (i.e., survival of the fittest). Indeed, the drug war has stimulated this economy to grow and innovate at a frightening pace.

By escalating the drug war, the kinds of people the police typically capture are the ones who are dumb enough to get caught. These criminal networks are occasionally taken down when people within the organization get careless. Thus, law enforcement tends to apprehend the most inept and least efficient traffickers. The common street expression puts it best: "the dealer who uses, loses." Conversely, the kinds of people law enforcement tends to miss are the most cunning, innovative and efficient traffickers.

It's as though we have had a decades-long unintended policy of artificial selection. Just as public health professionals warn against the overuse of antibiotics because it can lead to drug resistant strains of bacteria, our overuse of law enforcement has thinned out the trafficking herd so that the weak and inefficient traffickers get captured or killed and only the most proficient dealers survive and prosper. Indeed, U.S. drug war policies have selectively bred "super-traffickers."

So has the Drug War selected for smarter government agents? If you judge by results they appear stupider than ever. And if they are by some miracle getting smarter, selection pressure is causing smugglers and distributors to get smarter faster. Which is why drug prices are going down.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Cross Posted at Classical Values with the title: Darwin In Action.

Republicans For Hemp - A National First

Hemp is happening in North Dakota. The political landscape in North Dakota is interesting. One of North Dakota's US Senators, Byron Dorgan is a Democrat. Their other US Senator Kent Conrad is also a Democrat. Their only Representative, Earl Pomeroy is also a Democrat.

So who is this Republican spearheading hemp in what appears to be a very Democrat leaning state?

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson Monday signed the first two licenses issued by the state to grow industrial hemp. According to an Agriculture Department press release, the first license was issued to state Rep. David Monson (R-Osnabrock), the assistant majority leader who is also a farmer and strong proponent of industrial hemp. One other license has been issued, and 16 more applications have been submitted by would-be North Dakota hemp farmers.

A Republican State Representative. Interesting that the State House of Representatives is majority Republican in a state that leans Democrat on the national level.

"Rep. Monson has been the leader in developing the necessary legislation for North Dakota to legalize production of industrial hemp," Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said Monday. "It is fitting that he has the first license." The second license was granted to Wayne Hauge of Ray. "These two North Dakota producers have met all the requirements, including FBI background checks," Johnson said. "They have invested considerable time, money and effort to meet the letter and spirit of the law."

But although North Dakota has moved to make hemp farming legal, it remains illegal under federal law. Johnson and North Dakota would-be hemp farmers will seek registration from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), but given the agency's hostile attitude toward hemp, that seems unlikely. Just last week, the DEA refused to waive the non-refundable annual $2,293 registration fee, despite Johnson's request that it do so.

While Johnson and the would-be hemp farmers may be going through the motions of seeking DEA approval to lay the basis for a later legal challenge, for now Johnson said he wants to try to reason with the agency.

"The rules require that a state license is not effective until the licensee receives a registration from DEA to import, produce or process industrial hemp," Johnson said. "I will meet with DEA officials about this matter in Washington early next week. I will ask for DEA's cooperation with our state program, and I will ask DEA to implement a reasonable process to allow North Dakota producers to grow industrial hemp."

I believe this is the first time since World War Two that any one has tried to go through the official procedures to grow hemp in America. For those of you with a high speed connection here is the WW2 US Department of Agriculture Hemp for Victory movie (about 14 minutes running time).

The North Dakota State Agriculture Department has issued a press release on what the State plans to do to get the required hemp growing licenses.

“The controls placed on licensed industrial hemp farmers by North Dakota’s laws and regulations include criminal background checks, identification of fields by satellite tracking, minimum acreage requirements, seed certification and mandatory laboratory tests,” Johnson said. “The chain of custody for viable hemp seed must be fully documented.”

The regulations apply to owners, operators and employees of a hemp farm or anyone to grows, handles or processes viable hemp seed.

Johnson said the production of industrial hemp presents little potential for diversion of controlled substances to illegitimate purposes.

I expect that once they get turned down by the DEA they will go to the courts.

BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota issued the nation's first licenses to grow industrial hemp Tuesday to two farmers who still must meet federal requirements before they can plant the crop.

The farmers must get approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which treats hemp much the way it does marijuana and has not allowed commercial hemp production but has said it would consider applications to grow it.

Hemp is a cousin of marijuana that contains trace amounts of the chemical that causes a marijuana high, though hemp does not produce the same effects. The sturdy, fibrous plant is used to make an assortment of products including paper, rope, clothing and cosmetics.

Actually the precursor to the DEA did allow hemp production during WW2. I covered some of that history in Hemp In Illinois. I also discuss why hemp poachers are not a problem in Hemp Makes Wonderful Fiber.

The number one problem in this field is that the DEA unlike its Canadian counterparts cannot tell the difference between hemp and marijuana. In America you need DEA approval, a fenced garden with razor wire to top the fences and 24 hour monitoring. In Canada all you need is a license. Admittedly the Canadians had a little problem with pot poachers the first year they grew a hemp crop. But soon enough the word got out that all you got from smoking hemp was a headache and the poaching all but ceased.

The Canadians have a vigorous marijuana eradication program that does not seem to be impeded at all by Canadian hemp growers. For all the lame jokes about Canadian dull wittedness, it seems the Royal Mounted Police are actually smarter than the DEA. The RCMP can tell the difference between hemp and marijuana.

Well this is not the first time I have made fun of our police on this matter I did it at least once before in The Fabric of Our Times

Imagine that. Hemp in Canada. I hear that the Mounties are still busting marijuana plantations and grow ops. The Mounties must be a lot smarter than the police in America. They can tell the difference between marijuana and hemp. I expect with a little education our police could be brought up to Canadian standards in the matter.

We shall see. Police all over America collect a lot of money from the Federal government for their "marijuana eradication" programs. Which is just another way of saying they get paid to collect feral hemp. Nice outdoor work if you can get it. It accomplishes nothing useful and people get paid for it. In other words, just another Federal boondoggle.

Here are some nice charts and graphs and dollar figures for feral hemp eradication.

In the past two decades, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has spent at least $175 million in direct spending and grants to the states to eradicate feral hemp plants, popularly known as "ditch weed." The plants, the hardy descendants of hemp plants grown by farmers at the federal government's request during World War II, do not contain enough THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, to get people high.

According to figures from the DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program, it has seized or destroyed 4.7 billion feral hemp plants since 1984. That's in contrast to the 4.2 million marijuana plants it has seized or destroyed during the same period. In other words, 98.1% of all plants eradicated under the program were ditch weed, of which it is popularly remarked that "you could smoke a joint the size of a telephone pole and all you would get is a headache and a sore throat."

While the DEA is spending millions of tax payer dollars, including $11 million in 2005, to wipe out hemp plants, farmers in Canada and European countries are making millions growing hemp for use in a wide variety of food, clothing, and other products. Manufacturers of hemp products in the United States must import their hemp from countries with more enlightened policies.

I suppose change is just a matter of time. Probably no more than a decade or three.

In the grand scheme of things $11 million a year isn't much. And, at least it keeps a few policemen off the streets for a few days.

Cross Posted at Classical Values