“I think one of the more telling points against the drug war is just how hypocritical the states involved in the Drug War are. The key government players are under absolutely no illusion that they’re helping to combat drug use. Rather, the state — especially the U.S. national security state operating abroad — has exactly the same interest as any other organized crime lord in keeping the stuff illegal: it keeps the price up. The higher the price, the more money outfits like the CIA can make selling the shit to fund their favored thugs. Of course there are some useful idiots in Congress, the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, etc., who actually take this shit at face value. The more naive Drug War supporters in Congress and the state legislatures play the role of Baptists in this classic Baptist/Bootlegger scenario. But the real players in the Drug War, the people inside the loop, the people who really matter, want drugs kept illegal for the same reason Al Capone supported Prohibition.” (10/30/09)