Ask Scott Horton Anything: Should We Get Rid Of The DEA?

Scott Horton of Harper's explains why the Drug Enforcement Agency does a lot of damage to society. (Via Andrew Sullivan)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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jonnygoldstein

Yep.
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  Right, it is weird to have a yes or no question in the headline when it is so easy to answer.
  - Andrew Singleton
    
    Not when most politicians will sit and talk rings around the answer without actually saying anything.
    
    It /IS/ Unusual to have someone give a clear answer then explain how they arrived at it.
- vinculture
  
  No.
  - Bob Bobage
    
    Yes. Get drugs off the streets. Stop paying the DEA to enforce drugs on the kids.
http://twitter.com/worldsday Sam Brubaker

Oh, sure- abolish the DEA, but who are you going come crawling back to when you need your door kicked in and your dog shot? Think of the repercussions, people.
- Mister44
  
  We still have the ATF and larger cities have SWAT teams.
Hakuin

war crime trials for the DEA Cartel, start collecting the evidence.
http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios

Why is this even a question anymore? Yes…Yes.. a thousand times YES!
http://web.ncf.ca/shawnhcorey/ Shawn H Corey

Get rid of the DEA. The police and FBI should be able to handle enforcement. And get rid of most of the drug laws while you’re at it.
- http://centzon.myopenid.com/ Centzon
  
  I agree. First off, let go of dugs that are not “processed”:
  hashish– still on the list; weed off
  cocaine– still on the list; cocoa leaves off
  heroin– still on the list; opium off
  mushrooms, lick-able toads off
  -and so on.
  
  And while we are at it, increase the tax/duty on distilled alcohol and tobaccos with additives and mildly relax duty on the “unprocessed” versions of same.
  - Bob Bobage
    
    Cocoa is not a controlled substance. Cocaine comes from COCA.