This should give someone pause about many perceive as selective drug enforcement in the United States. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that several former top cops are landing news jobs in the Land of Lincoln as security consultants to the newly-legalized medical marijuana industry in the state. Among those landing new jobs are: Terrance Gainer, the former head of the Illinois State Police and the Capitol Hill Police in Washington; Kenneth Bouche, a former colonel in the Illinois State Police; Michael Chasen, a former deputy chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department; and James Smith, a veteran inspector for the U.S. Marshal's Service.
“I did not conceive that in the year 2014 I would be working for a company interested in the medical marijuana business,” Gainer told the Sun-Times. “It’s a business,” says Smith, who is working with MedMar, which has gotten licenses for two marijuana dispensaries. "It’s legal in the state of Illinois. It’s important that the program be run right. And security is a major part of it." The Sun-Times added, "State officials said applicants’ ability to provide security for medical marijuana dispensaries and farms was a key consideration in deciding who would get licenses to open Illinois’ first legal marijuana businesses."
Gainer emphasized that Illinois' law is not like Colorado's law, which legalizes the use of pot by any adult, not just those prescribed pot for medical reasons as Illinois' law permits. The Sun-Times notes that Michael Chasen played a key role in the Chicago Police Department's investigation of Richard J. Vanecko, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who killed David Koschman. Vanecko pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and served just two months in jail after a Sun-Times investigative series uncovered the police cover up of the killing.
I have come to the point of view that the entire "war on drugs" is nothing more than a subterfuge for our government and our ruling political class to run the illicit drug trade, keep prices high as possible through restriction of distribution, and funnel that income as entrenched politicians and agencies see fit.
ReplyDeleteIt was only a matter of time before weed became a legal commodity in some states... but more states will follow just as more states followed the establishment of state-sponsored legal gambling. THEY WANT THE MONEY. The day is coming when you will see state-sponsored black tar heroin dealerships... and isn't that what state-sponsored gambling, weed trade, and what state-sponsored heroin dens would be, what "state-sponsored anythings" really are? They are dealerships, pure and simple.
You may not do anything in America unless a liberal Democrat politician or establishment Republican politician says you can do it. Liberal Democrats believe our rights are "granted" or "given" to us by the State [a lie Establishment Republicans are only too happy to acquiesce] whereas in a Constitutional Republic the State has only those rights granted to it by the people. What a concept. Someone should organize a country around that idea someday.