I think a better analogy might be a sheep-killing dog. While I wouldn’t necessarily regard such a dog as having enough agency to blame it, it’s still dangerous, and it’s your civic duty to shoot it if you have the opportunity. (Not that I’m suggesting it would actually be practical, or improve the situation, to shoot this guy, but he sure shouldn’t be in a position with any more power than night shift clerk at 7-11.)
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Not at all surprised by this. The DEA is, after all, just another bureaucracy whose biggest nightmare is that their mission (and therefore their budget and personnel, as well as their power over other people) will be shrunk. An acquaintance of mine had to attend mandatory drug/alcohol counseling as part of a DUI sentencing, and even though the majority of the people in the classes were there for DUIs, they had more than one class that was all about the reefer–and the class materials were obviously produced by the DEA, full of drug war propaganda bullshit. Pot busts have been easy busts for them, as well as for every state and local law enforcement agency that can get in on them for arrest stats and property seizures–it’s relatively bulky and you can smell someone using it from some distance away–and the results of legalization will ultimately cost them money, personnel, and justification for the scope of their mission.
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Even in bleeding-heart northwestern European jurisdictions, a ‘trained’ dog responsible for as much carnage as a DEA flack would probably be impounded and euthanized as a matter of public safety.
As a man, his choices are repugnant and abundantly deserving of criticism. As a trained animal, criticism would be a category error; but we do not suffer excessively dangerous animals to remain in our employ.
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That’s a very good point, wrecksdart, and I worry about the same thing given how polarized the U.S. already is. That said, the many conservatives who aren’t actually in power agree with the liberalization of illicit drug policy. Libertarians certainly agree. Gay marriage will continue to be a bone in the throat of conservative christian stalwarts just as abortion has been all these decades, but they’ll eventually die out and then be replaced by their offspring who already are showing marked signs of being far more accepting.
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wow, that has to be the least intelligent argument i’ve ever heard anyone in such an important position make, to the point of being insulting to the people asking the question. if that is the case against legalization, then i think the answer is obvious.
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Reporting for duty!
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Well lad, I don’t know where ya been, but I see you won first prize!
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Jeebus on a stick up a tree–thanks for that laugh. My dad has been telling, and retelling that joke since I was a wee laddie. And he’s Welsh, of all things. 
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It’s very funny hearing my late 60’s mom argue for legalization (not just decriminalization mind, full on legalization) of all drugs including meth, etc. with my straight edge tee totaling college age daughter. For the record, I fall somewhere in the middle, decriminalization with harm reduction programs such as supervised shooting galleries and needle exchange/methadone maintenance. So there, two generations of parents not opposing legalization. Guess the DEA director doesn’t know everything.
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sorry, I am all 3 
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I found what looked like Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) once, next to a lake in UK lake district. It looked damn similar to specimens I had seen on documentaries being harvested for opium. No clue how it ended there, and it did seem to be one of a kind in the nearby area. I wanted so damn much to take it and cultivate it at home (after all the next best place I know I can find one is Afghanistan), but I was more afraid of being caught with it. Eventually I left it there.
'allo allo allo.
I think you should have never mentioned that. You’ve publically broadcast sufficient information about the whereabouts of said flower to enable the discovery and identification of said plant and by making that comment you have incited cultivation of a crop of said flowers thereby giving me the reluctant duty to incarcerate you without legal representation or challenge for a period of 3 days and to dubiously record a trumped-up charge against your name.
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I could probably point its exact whereabouts on google maps if you want 
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p’raps we shoulde ave a nice cup of tea and a chat in private, eh?
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rofl. As long as it doesn’t involve waterboarding
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I guess he never talked to the kids who’s parents use it to treat massive siezures… Oh yeah, he’s a politician. He doesn’t talk to people. He only talks to lobbyists.
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What, fire this asshole from the DEA, then put him in charge of the entire 4AM rolling papers and candy supply? That’s not going to end well…
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Nah, you can buy several strains of somniferum straight from any garden shop here. And it grows wild everywhere. The reason you won’t see many in the lakes is it likes sandy, chalky, alkaline soil, and decent drainage. Not somewhere where it rains all. The. Fucking. Time.
(I work in the Lakes. It rains. All the fucking time. All of it)
[edit: you can also buy 'em dried for ‘flower arranging’ I know this cos someone told me. Honest)
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several strains yes, but is any of those strains any good?
Yup. Pretty much all of 'em. I’ve harvested wild opium poppies many times. It works.
