With the current furor and attention paid to the war against terrorism, the ongoing war on drugs has been mostly ignored by the press and the people. The 30-plus year drug war has had the majority approval of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, all of the presidents, most of the voting public and the liberal courts who have once again magically found a federal right in the US Constitution that previously did not exist.

Regardless of how or why the drug war started (the first drug czar was appointed in 1930!) the battles go on unabated, but with dire consequences.

I have received a weekly email from Stopthedrugwar.org for many years. The email hightlights some of the latest developments in the drug war, one being the latest cases of law enforcement agents arrested and prosecuted for enriching themselves on drug war spoils.

From This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories :

We've got something for everybody this week. A pair of big city narcs and a small-town drug task force commander go down hard, an FBI secretary is accused of aiding meth dealers, a cop in Florida grows pot and one in Indiana slings crack, evidence walks out of two small-town departments, another prison guard goes down and so does an associate warden.

Follow the link to get all the sordid details. It may be my imagination, but it seems that the number of law enforcement officials who are succumbing to the temptations of drug money is increasing.

At another level is the apparent increase in the pressure to make drug arrests which has morphed into sting operations at public high schools. From In Widely Criticized Sting, Undercover Blonde Cop Snares Massachusetts High School Boys is the following account:

In a sting drawing widespread condemnation even from law enforcement and educators, among others, police in Falmouth, Massachusetts, sent a cute, blonde, young-looking cop into Falmouth High School as an undercover agent with a sob story about a dead mother, an absent father, and a need to get high to ease the pain. Her three-month charade came to an end last Friday when police arrested nine teenage boys for selling her small quantities of marijuana and ecstasy.

Again follow the link to get the details.

The drug war goes on with no end in sight and with casualties numbering into the hundreds of thousands each year. From 1985 to 2001, there were 14,437,416 marijuana arrests (perhaps the MSM would like to read off all the names of these casualties). There are many that are pushing for an exit strategy for the war in Irag which has been waged for only 3 years with far fewer casualties.

What would seem apparent is the much greater need for an exit strategy to the drug war.