Protesters outside DEA headquarters in Chelsea rip agency’s role in ‘wasteful’ drug war, mass incarceration
Protesters describe the DEA’s role as perpetuating the worst of drug war policies, including mass incarceration of people of color, fueling violence abroad and fighting against scientific evidence and public health needs.
They’re just saying no to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
About 25 protesters railed against what they called the “mass incarceration of people of color” outside the DEA’s Chelsea headquarters Friday.
Chanting “Decriminalize all drugs,” the protestors, led by Vocal New York and the Drug Policy Alliance, dropped a banner in front of the 10th Ave. offices reading “Just Say NO to the DEA.”
The protesters say the federal government won’t win the war on drugs by locking up low level offenders and addicts who need treatment — not incarceration.
“Jail will forcibly detox you but it’s not a long term solution,” said Fred Wright of Vocal New York. “We’ve got to change what we’re doing. We’ve got to make treatment options more available.”
“We’ve wasted trillions of dollars on the drug war,” he added. “We’ve got the largest prison population in the world and drugs are more available then they ever have been. Clearly what they’re doing is not working.”
Vocal New York organizer Fred Wright (c., left photo) speaks to police Friday as he leads a group of people identifying as “victims of the drug war” in protest at New York DEA headquarters.
Protestors threatened to block traffic on 10th Ave. but never did so. A group of cops stood ready to stop them if they did.
“The war on drugs is really a war on people,” protestor Reginald Brown said. “If people are using hard drugs they should get quality care for their addiction. If they’re using marijuana which is a plant, like broccoli, it makes no sense to arrest them in the first place.”
Friday’s protest is one of five that will be held before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs next month, Wright said.
A call to the DEA for comment was not immediately returned.
Filed under: General Problems
Thank God we all need to Unite together with as many groups as we can !
George Soros’ investment in DPA is finally paying dividends. These kinds of high-visibility protests are only effective when the commercial media report them. And it took until now, for those corporate media bosses to realize, that nobody was paying attention to what DEA officials said, anymore. Somewhere between the malicious prosecutions of numerous pain doctors, the Florida pain prescription embargo, and the DEA agent who swore on a stack of Bibles that he was really concerned about a Utah medical cannabis law, lest wild animals start eating farm-grown cannabis and develop unknown symptoms…exactly like the wildlife in neighboring Colorado exhibit every day…there just got to be too many of us who ridiculed what DEA personnel were babbling, and no one defending them. (If I were an impartial person, I’d have been swayed by that wild Utah animal story…because nobody in Colorado is complaining about cannabis-intoxicated deer, bear, elk, cattle, sheep, goats, or any other species. Cannabis is a plant, like poppies and broccoli. Critters ate them when they used to be legal. Continued eating them after the were made illegal. And will continue eating them after they become legal again.)
Bottom Line: the corporate media always side with politicians and bureaucrats, because the politicians and bureaucrats create news stories repeatedly. Reporters don’t like to get politicians and bureaucrats angry.
When the corporate media finally acknowledge that this is a real story, it means we are becoming effective.
Congratulations, fellow activists! Now back to work, please.
Looks like the idea I floated two years ago was picked up by others. I’m happy to see it.
Good! A few more bullet points to be made clear and voices will be heard!???