Of course nobody likes it when LE does a series of takedowns of popular markets, but such actions only serve to make us stronger and smarter. The markets that survived this year will absorb new customers, and those running quality OPSEC will be rewarded, ultimately rewarding the consumer as well. No matter how hard they try they can't control us or what we decide to put in our own bodies. And ultimately we will win and they will lose. It's inevitable, and if they don't know that yet, they will soon.
The way I am looking at the whole operation is probably going to be somewhat unpopular, but I think it's worth mentioning. This isn't at all to say that I am happy about the events of the last few days, mind you. But I am genuinely impressed by how well-coordinated that things are, and it really did serve to let everyone know that we all did become somewhat arrogant and much too comfortable in the notion that markets have become too big to be taken out. It was astonishing when you look at it and start taking into account just how well-coordinated and planned it was, and I cringe a little bit at how much credit people are giving luck or flukes in managing to pull it off. I hate to admit it, but if there was ever a time that the phrase "well-played" it appropriate; this is the time.
This serves as a great reminder that in no way were markets operating below the radar, but and it shows that it really is a little bit too easy to become complacent and fall into the though process that "if it worked before, it will continue to work."
It took me a few days to be able to sit and read the facts about how these operations were carried out, and there is a disturbing number of things that happened where either arrogance or laziness came into play that allowed for infiltration to happen on such a widespread level.
I think the wrong approach that many of us are taking is to stage worldwide protests, or look at markets as a collective, organized revolution where "the people" are all coming together and stealing back the rights that we wish to have. I posted in another thread that was discussing how people really do have many capabilities that we don't take advantage of, especailly those of us who life in societies that we elect our legislators.
The people who live in extremely large countries such as the united states sometimes fall victim to the mindset that there are simply far, far too many people voting and see that corporations and money have far too much power when it comes to what our elected officials do that we fall victim to the trap of believing that our votes aren't even worth casting because they're simply one in a sea, and our voices aren't heard.
But if you look at the most recent US elections last week, especially some of the ballot measures, as well as some recent laws that have been passed in state senates, you'll notice quite a few decisions that reflect quite significant progress, especially regarding drug laws. One more state, Oregon, as well as the District of Columnia, legalized marijuana entirely, and quite a few other states such as California further decriminalized possession. California lessened penalties for drug possession to misdemeanors, which is gigantic. Consider that only a decade ago, CA -- which tends to be one of the most liberal states -- used to have a law on the books that equated the possession of cocaine base (crack cocaine) to a multiplier of 100 times that amount of regular cocaine, making it so that a person in possession of a single ounce carried a minimum, mandatory penalty of a lengthy prison term that was equivalent to carrying a hundred ounces of cocaine. Several years ago, President Obama signed into law a fair sentencing act lessening this disparity but it still carried a multiplier of 14. It was progress, but still considered severe in most people's eyes.
This election, California reduced the charges that can be attached to be a misdemeanor instead of felony for a majority of possession, as well as established guidelines for more equitable determinations between different drug classes.
Decriminalization is another matter, and although it's not legalization, ultimately it makes a gigantic difference in penalties. In summary, which decriminalization means is that possession is no longer a misdemeanor and becomes an offense more akin to a speeding ticket or being drunk in public; they're now summary offenses that don't carry a criminal record. This allows people to more easily secure gainful employment, not be rejected when applying for housing, and doesn't impair their ability to obtain professional licenses, such as being a teacher, medical professional, social worker, or any other careers that require a "clean record."
It's disingenuous to pretend that everyone has the ability to use drugs responsibly or for people to pretend that there aren't serious issues surrounding addiction. But it's equally unreasonable to pretend that everyone who uses drugs will eventually become an incurable addict who leaves nothing but destruction in the path and can never regain control of their life. Truthfully, I don't know how much difference it makes if there were no laws governing them, as I have always believed very strongly that laws do very little to prevent drug use. I don't think that DNM's have in any way increased drug use, or even done much to bring certain drugs to areas that didn't have them previously. They're not exacty ground-breaking in that regard. I'm older than the widespread use of the internet; I was in college before anyone had AOL, and I was in graduate school before I had a computer in my own home (We had a TRS-80 in my house when I was a child, though, and I spent an eternity learning how to write very rudimentary programs in BASIC. I remember the first thing I did was write a program that printed "I Love Kirk Cameron" over and over and over until I hit contol-c to get it to stop.)
I think that the most significant shift in progress that DNMs have begun to effect is that people are now much, much more able to find information about what they're doing. Subs like /r/drugs do much more than serve as a corner for people to sit and chat about what they're getting into this weekend. /u/Borax, /u/ Flying_Dtuchmann, and /r/roidonsteriods have always impressed me by taking time out of their lives to help people understand more about the chemicals we put in our bodies, but more importantly than that, they show people how to to their own research and learn to make responsible decisions for themselves.
So as the dust settles, we all have decisions to make about what steps to take next. It's unlikely that this is a "victory" for either side, a significant dent was put in operations that absolutely slowed down, but hardly halted activity. But it certainly did do quite a lot of damage, and its also untrue to claim that the unharmed areas surviving somehow equates to the operation being a complete failure.
So what I most hope the events of the last week starts ongoing dialogue for everyone to start becoming more reasonable about what everyone's true goals are, and start exploring ways to make them happen without going off into fantasy land. No more than it's possible or practical that the world is going to develop into a complete police state where becomes impossible to access anything, it's also not possible to turn into some anarchist utopia where everyone can have and do anything that they want. It is a great time for people to take a long, hard look at what, exactly, they would hope for as their ideal society, and learn to get more involved with awareness campaigns, work on harm reduction practices, and become involved with local, grass roots campaigns that have genuine potential at changing legislation that affects them.
Remember, we live in world that it's been less than 100 years in most areas that drugs have even been illegal. There are people alive who remember the years where buying alcohol was prohibited by the US constitution. It wasn't repealed because there were just too many speakeasies, it was repealed because of citizen action. Same goes for some of the other truly groundbreaking events of this generation -- gay marriage is something that our grandchildren are going to not be able to wrap their heads around the controversy surrounding it that we are seeing happen. When I was a kid, an amendment to the US constitution was proposed -- and failed to have enough states ratify saying that women couldn't be discriminated against legally. Believe it or not; there is still not an amendment stating this on a federal level; only individual states have them (and not all do.)
What I am saying is this is a perfect time for everyone to look at the rise of DNMs as more than a convenient way to get drugs. It's also not a slacktivism platform where everyone who made a purchase is akin to marching in the streets of Cairo during the Arab Spring, and the appropiate response to the seizures it to bring on physical riots in hopes of governments to be overthrown. There are way to effect the changes that we want, and the way to start is to be honest with ourselves about what the issues are.
I am hopelessly idealistic, but I link to think that I am also reasonably practical. I think most of the members here are as well. I've already seen some truly impressive posts being made where people have amazing ideas about what things people truly can do in order to create the world we want for ourselves, and shape it into the world future generations will want from themselves. Now is the time to plant our feet a little more firmly on the ground and start educating ourselves in reality now that we have had a taste of what can happen in either direction.