Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Page: A8
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n592/a01.html

LAWSUIT PAINTS TROUBLING PICTURE OF FEDS AND CRACK

American taxpayers - especially those who reside in the Land of
Enchantment - deserve to know if the ends justify the means for U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

As in: Ignoring rules and getting a reformed crack addict back on the
pipe is OK if it means busting his dealer.

Granted, Aaron Romero says in his federal lawsuit that only sheer,
abject poverty got him clean. But Romero also claims DEA
corner-cutting helped get him hooked again. He says federal agents
knew their informant was paying him in crack cocaine to broker deals
in their 2011 "Smack City" operation in Las Vegas, N.M., but they
never sought approval from the U.S. Attorney's Office - violating a
DEA regulation designed to prevent abuse by law enforcement - and then
altered reports on the amounts of cocaine purchased to hide his cut.

Considering there are strict protocols for conducting noninvasive
research on animals in this country, it's disturbing to think the
federal government would ignore procedures and hand bags of illegal
narcotics to a random addict on the sly several times a week just to
make a case.

Federal agents need to investigate how Smack City went down, determine
if it was by the book or off the books, and let the public that pays
their salaries and funds their investigations know what they find.

New Mexico has serious problems with drug abuse and addiction. It is
important to determine if government efforts to clean up those
problems are just as dirty as the criminals they target.

And it should be noted the federal government likes to investigate
misconduct by state and local agencies. It's about time it applied
some of those standards to itself.
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MAP posted-by: Matt