January 16, 2014 11:48AM # What the DEA and Drug Traffickers Have in Common By [Jeffrey Miron](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-miron) --- SHARE In today’s [WaPo](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/dea-operations-chief-decries-legalization-of-marijuana-at-state-level/2014/01/15/17af548a-7e38-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html), the DEA’s Chief of Operations James L. Capra claims that: > the movement to decriminalize the sale of pot in the United States will have severe consequences. … Every part of the world where this has been tried, it has failed time and time again. Capra’s assertion is so ignorant of the facts that it merits little comment; instead, read Glenn Greenwald’s [Cato study](https://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminalization-portugal-lessons-creating-fair-successful-drug-policies) on decriminalization in Portugal, which shows just the opposite of Capra’s claim. Capra’s statement about “severe consequences” is not entirely wrong, however; legalization will put thousands of DEA and other law enforcement officials out of work! Perhaps, therefore, the government should outlaw food, clothing, and shelter; then we could emply billions in the attempt to enforce those laws. An interesting side note is that, like law enforcement officials, drug traffickers also fear legalization. See minute 4:00 of [this video](http://www.vocativ.com/video/colombian-cocaine-factory/). ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).