When, especially, a narcotics division gets to split the "bounty" of forfeited assets has a vested financial interest in keeping drugs of any kind illegal so that, by way of "revenue sharing", they can tremendously boost their budgets without having to ask city councils and local governments to increase their share of the tax-base pie.

The so-called "war on drugs" was never about the drugs and regulation of them, as the miserable failure of the prohibition of alcohol proved conclusively that prohibition doesn't work.

This war has always been about making money off the backs of the poor and keeping drug users from participating in society. That's why America has a prison population of over two million - the majority of those confined imprisoned for drug charges, and why most states prohibit voting by felons.

I don't have the stats immediately at hand, but I know that TL and common sense can confirm that there is a hugh disproportion in the numbers of poor minorities in jail for these offenses compared to middle or upper class drug users, who are commonly able to afford better attorneys or have more political clout (think Rush, Jeb Bush's daughter, and almost any celebrity caught up in the drug net).

The inequities of the system cry out for reform, but such reform is unlikely in view of the millions of dollars made in forfeitures each year, as well as the fact that the laws can be used to effectively marginalize minorities by depriving them of their right to vote.