Regardless, it is worth knowing what happened to Dirk Dickenson because it captures so perfectly the abomination of America's failed war on drugs, which was never a war on drugs as much as an unjust war on Americans as they pursued their God-given, inalienable, right to pursue happiness. 

And needless to say, although I’ll say it anyway, Dickenson’s story, while taking place over 50 years ago, can be multiplied tenfold over the past 50 years. In other words, what happened to Dirk Dickenson was just the beginning of decades of militarized law enforcement tactics.

I want to warn you: The following is disturbing. And was told by C.J. Ciaramella in a recent article in Reason titled: After 50 Years, the DEA Is Still Losing the War on Drugs. 

On April 4, 1972, President Richard Nixon's drug war landed in Humboldt County, California. The DEA, which was established the following year, was still only a glimmer in Nixon's eye at this point. But its playbook was being written here, outside the backwoods cabin of 24-year-old Dirk Dickenson.

As a Huey helicopter touched down near the cabin, plainclothes law enforcement officers brandishing pistols and long guns leaped out. The chopper was accompanied by five police cars. There were 19 law enforcement agents in total, including the county dogcatcher. Two television cameramen and a newspaper photographer were in tow as well, lured by a deputy sheriff's promise of the biggest drug bust in county history. They were expecting to find a huge PCP lab guarded by gun-toting, long-haired freaks.

The officers were the tip of the spear in a new campaign. A year earlier, Nixon had declared drug abuse "America's public enemy number one" and vowed to "wage a new, all-out offensive" against it.

Dickenson and his girlfriend both initially wandered outside to gawk and wave at the helicopter landing on their property. Dickenson, like many other California hippies, had drifted into rugged Humboldt County to escape the bummers of city life. When they caught sight of the guns, Dickenson and his girlfriend realized this wasn't a friendly house call and rushed back inside.

Several things then happened very quickly, all under the deafening sound of the helicopter's rotors. The officers started breaking down the front door of the cabin. Dickenson ran out the back and bolted for the treeline. Several officers gave chase, but one of them stumbled and fell. Lloyd Clifton, a former Berkeley police officer and an agent of the federal government's 4-year-old Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), assumed his bumbling comrade had been shot. Clifton stopped, leveled his .38 revolver at the fleeing, unarmed hippie, and shot Dickenson in the back while TV cameras rolled.

Dickenson died from massive internal bleeding while waiting to be evacuated to the hospital. Police found personal-use amounts of marijuana, hashish, peyote buttons, and LSD in Dickenson's cabin, but no giant drug lab. A judge later dismissed charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter against Clifton, the first federal drug agent to be charged with homicide.

As a Libertarian-leaning conservative who believes in a limited federal government, I am deeply troubled by the events described in this story. 

The excessive use of force by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials, including the presence of a heavily armed swat team with a helicopter, was obviously a clear violation of Dickenson's rights and personal freedom. 

The government's assumption that a young hippie living in Humboldt County must be involved in illegal drug activities is a prime example of the overreach and lack of respect for civil liberties that often accompanies the war on drugs. And by the way, it would be folly to believe this behavior ended with the death of Dickinson. It most certainly did not. 

Furthermore, the dismissal of charges against the agent responsible for Dickenson's death should have raised serious questions about accountability and justice within our law enforcement agencies. But that, too, was only the beginning of what would be over 50 years of Americans' civil liberties being trampled on by our federal government. 

It is obviously unacceptable when federal law enforcement agents take a life and face no consequences for their actions. And anybody who has been paying attention to the current federal law enforcement regime in America knows this thuggish authoritarian behavior continues today whether or not drugs are involved. Think Covid lockdowns.  

While Dickenson's story might seem like ancient history, the war on freedom continues. And when it comes to the war on drugs, it has never come close to achieving its intended goals but instead has resulted in a systematic erosion of our rights. 

Add to this the unconstitutional seizure of cash, vehicles, and real property; the question must be asked why every freedom-loving American isn't outraged. That not enough of us are doesn't speak well for a nation based on individual freedom.

As a classical liberal, I believe in the enduring principle of freedom, personal responsibility, and the right of individuals to make their own choices as long as they do not harm others. The government's war on drugs is a war on people and is, therefore, a war on America's first principles.

Recent news of the Department of Health and Human Services recommending the rescheduling of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug under the failed Controlled Substance Act, as I wrote about here, has brought out of the woodwork those who continue thinking drug prohibition can work, or can be fixed to work. It can’t. 

Drug prohibition has never worked, and it never will work because all it does is drive otherwise peaceful and law-abiding Americans underground, where some of the most sinister elements of our society exist and often thrive. 

Perhaps you question the premise that the war on drugs has failed. Well, fine, but consider the following DEA metrics, which unequivocally point to nothing other than failure: 

• The agency's annual budget has increased from $75 million in 1972 to $3.2 billion in 2022
• Since 1972, the DEA has gone from less than 3,000 positions to nearly 10,000
• Since 1986, DEA has arrested over 1 million people for drug-related offenses
• CDC reported over 107,600 drug-related deaths in 2021, an all-time high
• DEA's own data show a decline in drug prices and increase in purity since the 1980s
• Methamphetamine purity and potency remain high while prices remain low
• Cocaine availability remains steady 

It is time to shift towards a more compassionate and evidence-based approach to federal drug policy. Instead of criminalizing drug use, we should focus on harm reduction, education, and treatment. 

By ending the war on drugs  — which is really a war on people and plants — and embracing a more libertarian perspective, we can protect individual freedoms, reduce violence and crime, and promote a healthier and more just society.