The war on drugs, like prohibition, has turned out to be nothing but a money sinkhole that promotes violent crime. Any person with a couple of properly firing synapses would say the American people certainly aren’t getting any return on the government’s investment in preventing many of those same people from using various verboten substances. Now the government is stepping up its game and plainly informing the citizenry that their health matters not when it comes to preventing drugs from entering this country:
A 63-page set of specifications (PDF), heavily redacted, obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center through the Freedom of Information Act, says the scanners must “be based on X-Ray or gamma technology,” which use potentially dangerous ionizing radiation at high energies, and “shall be capable of scanning cars, SUVs, motorcycles and busses.”
“Society will pay a huge price in cancer because of this,” John Sedat, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, told CNET. Sedat has raised concerns about the health risks of X-ray scanners, and the European Commission in November prohibited their use in European airports.
In other words those entering or leaving the country will have to submit to scans by devices that use radition known to cause cancer. According to the United States government no price is too high to pay for the war on drugs, even if that price is your health.
X-ray scanners are slightly dangerous, Gamma ray based scanners? What the hell are they smoking in Washington to even think using those are in any way remotely safe, outside of the Marvel universe gamma rays are what cause radiation poisoning.