I told you a couple of weeks ago about the new reality TV series, “DEA”, which just debuted last week on Spike TV. Now the reviews are coming in, and it’s not looking good for the Drug Warriors.

First from Michigan Daily, the state where “DEA” is filmed:

TV shows Detroit’s war on drugs - Television
“DEA” is like “Cops,” but 35 miles east of Ann Arbor.

The central question of the series seems to be, “Are we winning the war on drugs?” The DEA’s answer is a pronounced “yes,” but the show contradicts itself. How can we be winning if we constantly let the criminal go for revealing his supplier? If anything, “DEA” exposes the problems within the drug enforcement system.

“DEA” may show the excitement of drug raids, but it also shows the long periods of waiting and scheming by the officers. The likeability of the cops and the undercover actions of the Drug Enforcement Administration don’t add up to much when placed next to a half hour of sitting in a van listening to a wired agent talking to a dealer. Even when the actual action takes place, it ends up being nothing more than three minutes of swearing, blurred faces and innumerable threats. Sitting through the majority of the show isn’t worth it.

It’s not easy to find the positives of “DEA” - unless you’re a dealer looking for an inside scoop. TV has always been a place for viewers to escape their ho-hum matters while living vicariously through others and possibly getting a laugh along the way. But “DEA” doesn’t do any of those things, and with its depressing premise and lackluster entertainment value, only a small demographic would find this enjoyable.

Next we get this review from the Toronto Star:

In the end, it all seems so futile.

Undoubtedly, this was not the intended message of DEA (Spike TV, 11 tonight), a new six-part series that returns a spotlight to the battle that once occupied the zeitgeist before terror: the war on drugs.

In fact, since the DEA was created in 1973 by executive order of U.S. president Richard Nixon, 75 agents have been killed in the line of duty.

This isn’t mentioned tonight, nor is the cost of the war on drugs, estimated to be $500 billion over the past 35 years.

There’s no question these agents are brave.

But after one hour, you can’t help but wonder if they appreciate the intractable, cyclical and arguably winless nature of the war they’ve been asked to fight.

“These people that we target, they’re two- and three-time offenders,” says special agent Brad Ripken tonight. “You know, they’ve been through the prison system. They come back out and they go right back to it.”

In another scene, a 60-year-old suspect is arrested; we learn he’s been in and out of the system since 1974, when he first started dealing.

That those in the drug racket are particularly prone to recidivism is not surprising. What is surprising, though, is that communities, governments and law enforcement continue to fixate on supply, without adequately considering demand, which is to say, treatment for addiction.

I hope more people who watch this show come away with the same impression - not about “DEA’s” poor entertainment value, but about the DEA’s poor economic and public policy value. Maybe when people see the great effort and taxpayer expense needed for these shocking SWAT-style raids and officers armed like Rambo bursting into American homes, followed by releasing the person they just arrested if he “flips” on another suspect higher in the food chain, they’ll realize the futility of the current War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs.

Tags: DEA, reality TV, Spike TV

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 5:24 am and is filed under 4:20 NewsHour, Law Enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.