"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."
P.J. O'Rourke

Cele Castillo

"They took my dream away: I strongly believed, and I put my life on the line, that I would make a difference. And obviously that was not what it was all about. I realized that we were the bad guys."


Few people know more about the failures of the US war on drugs than Celerino "Cele" Castillo 3rd. Cele is a 20-year veteran of state and federal law enforcement, with 12-years in the Drug Enforcement Administration. Cele was a highly decorated DEA agent, who was cited many times for his undercover operations in North, Central, and South America. He worked several years in San Francisco and New York City in deep cover operations before being assigned by the DEA to South and Central America where he found himself in the middle of the Iran-Contra Affair. He is the author of Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War.