Pubdate: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS) Copyright: 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited Contact: http://www.herald.ns.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180 Author: Bill Cox ILLEGAL DRUGS: TERRIFYINGLY SUCCESSFUL INDUSTRY Drug use, both legal and illegal, has plagued us through the centuries, defying our attempts to cure the problems it creates. Our failure to solve them, or even to mitigate their tragic consequences, flows from our failure to recognize the true nature of both local and global drug operations. They constitute a malevolent industry, ultra-efficient and yet disarmingly simple in many respects, and devilishly dispersed throughout the world. It should remind us all of international terrorism, for that is what it is. If it were legitimate, there would be much to admire about the illegal global drug industry in all of its differing manifestations. It is highly profitable. It produces its wares for a small fraction of the price its customers are willing to pay for them. It has skilfully taken advantage of growing globalization, responding to changing markets and transportation routes and methods, as well as the ease with which money can now be moved from here to anywhere. It markets its goods to the young without need to employ costly advertising. It operates on a high level of trust and loyalty of its employees, largely because of the horrendous consequences of betraying it, or even leaving it. It brings business to some of the world's poorest countries and employs many of the minorities and unskilled labour of the rich world. No question about it, however, it is a very bad business that depends on the illegality of its operations for its existence. It produces simple agricultural extracts and rather basic chemical compounds that it sells for astonishing prices. A kilo of heroin, 40 per cent pure, sells for up to $290,000 US on the streets of the United States. The grand total of annual sales has been estimated at about $400 billion US. We must be cautious about figures because every number about the production, consumption and price of illegal drugs involves an accuracy-destroying amount of educated guesswork. It is probably smaller than the often-quoted estimate of the United States Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention of $400 billion US, which would put it ahead of the global petroleum industry. Global retail sales are probably around $150 billion US, which is about half of the legitimate world pharmaceutical industry, and in the same league as consumer spending on tobacco, $204 billion US, and alcohol, $240 billion US. You may find it repulsive to think of the illegal drug trade as an ordinary business, responding to normal economic signals and trends while it lavishly rewards some of the world's nastiest people and most disagreeable and selfish countries far beyond the usual standards of compensation legally earned, or morally justified. Why do people take drugs? Many do because they get a certain type of pleasure from them. It is improbable that so many would spend so much money on voluntarily eating, smoking, sniffing or injecting drugs, if to do so brought them nothing but misery. Abusing drugs wrecks many lives. Once people become fully dependent on them, it can take years to break the cycle. As with cigarettes, the pleasure then consists mainly in avoiding the pain of giving them up. But the vast majority of drug users go through a period when drugs form part of their lives, and then they move on. The dangers of drugs should not be underestimated, nor should they be exaggerated. With the exception of heroin, drugs contribute to fewer deaths among their users than either nicotine or alcohol. Tobacco kills proportionately more smokers than heroin kills devotees of it. Consuming a drug is rarely the only cause of death. More often, the user is taking some other risk. The mortality rate for people who inject heroin is two to four times as high as that for non-injectors, mainly because of the danger of contracting HIV or hepatitis from dirty needles. Even drugs that do not kill people may still hurt them. Evidence suggests that drugs may affect brain activity. Some even hint that marijuana, regarded by its fans as safer than chocolate (and less addictive), may do damage. A recent study suggested that for middle-aged people, the risk of heart attack rose by nearly five times after smoking marijuana, but it is reasonable to judge cannabis less a threat than either tobacco or alcohol. Moderate indulgence in cannabis has little effect on health. Health apart, drugs cause other kinds of harm, not to just the individual user but to society at large. Crack cocaine seems to be linked to domestic violence, marijuana makes workers groggy and no drug is good for motorists. People who use drugs heavily are disproportionately likely to commit crimes. Given the expense of a heavy drug habit, crime is an obvious income source. The sort of person who becomes a "chaotic" drug user is also proportionately likely already to be an "acquisitive offender," a thief, shoplifter or burglar. The preconditions for starting on heroin are to be a risk-taker and to have quite a bit of money. Where drug use directly harms society, government is right to intervene. But the best way to protect society may not necessarily be to ban drugs. If that were the right cause, government should begin by banning alcohol which causes much more aggression and misbehaviour than any other substance, licit or illicit. Instead, governments everywhere pursue tougher policies against drugs, some of which may be more harmful than the drugs themselves. I have sketched the nature and operation of the illegal global drug industry and some of its odious results. My next column will deal with suggested programs and policies to cure our failures and to cure the destructive results of the illegal drug industry's operations. Could it be to legalize them? - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager