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?
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager