Pubdate: Wed, 05 Oct 2005
Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat (AZ Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Arizona Daily Wildcat
Contact:  http://wildcat.arizona.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/725
Author: Laura E. McCormick
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1571/a03.html

U.S. DRUG HABITS SUPPORT SOUTH AMERICAN BRUTALITY

I read the two sides of the legalization of marijuana, and I was a
little upset ("The burning question: legalize marijuana?"). First, in
David Schultz's column, he misspells the country Colombia as
"Columbia," which is not a country but rather a university or a
district in the eastern United States.

The other portion that disturbed me was the apparent lack of knowledge
of the drug problem in Colombia (the country). The FARC is not the
only group that dabbles into drugs, but so do the right-winged
Paramilitaries, a group that was originally organized to combat the
gross tactics of the FARC. Realizing that selling drugs was a way to
make money, the Paramilitaries also began producing.

The FARC and the Paramilitaries do not only produce marijuana but also
cocaine. They raise money for their organizations through the selling
of cocaine to their largest consumer, the United States. So in reality
anyone who does cocaine (or smokes marijuana) is supporting
organizations who terrorize and brutalize an otherwise peaceful
country, Colombia, and also support the same organizations who kidnap
visitors from the United States.

The idea that legalizing marijuana is going to solve the problem is
ludicrous because these terror organizations produce mostly cocaine.
If you want to make a change and support one of our strongest allies
(Colombia), stop consuming marijuana and cocaine. It's all about
supply and demand.

Laura E. McCormick

musicology graduate student 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake