In a world where technology becomes obsolete only a few months after it hits the shelves, how long will it take for the shiny new President to become outdated and out-of-touch? Last week the White House held an online town hall meeting, inviting Americans to submit their questions and concerns for the President's consideration. Overwhelmingly, the question most frequently asked was: "With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money-making, money-saving boost to the economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?" [continues 791 words]
Americans are discovering that the war on drugs begun 40 years ago by President Nixon has become costlier than the war in Iraq and more brutal on the streets of the U.S. than anything seen during the notorious underworld gang wars of Prohibition. What began as infighting among cartels south of the border has now spilled over into American cities with unspeakable violence. In a small county outside Birmingham, Ala., five men had their throats slit in a dispute involving $450,000 in drug money. In Phoenix, police report at least one kidnapping a day related in some fashion to drugs. Home invasion robberies are commonplace in big cities everywhere, when drug users look for easy pickings to finance their habits. [continues 313 words]
Mexico's hillbilly drug smugglers have morphed into a raging insurgency. Violence claimed more lives there last year alone than all the Americans killed in the war in Iraq. And there's no end in sight. What I remember most about my return to Mexico last year are the narcomantas. At least that's what everyone called them: "drug banners." Perhaps a dozen feet long and several feet high, they were hung in parks and plazas around Monterrey. Their messages were hand-painted in black block letters. They all said virtually the same thing, even misspelling the same name in the same way. Similar banners appeared in eight other Mexican cities that day--Aug. 26, 2008. [continues 2196 words]
Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say. The Iran-backed Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America's tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S. [continues 1208 words]
Guess which city leads the world in kidnappings? No, not Beirut. Not Baghdad. Mexico City. And guess who comes second? Ready? It's Phoenix, Ariz.: 370 recorded cases in 2008 alone, and who knows how many unrecorded cases. When you think Phoenix, you may think of retirees and golf courses. But here's what the late Paul Harvey used to call "the rest of the story," courtesy of the Web site Stratfor.com: "Late on the night of June 22, [2008] a residence in Phoenix was approached by a heavily armed tactical team preparing to serve a warrant. The members of the team were wearing the typical gear for members of their profession: black boots, black BDU (battle dress uniform) pants, Kevlar helmets and Phoenix Police Department (PPD) raid shirts pulled over their body armour. The team members carried AR-15 rifles equipped with Aimpoint sights to help them during the low-light operation and, like most cops on a tactical team, in addition to their long guns, the members of this team carried secondary weapons --pistols strapped to their thighs. [continues 666 words]
As Mexico Descends into Brutality and Lawlessness, the Government Istelf Has Become a Tool of the Drug Lords The target of the raid was the narcotraficante known as "El Conejo" - the Rabbit. In keeping with his stature as the main supplier of cocaine to one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels, the Colombian was throwing a lavish party at a sprawling mansion on the south side of Mexico City. As always, there would be plenty of high-end prostitutes, who served a dual purpose: They not only made money for Conejo while they were working, they could also be sent back to Colombia loaded down with the cash from his drug trafficking - by some accounts as much as $40 million in profits every month. [continues 6293 words]
Quite right - the Obama administration is gearing up to pressure the Europeans to put more men in boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Quite right - the Europeans don't want to engage in a war of attrition - a la USSR in Afghanistan in the 1980s, or the United States in Vietnam a decade and a half earlier. There is nothing worse than having to pull out with your tail between your legs and confront the electorate with thousands of needless deaths of their brave young. [continues 726 words]
To understand why the war in Afghanistan, now in its eighth year, is not going well for the United States and its NATO allies, take a look at two statistics. One is Afghanistan's ranking on an international index measuring corruption: 176 out of 180 countries. (Somalia is 180th). The other is Afghanistan's position as the world's Number 1 producer of illicit opium, the raw material for heroin. The two statistics are inextricably linked and, a year ago, prompted Richard Holbrooke, the man President Barack Obama has just picked as special envoy for Afghanistan, to write: "Breaking the narco-state in Afghanistan is essential or all else will fail. [continues 804 words]
Ambassador Appointment Deserves High Priority President Barack Obama's agenda is already packed to the brim with urgent domestic and international issues. Another item - Mexico - deserves a place high on his list, though it's rarely been apparent from Obama's campaign and post-election public statements that he shares our sense of concern. Being from Chicago, and having spent the past few years in Washington, it's understandable why he might not have a Mexico-centric view of the world. That could change quickly. [continues 642 words]
Kandahar, Afghanistan - NATO leaders' agreement this fall to let their troops attack drug traffickers in Afghanistan held the promise of stemming the flow of funding for the violent insurgency here. But military commanders now seem reluctant to go after the drug runners. NATO commanders in Afghanistan say they are holding back because of concerns over the legality of drug operations. But they may also be unwilling to conduct what is seen as a politically unpopular mission that could endanger their troops. [continues 573 words]
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A drive by the NATO alliance to disrupt Afghanistan's drug trade has been hobbled by new objections from member nations that say their laws do not permit soldiers to carry out such operations, according to senior commanders here. The objections are being raised despite an agreement two months ago that the alliance's campaign in Afghanistan would be broadened to include attacks on narcotics facilities, traffickers, middlemen and drug lords whose profits help to finance insurgent groups. During a recent visit here, Gen. John Craddock, NATO's supreme allied commander, expressed surprise upon learning of what he described as a gap between the decision by alliance defense ministers to authorize aggressive counternarcotics missions and the lack of follow-through because of objections from several of the countries that make up the NATO force in Afghanistan. [continues 987 words]
It's Time To Stop The Mission Creep We no longer have a civilian-led government. It is hard for a lifelong Republican and son of a retired Air Force colonel to say this, but the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of aspects of civilian government. Our Constitution is at risk. President-elect Barack Obama's selections of James L. Jones, a retired four-star Marine general, to be his national security adviser and, it appears, retired Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair to be his director of national intelligence present the incoming administration with an important opportunity -- and a major risk. These appointments could pave the way for these respected military officers to reverse the current trend of Pentagon encroachment upon civilian government functions, or they could complete the silent military coup d'etat that has been steadily gaining ground below the radar screen of most Americans and the media. [continues 1602 words]
Just Say No ... More When America declared a war on poverty in the 1960s, it was believed that more assistance by the federal government would lead to eradicating the problem. What we got instead was bigger government and an army of dependents for whom welfare became not merely a helping hand but a way of life. And today, even though the government has done little to actually help the poor and has even made things worse, many still believe the war on poverty must continue by offering even more of the welfare that helps to perpetuate it. [continues 656 words]
The illegal drugs trade plays a large part in filling up war chests of politicians and funding armed campaigns of Maoist guerrillas and Islamic militants in the Philippines, the country's police chief said Thursday. "'Narco-politics' is not entirely a new phenomenon," Director General Jesus Verzosa added in a statement. "It happened in the past and, chances are, it can happen again if law enforcers, and the community will lower their guard to prevent drug syndicates from influencing political activities in some parts of the country." [continues 248 words]
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director Gen. Jesus Verzosa yesterday reported a "marked decrease" in the number of index crime cases particularly murder, homicide and physical injury this year compared to year 2007. In a press conference at Camp Crame, Quezon City, Verzosa said the incidence of index crimes for the past 11 months of 2008 decreased by 1.3 percent, with corresponding single-digit declines in the number of cases involving murder and physical injury. But the PNP saw a 14.11-percent dip in the number of homicide casesin 2008. [continues 568 words]
President-elect Barack Obama's new drug czar needs to be someone other than another friend of Big Al Capone. So, speak up. In a single week in 2004, 50 tons of illicit narcotic drugs were seized in Iran. Four years later, opium production in U.S. troop-cluttered Afghanistan is at a record level. The drug war does not work. Tell Obama. Not only does it not work, but the drug war funds terrorists abroad and gangbangers at home. Prohibition on drugs enables the bad guys (just as it did in Capone's day with alcohol), keeps people addicted, permits amateurish drug manufacturing and packaging, and forfeits the right of government to regulate and control illicit drug dosage, purity and labeling. [continues 480 words]
I have seen many arguments for racial equality in almost all aspects of society, but last Tuesday's column by Students for Sensible Drug Policy's Irina Alexander was the first argument I have ever seen for racial equality in imprisonment. Ms. Alexander argues that the only possible reason that a disproportionate number of blacks are in jail for drug-related crime is either police corruption or racial profiling. She misses the obvious third possibility: Blacks could actually commit a disproportionate number of drug-related crimes. A disproportionate number of white executives have been arrested for fraud; would Ms. Alexander argue that the FBI should pick up some Asians to balance out that inequality? [continues 566 words]
Defeating the Taliban requires unconventional measures, for they are an unconventional foe. One way to undermine their presence in Afghanistan would be to buy up Afghanistan's poppy harvest. Last year, the Taliban earned approximately $100 million from the opium trade -- Afghanistan typically grows more than 90 per cent of the world's opium poppies. Bereft of strong government and stability, it is likely to do so well into the future despite the best efforts of NATO to eradicate poppy cultivation. [continues 246 words]
Defeating the Taliban requires unconventional measures, for they are an unconventional foe. One way to undermine their presence in Afghanistan would be to buy up Afghanistan's poppy harvest. Last year, the Taliban earned approximately $100 million from the opium trade -- Afghanistan typically grows more than 90 per cent of the world's opium poppies. Bereft of strong government and stability, it is likely to do so well into the future despite the best efforts of NATO to eradicate poppy cultivation. [continues 238 words]
Millions From Narcotics Fuel Taliban's Resurgence WASHINGTON -- A stepped-up anti-drug-trafficking effort is emerging as a key part of a broad Bush administration revision in strategy for the war in Afghanistan, U.S. officials say. The strategy review comes as U.S. forces face increased violence in Afghanistan and reflects a growing consensus that drug trafficking has become essential to a Taliban resurgence. "I don't think we appreciated how fast the Taliban was coming back when it got drug money," said Dell Dailey, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator. "You can build an army real fast if you've got money in your pocket." [continues 372 words]
MEXICO CITY -- When Mexican homicide investigators pull up at the scene of the latest drug-related slaughter, they go through a mental checklist: How many corpses? What sort of wounds? And, finally, where is the note scrawled by the killers? Mexico's drug violence seems to be spiraling out of control, with each mass killing followed by an even gorier one and innocents increasingly falling victim to traffickers' ruthlessness. Yet there is often a sinister order to the chaos, as killers in Mexico's drug war frequently leave a calling card with the bodies that spells out a motive for the massacre, or at least their version of it. [continues 1074 words]
Drug dealers, drug cartels and al Qaeda love prosecuting attorneys like Rod J. Rosenstein. They love anyone who supports the policy of drug war/modern prohibition because it puts billions of dollars into their pockets. Rosenstein's statement, "We are keeping our communities safe from this highly addictive illegal drug," is completely false. Maryland is awash in meth, and the bust made in Frederick on Sept. 5 was meaningless. Mexico supplies about 80 percent of America's meth, and we in law enforcement are powerless to stop this Katrina-like ocean of drugs pouring across our border every day. [continues 58 words]
During my 18 years as a police officer, I learned that illegal drug use rarely caused a problem. Letter writer Ellen Pollard's contrary assertion is flat wrong. The prohibition of drugs fuels property and violent crime, the former to pay the extremely high prices for illegal drugs. The violent crime comes from drug dealers settling disputes with a gun. As a drug-control strategy, modern prohibition has been and will continue to be a dismal failure. Worse, it provides job opportunities for our kids to sell drugs and it provides billions to al-Qaeda. Howard J. Wooldridge education specialist Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Washington, D.C. [end]
One Investor Pays Farmers To Grow Alternative Crops SANA'A, Yemen -- Like many countries, Yemen has been hit hard by soaring food prices. But the food problem has an added dimension here. Farmers use much of the nation's scarce water and arable land to cultivate qat, a mildly narcotic stimulant chewed by many Yemenis throughout the day. Now, some officials hope they can kill two birds with one stone by getting farmers to convert part of their land to coffee beans or food crops from qat, pronounced "cat." The alternative crops could bring in cash from exports or help Yemen reduce its dependence on imported staples such as wheat. And officials hope to lure growers away from planting a drug that has long been blamed for keeping worker productivity low here. "You need to be pragmatic and propose economic solutions for a possible substitution" of qat, which remains a popular cash crop, says Salah Al-Attar, the chairman of Yemen's General Investment Authority, a government body promoting investments. [continues 562 words]
In the morass that is Afghanistan, not just the Taliban are flourishing. So too is opium production, which increasingly finances the group's activities. There is no easy way to end this narcotics threat, a symptom of wider instability. Even a wise and coordinated plan of attack would take years to bear real results. But the United States and the rest of the international community are failing to develop one. They must work harder, smarter and more cooperatively to rescue this narco-state. [continues 519 words]
Steven, we never really knew each other anyway. But that doesn't mean we aren't all shocked to learn of your new legal problems. Just when it seemed the faux David Lee Roth gallivanting around Ontario was going to be the most surprising music news we heard this week, there comes word Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page has been arrested for cocaine possession. The best joke -- If I Had a Million Dollars, I'd Make Bail -- has already been used by another newspaper, much to my disappointment. [continues 772 words]
Dear Santa Monica Mirror, I offer this poetry effort to you mostly as a consequence of Tom Elias' insightful piece in this week's issue of the Mirror ("No Good Reason for Medipot Decision Counter to Voters' Wishes," July 10-16). Perhaps poetry can achieve something positive to address the prohibition that prosaic efforts have not. It's a persona song, wherein the speaker/protagonist is a Drug Enforcement Agent addressing his superior. Sincerely, Ivan If you use, you lose [continues 195 words]
The Candidate Talks About the Youth Vote, What's On His Ipod and His Top Three Priorities As President Shortly after Barack Obama claimed victory in the fight for the Democratic nomination, I joined him aboard his chartered 757 campaign plane as a member of the press corps. He was flying from Chicago to Appleton, Wisconsin, for a town-hall meeting, one of a series he was doing in Midwestern and swing states to address constituencies he might have missed during the primaries - and, of course, to get some warm-up practice for any town-hall debates he has with John McCain. [continues 4386 words]
To mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls on June 26, Perspective today begins a series of articles related to drug problems in Thailand and the region. In the following article, JAMES EMERY looks at the situation in Afghanistan, where the Taleban are, and have always been, drug traffickers. Afghanistan's 2008 opium crop is expected to produce similar yields as last year's record of 8,243 metric tonnes, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). [continues 842 words]
Re "The day the beer flowed again," Opinion, April 7 Maureen Ogle writes, "Prohibition spawned an underground economy devoted to making, shipping and selling booze. ... The poison of such corruption permeated daily life." Similar problems have arisen from our current drug laws. While I disapprove of using marijuana, cocaine and heroin, we must acknowledge that the lethal South American drug cartels flourish because cocaine is illegal. Legalize cocaine and tax it, and many serious criminal problems would evaporate. Even robberies would eventually decline because those people so inclined would steal less to obtain money for their supply. Additionally, the billions saved not fighting the war on drugs could be combined with the taxes from coke and marijuana and used to secure the border against illegal immigration. Heroin presents a unique dilemma. Heroin kills. Heroin profits finance the Taliban. Heroin kills again. Taking the profits out of heroin smuggling would help us fight the Taliban and perhaps Al Qaeda. Arch Miller Arcadia [end]
We Can't Ignore Drug Violence Just Across Border If al-Qaeda were at the U.S. border kidnapping and decapitating people while circulating videos of its exploits, Americans would be apoplectic. It would mean that terrorists were no longer "over there" in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, but instead right at our doorstep. For some reason, though, this country doesn't seem terribly alarmed that Mexican drug cartels are kidnapping, torturing and even beheading their victims - and posting videos of it on the Internet. They've established border-area training camps and amassed arsenals of assault rifles, grenades and armor-piercing ammunition. [continues 281 words]
The Top U.S. Diplomat Seeks to Sketch New Goals for the Nato Force Amid Worries Over the Direction of the 6-Year-Old Conflict. LONDON -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice huddled with British officials Wednesday to sketch out new goals for the troubled allied effort in Afghanistan at a time of deepening concern over the direction of the 6-year-old conflict. She met with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband ahead of a series of top-level meetings of Western allies in the months ahead to settle on a long-term course for the mission. [continues 740 words]
Crackdowns Pushing Cartels Into Capital, Against Government MEXICO CITY - Long a meeting place for Mexican drug cartels and their Colombian suppliers, this sprawling capital is now on the front lines of the government's drug war after the discovery of paramilitary narco cells planning a high-level assassination with possible collaboration of city police and former army soldiers. The cells, uncovered in upscale neighborhoods favored by politicians and entertainers, had huge stockpiles of high-powered weapons, including grenade- and rocket-launchers, designed to penetrate the highest level of armor. Also Online Juarez locked in deadly power struggle over drug cartels "Mexico City was a peaceful place for narcos, as they coexisted with the government. But now it's beginning to look a lot like Bogota," said Raul Benitez, a military and national security expert at the National Autonomous University. "Mexico City residents are not used to this kind of narco-violence, and that's sending shock waves across the population." [continues 1154 words]
Many thanks to Dan Gardner for explaining why heroin policy threatens to turn Afghanistan into the next Iraq. The Swiss have tested for more than 10 years what happens if heroin addicts get their heroin from government sanctioned clinics rather than drug dealers. Aside from a huge decrease in crime, medical costs, homelessness and overdose deaths -- along with less drug use and less new addiction -- is the potential impact on the illegal heroin trade. Expanded to cover all heroin addicts, it would mean no additional funds or propaganda value for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It would bolster the Afghan central government by allowing them to control the legitimate purchase of the crop. [continues 123 words]
"I'm a spray man myself," President Bush told government leaders and American counter-narcotics officials during his 2006 trip to Afghanistan. He said it again when President Hamid Karzai visited Camp David in August. Bush meant, of course, that he favors aerial eradication of poppy fields in Afghanistan, which supplies over 90 percent of the world's heroin. His remarks -- which, despite their flippant nature, were definitely not meant as a joke -- are part of the story behind the spectacularly unsuccessful U.S. counter-narcotics program in Afghanistan. Karzai and much of the international community in Kabul have warned Bush that aerial spraying would create a backlash against the government and the Americans, and serve as a recruitment device for the Taliban while doing nothing to reduce the drug trade. This is no side issue: If the program continues to fail, success in Afghanistan will be impossible. [continues 729 words]
AS a police officer in the US who has worked the trenches of the drug war, I can attest to the absolute futility of making a dent in drug supply or availability. Today, I know that the UK's sworn enemy Al qaeda makes two billion pounds per year, which they use to fund operations such as 7/7. Too many thousands of police officers in the UK are not investigating leads on terrorists, rather they are out breaking into a house with a cannabis growing operation. [continues 57 words]
14 Tonnes Seized Terrorist groups may be funding their activities through khat, an illegal stimulant smuggled daily into Canada, says a newly released intelligence report. The report by the Canadian government's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre says "some part of the proceeds involved in the global khat trade possibly finances terrorism." Khat is an illicit drug that is wildly popular among Somali-Canadians. It originates in East Africa and the Middle East, regions that "are 'of concern' from a terrorism viewpoint," the report says. [continues 525 words]
An unfamiliar country keeps popping up in press reports about drug trafficking: Guinea Bissau. This West African state of 1.5 million people is one of the poorest in the world. Its chief exports? Cashews, shrimp, and cocaine. Cocaine, in a country with no coca bush? That's right. More than four tons of cocaine have been seized in West Africa this year, a 35 percent increase over the haul for 2006. Drugs are also being seized in international waters off the Gulf of Guinea. [continues 623 words]
As a Michigan police officer, I learned there were three major groups who support drug prohibition; Al Qaeda, drug dealers/makers and my profession - law enforcement. All three make huge amounts of money off the drug trade. Terrorists use the money to fly planes into buildings and blow up buses and trains. The drug dealers make big bucks in order to buy nice cars and a Swiss chalet. Police officers enjoy job security, exciting work and large overtime checks. Canada benefits because prohibition has resulted in less crime, less death, less disease and saved the taxpayers billions. Wait. Scratch that last sentence. Those reductions are what the politicians promised us, when we marched onto the prohibition road. Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired) Education Specialist, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc) Washington, DC [end]
With the Army Busy With Security and Its Battle in Nahr AL-Bared, None of the Annual Cannabis-Eradication Projects Have Been Carried Out BAALBEK: Sporting a grey and green suit and a watch with golden trimmings, Abu Abbas takes a long drag from his cigarette, smiles, exhales into a room already filled with smoke, and declares that "business is good." His freshly cut fields of cannabis are being prepared for consumption. [continues 1237 words]
Using Afghan opium poppies for legal medicines is an interesting idea - -- but it would require real security The rather recently arrived, but amply funded, Senlis Council has released the latest of its broadsides, promoting its "Poppy for Medicine" project, while at the same time slagging Canadian diplomacy in Afghanistan. The striped-pants set probably shouldn't get their knickers in a knot though, since Senlis's treatment of CIDA and UNICEF was even more savage. In fact, a fast tour through the reported e-mail exchanges between the Senlis field wallahs in Afghanistan and the local offices of CIDA and UNICEF suggests it's unlikely that anybody in Senlis has ever read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends & Influence People. [continues 635 words]
COMMENT: (1-4) Millions suffer needless pain because the laws and those who enforce them get between doctors and patients. Rarely some small belated justice points out how serious the issue is. Few newspapers have given coverage to the GAO report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d071018.pdf On the front page of the Wall Street Journal we find out that drug cartels find ways to conduct business despite any laws. Finally, almost every day Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speakers confront the traditional arguments supporting the war on drugs. [continues 6838 words]
The Defense Department has picked five companies, four of them from the Washington area, for a contract to support the Pentagon's counter-narcoterrorism activities. The government may spend as much as $15 billion through the five-year contract. The local companies are Arinc of Annapolis, Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Raytheon Technical Services of Reston and Northrop Grumman Information Technology of McLean. The fifth company is Blackwater USA of Moyock, N.C. The companies will provide equipment, material and services to the Defense Department's Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (CNTPO). The office's mission is to attack the narcotics trade and the flow of money and support from drug traffickers to terrorist groups. [continues 286 words]
Last time we checked in on the bizarro nexus between cannabis and terrorism, it was none other than actor/director Tommy Chong who was feeling the Bush administration's post-9/11 wrath. In fact, the stoner icon, whose fabled act was concurrently resuscitated for Fox's drugged and confused comedy hit That 70s Show, was being slapped by John Ashcroft with a nine-month prison bid, a $20,000 fine and over $100,000 in seized assets for selling bongs. The terrorism connection? He was sentenced on Sept. 11, 2003. And if you think that's a specious connection, it's only gotten worse since. In fact, over the last few years, "terrorist" has become an epithet for all seasons. [continues 1928 words]
We Need a Radical Approach to Tackling Crime on British Streets When a newly appointed minister arrives at his office in Whitehall, the first thing his permanent secretary gently tells him is to avoid simple answers to complex problems. What I am about to say therefore guarantees that I will never be asked to join a government advisory panel or Royal Commission; but since I can earn a decent living without having to impress politicians, let me break the taboo. The fact is that many complex problems do have simple answers. What politicians mean when they say "there are no simple answers" is that the simple answers are not the same as easy ones. The easy answer to almost any political problem is to highlight its complexity, plead for patience, appoint a policy czar and set up a Royal Commission. The simple answer is often to do something bold and previously unthinkable. In other words, to cut the Gordian knot instead of trying to untie it. [continues 929 words]
Sir, As an American and retired police officer, I apologise for the incredible distortions by Joseph Califano in his article "Drug legalisation is playing Russian roulette" (August 16). He must know that the Swiss abandoned the Needle Park project in Zurich in 1994. From that failure arose the "treatment-on-demand" programme, which has dramatically reduced crime, death, disease and drug use. It has been copied in six countries because of its success. Mr Califano is not board-certified in addiction psychiatry. Those who are have stated that drug use would change little in a legal, regulated market. They have stated that the glamour factor of the forbidden fruit created by prohibition will attract more kids to try the drugs than are deterred by its being illegal. The Drug Enforcement Administration reports for the US: "Drugs are readily available to American youth." [continues 89 words]
In "The Lost War," his Outlook article on the international drug trade, Misha Glenny writes that "the 'War on Drugs' is defeating the 'war on terror.'" What he fails to note, however, is that while we still have a lot to accomplish, the national effort against drugs is working on its own terms. With a comprehensive anti-drug strategy in place, involving foreign policy, enforcement, education, treatment and prevention, overall drug use in the United States has declined by roughly half in the past 25 years -- from about 13 percent of the population in 1980 to just over 6 percent of the population in 2005. Cocaine use, including crack, is down 70 percent. Do we want to go back? [continues 350 words]
A former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration warned federal officials shortly after the September 11 attacks that violent drug cartels from Mexico were teaming with Muslim gangs to fund terrorist organizations overseas. Asa Hutchinson, who also has been a Homeland Security undersecretary, said that in 2001, DEA agents uncovered the link between the drug cartels and terrorist groups but too few government officials listened. "I think it's important to recognize that the link between terrorism and drug trafficking exists," said Mr. Hutchinson in a phone interview from Arkansas. "While we are fighting terrorists, we should not neglect our fight against drug traffickers. We shouldn't neglect it, because the link is there." [continues 494 words]
If a narco-state can be defined as a nation where the production and export of illegal drugs comprises the equivalent of about 50 percent of that country's legitimate gross domestic product, then Afghanistan is a narco-state. The numbers are staggering. According to the U.N. World Drug Report for 2007, which was issued in July, Afghanistan is home to 82 percent of the area throughout the world that is devoted to the cultivation of opium. Because Afghan poppies generate better yields than can be found elsewhere, the country was responsible for 92 percent of the opium produced in the world last year. The U.N. estimates that "around 92 percent of the world's heroin comes from poppies grown in Afghanistan." The 2007 World Drug Report revealed that "[t]here are indications that a small but increasing proportion of opiates from Afghanistan are being trafficked to North America." That means that Taliban-controlled areas in southern Afghanistan, where much of the recent increases in opium output have occurred, are effectively selling heroin to American addicts to finance their military operations against U.S. and allied forces. [continues 506 words]
IMAGINE if our country were so ravaged by drug cartels that the president sent the military into a third of the states to break the terror. That's where Mexico is today. We all pay the price. Narcotraficante infighting took over 3,000 lives in Mexico last year as the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels struggled for turf. With government officials and police officers facing the old choice of "silver - or lead," out-of-control corruption plagued the country. Entire states fell under the influence of the drug lords. Narco-violence spread to previously safe regions, such as Monterrey - the most prosperous city between the Amazon and the Rio Grande. By late 2006, Mexico faced its gravest internal crisis since the Revolution of 1910. [continues 652 words]
