I have noted here several times earlier about America’s longest war – the War on Drugs. Here is a graphic that displays the complete failure of our policies: ((source: http://m.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/10/chart-says-war-drugs-isnt-working/57913/ – this graphic came to my attemtion via the Colbert Report http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/425397/april-11-2013/america-s-pot-astrophe ))
While waiting in the car at the airport this morning I heard a report on NPR by John Burnett, “Central America’s ‘Cocaine Republics'” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4117988) that reminded me of a point (see October 8, 2004 entry) I made about US drug laws supporting a global system of production and distribution that provides 24/7/365 service throughout the US.
Burnett reports that there is so much money flowing through this system that drug traffickers use “throw-away boats and weapons”. And further reported that the Columbianization of Guatemala is quickly turning that country into another narco state. The money completely overwhelms the political, police, and judicial systems.
One correction I might make to my earlier comment is that the issue is broader than US drug laws, it is really the entire developed (thats where the money is) world’s approach to drug usage.
Clearly, making drugs illegal is and has been totally ineffective at reducing or even controlling their use.
The net results of these laws is to create the environment in which capitalist methods of production and distribution are supported by an artificially high price for the drugs to produce a drug system that is comprehensive in its distribution and sales capabilities.
A second result is the imprisonment and destruction of thousands and thousands of persons for drug use and participation in the drug distribution system.
A third result is the creation of an international drug “enforcement” regime that is now a well-entrenched bureaucracy fed by billions of dollars annually.
A fourth result is the corruption of entire societies, from top to bottom, through the flows of moneys available to the narcotics industry. And, we should not doubt that many US local, state, and national police and drug “enforcement” agencies are also corrupted by this money.
We need to change our whole approach to drug use. The present legal and policy approaches are supporting the drug production and distribution system, while not reducing use.
The Quadrennial Presidential Circus has refocused my thinking on how overblown and distracting all of the noise about 9/11 and Bush’s Iraq adventures have become. 9/11, in and of itself, is just a tiny flea bite on an enormous elephant. Certainly we should scratch a bit and seek to crush the flea, that goes without saying. But, the current policies are clearly headed in the wrong direction and obscuring much more important matters.
Although it would be nice to find Osama bin Laden and his brethren, the Bush approach is leading us away from increased security:
• A tramp ship floating into Boston Harbor with a nuclear device purchased in Russia nestled amidst its otherwise innocuous cargo. There are thousands and thousands of nuclear devices and tons of nuclear material floating around the former Soviet Union’s successor states. No one can be sure who is in charge or for how long? Where are the policies and programs to control and irradiate nuclear arms?
• Repeat the first scenario but instead the device is loaded into one of the millions of containers that float into US harbors every year without any system in place to inspect them.
• The US continues to support the activities of our client-states Israel and Egypt, thus, on the one hand, supporting Israel’s ongoing expansion, and, on the other hand, propping up a dictatorial regime in a core Muslim country. In general, we should be looking closely at exactly what kinds of regimes we are propping up, e.g. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Columbia.
• With the US a lead source, the world is afloat in armaments of every description. Virtually every developed country is making money from this arms trade. Other players include our client-state Israel, Brazil, Russia and China.
• The US is busy deploying a so-called antimissile system allegedly to shoot down missles from “rogue” states. China and Russia are very likely looking at this as an opening in a new US-inspired arms race.
• US drug laws support a global system of production and distribution that provides 24/7/365 service throughout the US. This drug production system is only possible because our drug laws support astronomically high prices while clearly failing completely to even marginally reduce the rate of comsumption.
I could go on. 9/11 was an unpleasant, tragic, symbolically huge event. In response, the Bush administration, supported by the whole politico-media machinery of our life, has chosen policies that are proving unsuccessful on their own terms while distracting us from larger more significant issues.