Destabilizing governments with the War on Drugs


The real costs of the Drug War
Unintended consequences.

In the case of the Drug War, the "morality kick" of the United States government has global consequences that few dare to face

Norm Stamper tells it like it is at AlterNet.

From Tijuana to Matamoros, drug gang violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has taken the lives of thousands -- cops, soldiers, drug dealers, often their families, other innocent citizens from both sides of the border. Even a cardinal of the Catholic Church. Many others have gone missing and are presumed dead.

In the mid-'90s, the Arellano brothers' drug cartel ruled Tijuana, perched atop the hierarchy of Mexico's multibillion dollar illegal drug trafficking industry. Using cars, planes and trucks -- and an intimate knowledge of NAFTA -- the Arellanos transported hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into American cities.

They enlisted U.S. drug gangs. In 1993, in my last days as San Diego's assistant police chief, the local gang Calle Treinte was implicated in the Arellano-inspired killing of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo. The Arellanos bribed officials on both sides of the border, spending over $75 million annually on the Mexican side alone, to grease their illicit trafficking.

And they enforced their rule not just with murder but with torture. If Steven Soderbergh's gritty 2000 film "Traffic" caused you to squirm in your seat, the real-life story of Mexican drug dealing is even more disquieting. The brothers once kidnapped a rival's wife and children. With videotape running, they tossed two of the kids off a bridge, then sent their competitor a copy of the tape, along with the severed head of his wife. Another double-crosser had his skull crushed in a compression vice. And who can forget the carne asada BBQs, where the Arellanos would roast entire families over flaming tires?

Remember, the whole international push against the narcotics trade came from the demands and shaky evidence from the United States (global warming advocates, take note). Besides destabilizing whole nations like Mexico and Afghanistan, it has taken substances that cost pennies to produce and pushed the consumer cost to thousands of dollars.

That in turn has led to a huge black market, smuggling, murder, fraud, and theft. And that is just in the United States.

Globally, the War On Drugs has given a lot of money to some very nasty people.

Unfortunately, this has gotten tied in with the illegal immigration debate. Before we can deal with the illegal immigrants, we have to take the money out of the illegal drug trade.

There is only one way to do that. Make the drugs legal and subject to the same purity and quality control as any other over the counter medication. At that point, the illegal drug trade stops being profitable. Most of the medical problems disappear. The price drops. The products get taxed. And a huge hunk of the underground economy diverts itself into legitimate enterprises.

Long term, without the illegal drug trade to fund them, the drug bosses lose their influence and corrupt governments start cleaning themselves up.

The Drug War is one of the three greatest disasters that the United States inflicted on the planet. We have to fix it.

Hat Tip Drug War Rant.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - July 28, 2006 at 04:50 PM  Tag


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