On Independence Day I should be writing something patriotic and uplifting, but I was struck by some statistics in an article by Eduardo Porter in today’s New York Times entitled “Numbers Tell of Failure in Drug War.”
The U.S. government has spent between $20 and $25 billion each year of the past decade to counter the drug trade. More than 55,000 Mexicans and thousands of Central Americans have been killed as a result of drug violence. Most of the drugs involved are destined for the U.S.
Here’s more. About one if five inmates in state prisons and half the people in federal prisons are there for drug offenses. In 2010 a total of 1.64 million people were arrested for drug violations, mostly for possession of small amounts.
Here is part of Mr. Porter’s conclusion. “ A war on drugs whose objective is to eradicate the drug market--to stop drugs from arriving in the United States and stop Americans from swallowing, smoking, inhaling or injecting them--is a war that cannot be won.” After all the lives lost and money spent over the past four decades on the War on Drugs, that is a truth that ought to be self-evident.
There are plenty of books written on the subject of the CIA's involvement in the war on drugs. Some believe the CIA funnels drug money to fund black ops. Others say major corporations run on drug money I haven't read the books and I am not saying I believe or dis-believe this theory.
ReplyDeleteI will say this.... the best year for Afghan opium production was in 2007. The same year we had a financial crisis. In fact Afhganistan is producing more opium now than they did before we invaded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Afghanistan_opium_poppy_cultivation_1994-2007b.PNG