Cannabis News Stop the Drug War!
  Patriots Don't Use Heroin
Posted by FoM on September 28, 2001 at 14:21:19 PT
Column By The Post's Michael Collins 
Source: Cincinnati Post  

justice Calling all patriotic Americans: Now is the time to rise up in defense of your country.

Translation: Real Americans don't do drugs. It's no secret that terrorist groups around the world are often linked to illegal drugs. Government leaders believe Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the recent deadly assault on New York and Washington, may have used drug money to finance some of his terrorist acts.

With that in mind, government leaders are trying to tap into the patriotic fervor sweeping the country and convince Americans that illegal drug use is not only dangerous behavior. It's un-American.

''By stopping these drug traffickers, we are stopping the flow of cash used to fuel these terrorist cells,'' said Ohio Congressman Rob Portman, the Terrace Park Republican.

Portman was named last week as one of three co-chairmen of an anti-drug task force appointed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The 48-member panel will meet regularly and advise the speaker on issues such as reducing the demand for illegal drugs and stemming their flow into the United States.

The timing is merely coincidence: The task force had been in the works before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But Portman and other government leaders see an advantage to linking America's ongoing war on drugs to America's new war on terrorism.

''By going after the illegal drug trade, we reduce the ability of these terrorists to launch attacks against the United States,'' Hastert said.

Recent events underscore the connection.

Just this week, leaders of the Taliban government in Afghanistan threatened to inundate Western markets with heroin if the United States launches a military strike on their country. The Taliban reportedly told farmers they again will be allowed to grow opiate poppies used in the production of heroin.

Roughly 70 percent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, where farmers as poor as the dirt they tend cultivate and sell poppies to feed their families. Last year, Taliban leaders banned the farming of poppies, and anti-drug warriors reported a sharp decline in opium produced in areas under the Taliban's control.

Before the ban, the Taliban taxed the sale and production of poppies and used the proceeds to buy arms. Some of the money apparently ended up in the hands of bin Laden, who has been hiding out in Afghanistan. The U.S. government believes bin Laden hired out his followers to guard drug laboratories and transport the drugs, then used the proceeds to finance terrorist activities.

''By Americans spending money on their drug habits, we are helping to support the Taliban government, which protects terrorism,'' Portman said.

Portman has been actively fighting illegal drugs on the domestic front for several years. He authored the Drug-Free Communities Act, which provides grassroots anti-drug groups with federal matching funds. He also helped found and currently serves as president of the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, which brings together parents, teachers, religious leaders, the media and other community leaders to educate children about the dangers of drug abuse.

Portman will focus mainly on domestic drug abuse as a member of the speaker's task force. He wants to examine how anti-drug programs can reach deeper into poor and rural communities, look for more effective treatment programs in prisons and conduct more outreach through the Internet.

But the task force also plans to take a long hard look at the international drug trade, particularly in light of the terrorist attacks in America.

The long-term goal is to develop policies that get to the root of the problem. On the international front, that could mean figuring out ways to stop the heroin trade in Afghanistan or pressuring Turkey or Pakistan to cut off the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.

''This is not going to solve the problem we face,'' Portman said, ''but it's one small piece of it.''

Michael Collins is The Post's Washington bureau chief.

Source: Cincinnati Post (OH)
Author: Michael Collins
Published: September 28, 2001
Copyright: 2001 The Cincinnati Post
Contact: postedits@cincypost.com
Website: http://www.cincypost.com/

Related Articles:

This Isn't Like the War on Drugs
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10993.shtml

Drug War Redux - Reason Magazine
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10983.shtml

Don't Oversell an 'Idea War'
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10977.shtml


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Comment #13 posted by Jose Melendez on May 14, 2004 at 04:35:32 PT
sent to: portmail@mail.house.gov
From: Jose Melendez jose@********

Date: Fri May 14, 2004 07:38:07 US/Eastern

To: portmail@mail.house.gov

Subject: drug war IS crime

The jig is up:

See also: http://rxpot.com/sayNoWay/vs.

Re: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread10994.shtml#12

''By stopping these drug traffickers, we are stopping the flow of cash used to fuel these terrorist cells,''

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MONEY IN POLITICS

How Americans Have Financed Elections in the Past

There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can't remember what the second one is. -- Ohio political boss and U.S. Senator Mark Hanna, 1895[1]

from: http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/history/history2.html

The practice of financing public elections with private money is older than our nation itself. In 1757, for example, George Washington was charged with a kind of campaign spending irregularity in his race for a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses. With only 391 voters in his district, Washington is said to have purchased and distributed during his campaign more than a quart and a half of rum, wine, beer, and hard cider per person.

from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A6565-2002Aug11¬Found=true

" In June, the Hammouds were convicted in federal court of running a cigarette smuggling operation, and Mohamad Hammoud was convicted of funneling money to Hezbollah, which the United States has designated a terrorist group. The ring, which sold $7.5 million in cigarettes, also arranged for the delivery of military equipment, such as mine detection gear, blasting equipment and night-vision goggles, to Hezbollah. "

from: http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/bu/hizbullah/pb/app14.htm

Hizballah’s WealthWestern intelligence sources estimate Hizballah’s operational budget to be approximately $200 – $500 million annually. [29]   The money, comes from a variety of sources, including $100 million annually from Iran; a smaller amount from Syria; charitable organizations; donations form individuals; legitimate business; and illegitimate businesses such as illegal arms trading, cigarette smuggling, currency counterfeiting, fraud, robbery, operating illegal telephone exchanges, and drug trafficking. [30]

see also: http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/bu/hizbullah/pb/pa.htm

http://www.public-integrity.org/

Apparently, Portman has trouble understanding supply and demand, or that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n606/a09.html

"Imagine if it was against the law to drive home after consuming a single glass of wine at dinner.  Now imagine it was against the law to do so after having consumed a single glass of wine two weeks ago.  Sound absurd? No more so than newly proposed Congressional legislation by Ohio Rep.  Rob Portman mandating that each state enact laws sanctioning anyone who operates a motor vehicle "while any detectable amount of a controlled substance is present in the person's body, as measured in the person's blood, urine, saliva, or other bodily substance."

http://www.mapinc.org/people/Rob+Portman

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/02/20/editorial_contact.html

http://portman.house.gov/Contact/

Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio (Terrace Park, 2nd District) - 238 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-3502,

phone (202) 225-3164;

Batavia office (513) 732-2948;

e-mail portmail@mail.house.gov

Web page http://www.house.gov/portman

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #12 posted by Wiitigo on May 13, 2004 at 20:25:58 PT:

this is the shiznite
I agree this shiznite is cool.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #11 posted by Cannabis Dave on October 01, 2001 at 12:05:56 PT
The LAWS against drugs are what benefit criminals.
If all drugs were decriminalized, then the profits that feed those crimals would dry up. It's OBVIOUSLY impossible to stop drugs as long as there is a demand, and there will ALWAYS be a demand since addiction is a DISEASE, so the only logical solution is to decriminalize (or legalize) recreational drugs. It is the LAWS against drugs that are "unpatriotic" (and unconstitutional) - our government is supporting the terrorists by perpetuating those laws. To say it is unpatriotic to suffer from the disease of addiction is totally absurd, and as a recovering addict I find that premise highly offensive. Opium poppies are very easy to grow in most parts of this country, and people should be able to harvest there own raw opium for personal use. Since poppies are allowed for "ornamental" purposes anyway, many people in fact do make their own opium every year - is that patriotic now? Drugs and weapons are what fuel the terrorist organizations, and our government floods the world with weapons and created a HUGE illegal drug market that they can profit from. Perhaps the tragic terrorist attack on 09/11/01 will help end the illogical and counter-productive war on drugs (PLEASE GOD!)? It has been demonstrated repeatedly that making drugs illegal just causes teen-agers to use them more in order to be "rebels". Now that soft drugs are virtually legal in Holland, the teen-agers over there use them much less than they do in the USA. Prohibition has been a proven failure, and since it also fuels the criminal organizations that are the enemy of decent people everywhere, we should decrinalize drugs ASAP! The United States government is also guilty of causing the conditions that breed terrorism, along with allowing them the assets they need to accomplish their goals. Bush and co. are playing right into the hands of the terrorists by making this a religious "crusade". Religion should NOT be part of politics at all, but Bush is intent on forcing his own conservative christian moral values down the throats of all Americans, despite the fact that it is very unconstitutional to do that. One last thought: please consider the MILLIONS of INNOCENT women and children in Iraq who have died slow, painful deaths from disease and starvation during the last decade as a result of sanctions against their country for things they had no part in. They are victims of Saddam Hussein too, and our sanctions only hurt them, rather than the regime they were supposed to be targeted against. It's time we lifted those conter-productive sanctions, and started helping those poor people instead of dooming them to a horrible existance until they die from slow, painful deaths. We lost about 6,000 citizens because of the attack on 09/11/01, but Arabs/Muslims have lost MILLIONS of people because of the American policies. Are those millions of people any less valuable than our citizens just because they are Arab/Muslim and poor? Are the people who died in the WTC more "important" just because they have a lot of money and live in America?? I think NOT!!!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #10 posted by dddd on September 29, 2001 at 05:35:43 PT
If........
..we had a national free press,,,that wasnt owned by huge corporate bogarts....(http://www.globalissues.com/HumanRights/Media/Corporations/Owners.asp),,,,,,,then we could start a fund for victims of DRUG WAR TERROR!.............call me crazy,,,but when I compare the threat of terror,between the "global terrorist organizations",,,,and the terror of uncle Sams lunatic police state,,,,I am way more afraid of uncle Sam terrorizing my happiness and freedom,than I am of any Taliban/bin Laden fear.......Uncle Sam has gone off the deep end.........A true patriot fears oppression from within,,,not some nebulous terror from abroad......I think that a government for,and BY the people,is way more important than the false,flag-waving,Evil Empire,war-mongering,imperialist,police state monster,which now exsists in these end times... ......am I wrong?..... ... ...dddd

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #9 posted by therealsmileysmiles on September 29, 2001 at 04:55:19 PT
GO LET IT OUT
My brain is a marvelous thing. I wouldn't be surprised if yours is too. My brain has taken in a lot of information in its lifetime and it wouldn't surprise me if yours has too and still is. I can only imagine that the information that I have taken in differs from your information and the way that I have interpreted that information has a different structure from the way you do it. Imagine the captain of a ship steering a ship from one port to another. The more information she has such as maps, weather reports, a knowledgeable crew, the more chance of reaching the destination. The more experience she has the more chance she has of stepping over any unforeseen hurdles. Kids who take heroin have made choices based on their information and the way they interpret it. The media give information to guide others to a destination that often differs from what they want. I for one take time to enrich my map at every opportunity so that I can have more destinations to choose from and a clear path to get there. We have far more potential than we can imagine we can have.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #8 posted by bruce42 on September 28, 2001 at 22:44:50 PT
good point FoM
War is nasty business and the WoD is no exception. I think in a way it has twisted all of our minds a bit. Some a lot more than others, but we here have all obviously been affected by the WoD somehow. Otherwise, why would we feel the need to speak our minds.

Here's hoping that someday the world would be a bit nicer place so people wouldn't have to resort to drug abuse to escape from the horrors of the world.

"If everyone had a Chong, we'd all get along" - A bit cheesy I know, but hey, you can't argue with logic like that.

And remember, patriots don't use drugs, so if you truly believe in what America stands for, feel free to stop exercising your right to pursue happiness! Man, what a load of shiznite.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 28, 2001 at 16:44:22 PT
A Comment
I had a relative who went in the Navy during Vietnam. He didn't do drugs. He was very popular in school and was on the Football Team. He came home from the service even though had become a Navy Seal with a Heroin habit. He died a few years ago from Heroin. People can go into the Armed Forces and maybe drink a beer or two but come home with a bad drug habit. That's how I see it. War can twist a person's mind very easily.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #6 posted by freedom fighter on September 28, 2001 at 16:24:45 PT
What else is new?
We all knew that some bozos are going to call us terrorists. If we are not patriots then we must be terrortists and that truly is offensive. Why on the earth the talibans would sell poppies?? It is not very hard to see why. They have to feed their people. They are very hungry. All due to Amerika's sanctions on that country. My question is what are we, the reformers are going to do about this? Or better yet, what would a real patriot would do to these bozos? One should remember that back in old days, patriots were called terrorists until they won the war. Let the game begin, my dear Watson!

ff

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by Kami on September 28, 2001 at 16:15:30 PT:

Patriots don't do drugs
Yeah, well what's so great about patriotism? Last time I checked most wars were due to either religion or nationalism. Besides, most of the stuff I use is grown right here in So. Cal., so there, no foreign market invloved at all...

Kami

"Excuse me while I light my spliff (spliff!)..."

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by Poisoned1528Days on September 28, 2001 at 16:06:27 PT
Hi E_Johnson,
The reason no economists are in the drug war is because they are too wise to take a job they do not agree with. I think it takes a certain "mentality" to view law enforcement as the solution to victimless "crimes". On the bright side harm reduction philosophies seem to be taking hold even with many in law enforcement. There will be no real change though until the laws change. This is why , in my opinion , the harm reduction movement needs its own television network. Or at least a network that allows unfettered opinion.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by Silent_Observer on September 28, 2001 at 15:57:44 PT
Ahhh...something else patriots do...
They wave flags and don't use drugs..

Perhaps Lindy would want all us "non-patriots" to move somewhere else now....but wait....does this mean Lindy is no longer a patriot? Maybe we'd better set another place at the last supper.

Of course, we all knew thta it was just a matter of time before some sleazebag politician would find a link.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by TroutMask on September 28, 2001 at 15:03:30 PT
Correction
"Real Americans don't do drugs."

Correction: Hardly any Americans whatsoever DONT do drugs. Or maybe the author meant ILLEGAL drugs. Now, shall we go into why nearly all Americans do DRUGS but some of these drugs are legal while others are not?

No, wouldn't want to put too much THOUGHT into it.

-TM

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on September 28, 2001 at 14:52:48 PT
We're too dumb to solve the problem any more
Look, the UN Drug Control people have been publicly BRAGGING about having raised the price of opium by getting the Taliban to ban opium farming.

That's as moronic as Bush BRAGGING that he'd swung a deal with OPEC for them to cut production!!!

According to the UN's own figures, the Taliban have 100 tons of opium warehoused and their crop output was 100 tons per years.

The UN says the price before the crop ban was $30 per kilo, and now the price is as high as $700 per kilo. (Let's chop it to $500 average if the max they claim is $700.)

So they sacrifice one 100 ton crop in a $30 per kilo market, and the regional wholesale price jumps to $500 per kilo on average, through the normal capitalistic dynamics of supply and demand.

If they had not banned farming, they would have had 200 tons of opium going out to a market where the price was already down to $30 per kilo. That makes $6 million dollars.

But thanks to their shining good deed performed so eagerly at the request of the UN, they now have 100 tons of opium going out to a deprived market where they can probably get $500 per kilo, according to the UN's own figures.

So according to the UN's own figures, they could have had maybe $6 million by thumbing their noses at us. But now they stand to make $50 million from appearing to be our allies in the Drug War.

What kind of world is it when the UN Drug Control Board brags in public about helping the Taliban manipulate the pricing of the black market to make themselves a nice killing?

If responsible people in power cannot see what just happened here, I'm worried that we're just not smart enough to beat the Taliban or Bin Laden.

Maybe the problem is that everyone involved in the Drug War comes from a law enforcement or law background and has never had experience dealing with capitalism and don't even really understand how it works?

Why can't we appoint an economist to one of these offices?

Someone who understands capitalism. Clearly people in law enforcement do not.



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