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| Supporting the War on Drugs Supports Terrorists |
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Posted by CN Staff on May 07, 2002 at 08:50:51 PT By David R. Henderson, Knight Ridder Tribune Source: Tallahassee Democrat 
In recent months, the United States government spent $10 million of our tax dollars for its latest anti-drug campaign. Its new pitch: If you buy illegal drugs, you're supporting terrorists, because terrorists are intimately involved in the production, sale and distribution of drugs.Guess what? I agree. People who buy illegal drugs do support terrorists. But here's what the government leaves out: By making drugs illegal, the government is supporting terrorists even more. Have you ever wondered why terrorist groups get involved in the illegal drug market and not, for example, in the legal market for Coca-Cola, soap or envelopes? The inaccurate answer that many people give is that the profits in dealing drugs are incredibly high, which attracts criminals. But profits are not incredibly high, once you adjust for risk: People in that trade have a nasty tendency to die or go to prison, and they insist on being compensated for that risk. Besides, if high profits were what attracted criminals, why don't those same high profits attract normal investors? No. The reason terrorists get involved in illegal drugs is that they are criminals; once a market is made illegal, the high risk-adjusted prices of the illegal goods reward those with "criminal skills." One such "skill" is the ability and willingness to murder people. That's why organized crime took over the liquor industry during Prohibition - and quickly exited when Prohibition ended. Moreover, the United States government is effectively supporting left-wing terrorists in Colombia. How so? Say you're a Colombian coca producer trying to make a peso. Working against you are Colombia's military and police, pressured by U.S. government subsidies and threats and aided by U.S. military personnel and equipment. The first thing you want is protection, and the place to go for protection is to anti-government people with guns who know how to fight. Two such groups are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), both revolutionary leftists. You don't have to be a left-wing ideologue yourself to decide to pay them protection money, which is just what many coca farmers and cocaine producers do. By one estimate, the revenue to FARC from drug-related sources is more than $600 million a year, which would make it the best-funded terrorist group in the world. Thus, the war against drugs actually strengthens the position of the leftist insurgents. These insurgents have terrorized Colombian society. Between 1981 and 1986, for example, drug traffickers murdered more than 50 Colombian judges, including 12 supreme court justices. Colombian citizens are also terrorized. More than 1 million of them emigrated in the past five years. If a similar percent of Americans did the same, we would lose 14 million citizens - almost half California's population. A more informative ad line from the U.S. government would be: "When you support the drug war, you're supporting terrorists." David R. Henderson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and an economics professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Readers may write to him at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL) Related Articles & Web Sites: Hoover Institute Colombia Drug War News Global War Against Drugs Unrealistic US Finds a Word for Military Aid to Colombia The Colombia Quandary - Patrick Leahy Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #6 posted by mayan on May 07, 2002 at 17:40:16 PT |
| to Frontpage Mag(please send your own): She's Right, Ya' Know... The detractors of Cynthia Mckinney have yet to address the allegations she has made. Instead, she has become the target of a full-scale character assassination plot! Any thinking person can see that our air defense was intentionally stood down on 9/11. Twenty minutes after WTC#1 was attacked, WTC#2 got hit. Nearly 40 minutes after the WTC#2 collision, the Pentagon was hit. After all that time there was not one F-16 over our nation's capital ready to intercept, even after the plane that would hit the Pentagon was seen doing a u-turn & heading straight for Washington D.C. a whole 45 minutes in advance! It takes 8 minutes to scramble an F-16 upon command. It is a fact that there are dozens of Air Force & Air Force National Guard bases within 10 to 30 minutes of Washington D.C.(not L.A. or Chicago, but WASHINGTON D.C. - THE CAPITAL CITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!) Isn't it strange that 15 of the 19 alleged hijackers came from Saudi Arabia?(& why are 7 of them confirmed to still be alive according to BBC News) Why are we attacking Afghanistan? Oh yeah, to build the Caspian Sea pipeline! It is quite obvious to me & almost everyone I have talked to just what happened on that dreadful day. Isn't it obvious? - Me [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by mayan on May 07, 2002 at 17:08:19 PT |
| of Cynthia McKinney continues. Cynthia McKinney:Crazy...Like A Fox?: http://www.frontpagemag.com/guestcolumnists2002/lilek05-07-02.htm Support Cynthia McKinney! - Americans Begin To Ask:What Happened On 9/11? http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewActNote.cfm?REF=261 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by releafer on May 07, 2002 at 16:16:04 PT |
| We vote these people in and voluntaraly give them money to crap on us.We have made some terrible choices and now they are now networked. Tyranny only glows with the fire of willing participants. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #3 posted by Jose Melendez on May 07, 2002 at 14:50:31 PT:
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| We could just use their own ads against them... just change the text at the end. Sure would save money... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by idbsne1 on May 07, 2002 at 13:33:12 PT |
| "These insurgents have terrorized Colombian society. Between 1981 and 1986, for example, drug traffickers murdered more than 50 Colombian judges, including 12 supreme court justices." Hehehe....maybe they should come to the US?..... idbsne1 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by p4me on May 07, 2002 at 10:30:44 PT |
| The people that read this article may start to see Columbia and the other treacheries of the drug war. This article leaves out the word corruption. How can you comment on the ill-named drug war without using the word corruption. This of course is a very reasonable analysis. It just lacks in saying that the drug wars are not a mistake caused by wrong conclusions of our politicians and that the politicians know the evils of the drug war and let it continue because of corruption. Run some more ads to buy influence with the conglomerate media. Buy the media. Buy voters with a 30% increase in farm subsidies. Buy the military vote with more money. Bailout the Airlines. Let us have ANWAR and we will pay the legacy cost for all you steelworker pensioners that are going to be old and broke. We will buy your vote. Lie and bribe everybody. Get reelected at all expense because the power high is incredible. You BAHstards need to be taken off that high. I myself thinks that the spirit of the Constitution is not being upheld by the President. The drug war is treason and look who shouts it on. Starve the economy and have a thrifty meal. VAAI [ Post Comment ] |
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