cannabisnews.com: Deadly Drug-War Chickens





Deadly Drug-War Chickens
Posted by FoM on December 24, 2001 at 08:50:18 PT
By Ilana Mercer
Source: World Net Daily
This is the age of bureaucratic free-association. The president stretches on a couch, his minions say "terrorism," prompting him to conjure from the recesses of his mind various loose connections to regions of the economy and to life in general, while suggesting a legislative "remedy." "Terrorism," blurts one Dr. Freud, "bailouts and handouts to business," groans Mr. Bush. "Come on, get creative or must I get out the Rorschach test," warns another excavator … "You know how you hate the scary inkblots." 
"OK, OK … how about we go after low-tax jurisdictions? Or, I'll unleash DEA agents on infirm medicinal marijuana users." "I know," shouts the president, "anyone, but anyone who takes drugs is complicit in supporting terrorism." While free associating, the president should come clean and tell Americans how, with prohibition, government subsidizes terrorism and assorted organized crime the world over. The truth is that terrorists owe a debt of gratitude to governments for the solid financial base they enjoy. The drug trade is indeed firmly linked to terrorism – the avails from the trade finance roughly 25 percent of the world's terrorist activity. But here's the rub: Prohibition of drugs, which is the doing of governments, is directly responsible for the excessive profits the drug trade yields. Had governments not outlawed these substances, profits would not be excessive and terrorists and organized crime would be forced to look elsewhere for a quick fix. The avails from drugs, moreover, would be much less likely to be funneled to unsavory causes if the trade were in the hands of legitimate, law-abiding businesses. Ask any poverty-stricken Afghan farmer, and he will tell you that the production costs of common drugs are low. These chemicals are derived from hardy plants. A poppy is not an orchid. Neither is cannabis a particularly fragile plant. As with other illegal commodities, the price is pushed up by the high costs of circumventing government law, as well as by the reduced supply brought on by prohibition. The price of pure heroin for medicinal purposes is a fraction of its street price. The difference amounts to a state-subsidy for organized crime, al-Qaida included. Since American prohibition piety is incorporated into practically every U.S. international treaty, and since the U.S.'s jurisdiction now comfortably extends into Afghanistan – we can expect the crops of pretty Afghan poppies to be savaged by drug warriors. That intractable 1988 U.N. Drug Convention will be invoked and, like transcontinental locusts, the drug warlords from the International Narcotics Control Board will be visited on Afghanistan. Now that the poppy fields have been wrested from Taliban control, will the new Afghan government, prodded by U.S. and U.N. prohibition policies, alight on Afghan citizens and punish these long-suffering people for the substances they ought to be able to – at their own peril – ingest, inhale, inject or trade? An Americanization of the drug dilemma in the region will mean that an already brutalized people will endure more suffering. Allah's will notwithstanding, the Mad Mullahs had refrained from tampering with the flower that fed them, issuing no more than token bans on poppy cultivation, even allowing narcotics refining to continue unabated. The Taliban's hands-off approach flowed from the importance of the drug trade to the financing of their despotic exploits. In their precincts, the Northern Alliance also took no strident action against cultivation and trafficking. Curbing demand is a much-touted but ineffective strategy in the prohibitionist's arsenal. Afghanistan's area under poppy cultivation has more than quadrupled since 1990. Someone is buying. Demand reducing initiatives in the West have met with a dismal failure, creating nothing but a giant forbidden-fruit syndrome. The urge to experiment with psychoactive drugs has and will always be with us. It is this enduring demand, coupled with exorbitant profits – brought about courtesy of outlawry – that has ensured the poppy's displacement of wheat production in Afghanistan. A free market in drugs will bring prices down drastically, and soon farmers will turn to other crops, thus ameliorating the severe food shortages. Afghanistan is the narcotics artery of the world – it cultivates 72 percent of the opium now circulating the illegal market and a good share of cannabis. Any attempts here to drastically reduce supply will reverberate the world over, resulting in rising opium prices. Not only will supply reduction be a boon for traffickers sitting on large stockpiles, but it will ensure that the scarcity-induced potential profit brings a renewed influx of dealers into the trade. In the war on drugs, success is failure. Legalization will make prices plummet, inclining fewer pushers to enter the trade. It needn't result in rampant addiction. There is no indication that, prior to prohibition, people flocked to the opium dens in proportionally greater numbers than contemporary addicts flock to the crack houses. Despite the addiction industry's self-serving, hysterical chemical McCarthyism, all indications are that addiction levels reach a plateau in the population. People are not entirely determined by their environments or by their biological hardwiring. Being a vice – not a disease like cancer or diabetes – there are no biological markers that distinguish the addict from the moderate user or the non-user. Any science that claims this for itself is shabby, if not plain fraudulent. Addiction, moreover, cannot be understood as a mere byproduct of environmental exigencies. Drugs are readily available in schools, colleges – practically everywhere – yet most people do not descend into the addiction abyss. Try as the egalitarians do to whittle down the differences between people to simple schedules of environmental reinforcement, or to biology, they invariably fail. Not being laboratory rats, human behavior is mediated by – and cannot be explained without reference to – values, conscious choices, and probity of character or lack thereof. Drug taking – like most things – involves elements of choice. Exercising choice is what the people of Afghanistan need. Freedom and choice – not prohibition, incarcerations and coerced treatment – are the best salve for a people that has been infantalized and brutalized for too long. In a country with a poor infrastructure, the "relatively stable value of opium and its nonperishability means that it can also serve as an important source of savings and investment among traders and cultivators." Contrary to an October report from the U.S. State Department, it is not strictly true that drug production in, and trafficking from, Afghanistan is responsible for "increased levels of terrorism and drug-related violence in neighboring countries," and for corrupting local authorities – prohibition is. Here's the correct sequence: First comes government which declares arbitrarily that heroin consumption is potentially worse for the individual and society than compulsive eating, bungee jumping, gambling, alcohol consumption, fatty foods or tobacco. It then proceeds to terrorize peaceable people for their choice of consumption, leaving it up to gangsters, whose market share is captured with guns, to satisfy demand. Prohibition is the chicken; crime, violence and terrorism are the eggs. Bring the rule of law to Afghanistan, but let the people grow poppies. Ilana Mercer is a freelance writer. Please visit her web-page to learn more about her work. -- http://www.ilanamercer.com/Newshawk: puff_tuffSource: WorldNetDaily (US Web)Author: Ilana MercerPublished: Monday, December 24, 2001Copyright: 2001 WorldNetDaily.com Inc.Contact: letters worldnetdaily.comWebsite: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmDEA Fights Drug War in California Cannabis Clubshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11458.shtmlOpium Farmers Return to Their Only Cash Crophttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11427.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #14 posted by FoM on December 25, 2001 at 15:59:24 PT
Hi DdC!
It's good to see you and I hope all is well! We sure had some great times on the Political board. How the world has changed since 9-11. I won't ever forget the laughs we had and hope someday this war will be over and Cannabis will be legalized. I still hope and pray for that day! Keep on keepin' on! as we always said!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #13 posted by DdC on December 25, 2001 at 15:28:47 PT
Peace, Love and Liberty on Earth Goodwill To All!
Its getting better all the time...I do enjoy the articles like these that actually pretain to reality better than the D.E.A.th Bendit's or Assa propaganda sputoms.
Happy Holidays FoM and CN patrons.A ponderance...
$20 billion spent on a yearly WoD budget, is $20 billion earned, taxed and re-spent and not when the war is won or lost.
War, of any name only profits when the game is played.
Zero tolerance or legalization has no profits in the paraphernalia of fighting WoD, taxes or subsidiary industries...ie; prisons, band aids, terrorism, security protecting vested interest...ect bla bla womp womp womp..Competition kept off the market and perpetuating suffering for profit ain't American. Ain't capitalism. Its the other "F" word we avoid. The "M" word's baggage keeping the stigma to divide our 3 factions and the victims of cannabis competition. The money invested in lobbies and elections against cannabis truthful representation is clearly not what the Bill of Rights intended, especially on the 1.2 million caged victims.
The incentives keep us in the game. Not questioning for many self interest. Which is another reason they don't want us toking or talking. We're naive enough to believe in Speaking Out and Justice. And down right proud of it sometimes. I know I've found raising hell a lot easier than lowering heaven. Time to stop giving the undertaker a license to kill. Time to legitimize Cannabis and bury the derogitory label "M" word, and its lying baggage the same as the other ones.
Peace, Love and Liberty to all and to all a Good High!
DdCI.N.I.T.I.A.L.S.
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/39/39248.gifCannabis War 
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/39/39225.gif
Welcome
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #12 posted by Lucas on December 25, 2001 at 09:04:23 PT
Thank you for your article.
Dear Ilana,I found the premise, that prohibition creates drug/war/political lords, refreshing, and very clearly stated. It occurs to me that one piece you did not touch on is the relationship of drug traffic to covert ops financing. iow, the US govt relies heavily on drug profits.When we think of the Taliban, we fail to notice the same forces in our lives. Religious moral superiority complex is not limited to foreigners.If we abolish prohibition, where will all folks employed and financed by the War On Drugs go? Being struck by your writing, I visited your web page, which did nothing but raise my admiration of you, and your work. Thanks for sharing it.happy holidays
Lucas
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #11 posted by Toker00 on December 25, 2001 at 08:43:51 PT
Er, Merry ChristmaS, too.
And thanks for putting up with my commoner comments. At least my heart is in the right place, uneducated though my mind be.Peace. Love. Realize then Legalize.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by Toker00 on December 25, 2001 at 08:40:17 PT
Merry Cristman and Happy New Year, Cannabists.
It's early Christmas morning, I'm on my second cup of java, and I just finished twisting up my Yule tide log. Waiting for my wife to wake up; have a hot cup waiting for her. We will burn our sacrament to the Creator, then go about enjoying a peaceful, stony Christmas.Hope you all the best of cheer, may Jah shine on you and yours throughout the holidays, and guide us all in our battle to liberate one of His marvelous creations. May our spirits grow and combine to defeat lies and Tyranny.Peace. Realize, then Legalize. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by Silent_Observer on December 25, 2001 at 05:00:27 PT
Happy Holidays to all!
Greetings, everyone!Just returned very recently from an extended overseas business trip. I have tried to catch up on the board a little, but - as you might imagine - very, very slowly.I hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving, and a good December.A very Merry Christmas to all - and a the best New Years ever!SO
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by FoM on December 24, 2001 at 20:17:37 PT
You're All The Best!
I mean that too. This year has had some wonderful highs and we know the lowest lows. We're still here just a little worse for wear but with hope. While we were shopping I watched the way people were acting and it was very nice to see. People being kinder and everyone looks a little more serious. I didn't see people buying many things but even the young teens were smiling and polite. This is something that has been missing and what has happened to us has help us come to the realization that each moment is precious and each persons life is precious and we do have a lot to be thankful for. After the new year we will all be refreshed and ready to stand our ground once again but this time of rest is good for the soul. Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate Christmas. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by null on December 24, 2001 at 18:26:18 PT
peace
peace to all. i know i don't always appreciate the good fortunes that i have. let us remember the good in the midst of the battles we face.peace. peace my friends.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by mayan on December 24, 2001 at 18:20:30 PT
Happy Holidays...
to FoM & all of the regular posters here at C-News!(& also to all of you lurkers out there who read but don't post)PEACE ON EARTH TO ALL!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 24, 2001 at 15:51:09 PT
Jose 
Thank You! I knew what ekim was trying to do and I tried to put coding in it but it didn't work and that's perfect! Merry Christmas to you too! I know that tis the season to be jolly and peace on earth etc. We know the world is in trouble but it is nice to step back and appreciate life in the midst of the storm.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Jose Melendez on December 24, 2001 at 15:41:21 PT:
Happy Holidays to all...
 
   *
  ***
  *****
 ******* 
 ********* 
***********
  || 
Jose Melendez
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 24, 2001 at 14:09:32 PT
ekim
Thanks! I tried to fix it and I couldn't but it's the thought that counts and I sure appreciate it. Have a Merry Christmas. I am so back up with stuff to do at home it's good the news is slow. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by ekim on December 24, 2001 at 09:54:10 PT:
FOM it changed
I sent a tree of *s before it went thru the IT. Now it looks kind of flat, ho ho to all and to all a good nite
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by ekim on December 24, 2001 at 09:40:46 PT:
Happy Holidays FOM
                *
               ***
               *****
              *******
              *********
             ***********
                ||
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment