The War on Drugs and How It Affects You

“With the global economy collapsing all around us, the last issue President Barack Obama wants to talk about is the ongoing War on Drugs. But if he doesn't -- and fast -- he may well have two collapsed and hemorrhaging countries on his hands. The first lies in the distant mountains of Afghanistan. The second is right next door, on the other side of the Rio Grande.”

Have you ever thought of the circumstances necessary to get drugs from where they are produced to where they are sold on the streets of America?   Heroin produced in the fields of Afghanistan reaches the United States via the South American Triangle, or Tri-Border area of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.  This area has an usually large population of Middle Eastern descendants importing goods from that area into South America.  The Al Qaida element has been documented in the transportation of heroin and hashish to South America and, with the assistance of the drug cartels that ship large quantities of cocaine into the United States via Mexico, America has become the chief purchaser of all illicit drugs.

In addition to the South American connection, we also have “the Golden Triangle; the part of South East Asia encompassing Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.  In its first volume, the UNODC focused on Colombia.  In this volume, The Golden Triangle, the UNODC has been active here for many years, with much success.  The area now produces only 5 per cent of the world's opiates (down from over 70 per cent some 30 years ago – the Viet Nam Era) and UNODC has been influential in bringing local governments together in a common fight against the drug trade.   The UNODC is an agency within the United Nations that is fighting the growth of drug and human trafficking world-wide with the help of member nations.  Statistics from UNODC coupled with reports originating with the CIA paint a horrific picture of how the use of illegal drugs is bringing the free world to its knees.  The legalization of illicit drugs is not the answer, but statistics do show that legalizing the use of some drugs reduces the incident of crime associated with the use of illicit drugs. 

Drugs are entering the United States because this is where the money is.  Organized crime, street gangs, and some of the richest people in these United States are at the core of those making it possible to buy and sell drugs on your street corner.  The dealer is not the person that should be going to jail.  He doesn’t launder drug money.  He doesn’t finance the operations that use sophisticated methods to get those drugs into the United States – organized crime does that!  The street dealer perpetrates street crimes – gangland shootings in your neighborhood.  He uses assault rifles, armor piercing bullets, and other illegal weapons to combat our police forces.  Assault weapons that NRA lobbies for are the same weapons that are being shipped south of the border in support of drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia in their battle with the respect governments that are trying to stop the flow of illegal drugs through their countries. 

The end result of the illegal use of drugs in the United States is increased prostitution, human trafficking, increased crime, and the destruction of the American family.  Americans do more drugs that any other country.  Our closest competitor is New Zealand.  By comparison to countries that have legalized drugs, the United States has more people using cocaine than counties like the Netherlands.  Within the United States, Blacks are more likely to use illegal drugs than any other racial group, but when statistics are gauged by age groups, adolescents are the group most likely to use illicit drugs on a daily bases. 

Illegal drug usage in the United States is not going to be addressed as a serious issue confronting the security of the United States until its citizenry brings its indignation to the attention of Congress and the legal authorities in a position to make a difference in how we fight the use of illicit drugs.  You can help by visiting those sites dedicated to informing the reader of ways to combat the continued use of illegal substances.

 

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control.