The U.S. War on Drugs

The War on Drugs

Drugs & Estimated Annual US Deaths

Marijuana Virtually zero documented
Cocaine & Heroin 10,000
Prescription Drugs 100,000
Alcohol 150,000
Tobacco 450,000

(Source: "American Drug War: The Last White Hope")

All illegal drugs kill about 15,000 Americans each year, but tobacco subsidized by the Department of Agriculture kills over 450,000 per year in the United States and millions worldwide each year. Meanwhile, the US shamelessly promotes tobacco, the most deadly drug on the planet, and the cigarette companies make hundreds of billions of dollars.

Looking at the world from a non-biased point of view, there would be more justification for annihilating the Carolina and their gigantic fields of tobacco than there would be for eradicating the crops of Colombia with air raids!

The US government has helped to spread tobacco-related deaths. The US Department of Agriculture has provided grants to tobacco firms to promote smoking overseas. Philip Morris has hired underage girls to give away free cigarettes to children in Albania, Niger, and Jordan. In China, Philip Morris is the largest advertiser (spending close to $10 billion annually in recent years). Philip Morris has also mailed free cigarettes to minors in China. Estimates show that among the Chinese children under the age of 20 today, 50 million will die from cigarette-related diseases.

The US government has gone so far as to threaten trade sanctions against Third World countries that considered limiting tobacco products or advertising. In 1989 the US trade Representative panel held a hearing in Washington to consider a tobacco industry request that the US impose sanctions on Thailand in retaliation for its efforts to restrict US cigarette imports and advertising.

It’s completely ridiculous how many thousands are in jail for smoking pot (which doesn’t directly kill), while over 450,000 die every year in America from tobacco and alcohol related deaths. In the year 2000, 734,497 (46.5%) of the 1,579,566 drug related arrests in America were for marijuana. 88% of these marijuana arrests (precisely 646,042) were for possession alone. Non-violent drug offenders make up half of the current US prison inmates.

Just as crazy is that possession of an ounce of cocaine and selling half a gram are considered more serious offenses than raping a ten-year old in some places. A person in New York caught selling two ounces of cocaine receives the same mandatory sentence as a person convicted of murder (15 years to life). "President" George W. Bush even made it so financial aid is denied to college students who have been convicted of misdemeanor drug charges. Isn’t this hypocritical for someone strongly suspected of once using cocaine and who was convicted of a DUI?

When looking at the war on illegal drugs, it is important to consider how the United States contributed to the drug problem. Opium production by CIA cohorts increased by 1,000% when the CIA set up headquarters in Southeast Asia. Opium and heroin were flown and delivered all over Southeast Asia to serve the personal and financial needs of the CIA’s many military and political allies. This ultimately led to over 30,000 GIs becoming addicts before returning to America during the 1970s, bringing the drug problem with them. Heroin was refined in a laboratory right at the CIA headquarters in Laos. CIA involvement led Southeast Asia to becoming the source of 70% of the world’s illicit opium in the 1970s and the major supplier of raw materials (opium poppies) for America’s booming heroin market.

One of Afghanistan’s few agricultural products is opium poppies. Just like in Southeast Asia, the CIA used this product to help fund its expensive intervention in Afghanistan. During the 1990s, Afghanistan surpassed South-East Asia as the new heroin producer, providing America with about 60% of its annually used heroin and about 75% of Western Europe’s.

America’s drug trafficking has been horrendous in Latin America. Cocaine was a factor during US interventions in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama, and helped the CIA fund its activities. The CIA should be acknowledged as the most prolific drug smugglers in the history of the United States. Oliver North should get some sort of medal for his outstanding contributions and achievements while he was on the CIA payroll too.

It should also be noted that drug addiction is a disease. Chemical dependency is an illness and should not be treated in the same way that murderers and rapists are treated. Throwing people in jail for drug addiction is just as insane as throwing people in jail for having cancer or herpes.

The hypocrisy of US drug policy is difficult to ignore. The top 10 prescription drug companies account for more than 50% of the Fortune 500 profits. Meanwhile, it’s the small time nickel and dime dealers who spend years in prisons. Over 20 billion dollars are spent annually fighting against illegal drugs while the legal ones (alcohol, tobacco, and prescriptions) kill 700,000 Americans every year. While wasting tax payer dollars on a war that’s impossible to win, big tobacco and pharmaceutical companies make hundreds of billions of dollars and don’t spend a single day behind bars.

"Prohibition never works as well as regulation and control."
- California Judge James P. Gray

"The lesson we have failed to learn is that prohibition never works. It makes things worse rather than better."-Milton Friedman

For more information, please visit http://www.landofhypocrisy.com/index_001.htm