Tag: War on Drugs

Always Money Well Spent

There is a constant supply of news on just how badly the US spends its cash……there was the story of all those Nazis that are still drawing Social Security…..and then we had the story of many many government employees that were paid to stay at home for years in some cases…..and there is always a story about a $160 hammer and a $200 toilet seat…..but the Us spends money on programs that are designed to control oir stop some practices….like the opium production in Afghanistan……..

The latest report on the policy of controlling the production of poppies is not all that great…….

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is at record levels, according to a new report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. That’s despite more than a decade of American efforts to knock out the Afghan drug trade—at a cost of roughly $7.6 billion.

SIGAR’s data, which comes from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), shows that Afghan opium cultivation nearly tripled between 1994 and 2013. More than 780 tons of heroin or morphine could be produced with the current crop, whose total value is estimated at nearly $3 billion, up from $2 billion in 2012.

In his report, John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, informs Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Eric Holder, and USAID administrator Rajiv Shah that the levels of opium poppy production don’t exactly square with all the time, money, and effort that have gone into eradicating crop. “The recent record-high level of poppy cultivation calls into question the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of [prior US government and coalition] efforts,” Sopko writes. “Given the severity of the opium problem and its potential to undermine U.S. objectives in Afghanistan, I strongly suggest that your departments consider the trends in opium cultivation and the effectiveness of past counternarcotics efforts when planning future initiatives.”

It is just amazing how our Congress has NO problem asking for cuts that would effect the poor but they seems to not care that more money is being pissed away in this worthless effort

Does anyone else think that our priorities should be making this country strong and a good place to live?  Somebody needs to walk into Congress and start shaking trees…..and shake hard enough to dislodge all the rotten fruit.

Thoughts?

 

The War Without End (Again?)

There are many wars without ends….LBJ’s War on Poverty or The War on Terror, it will surely be one also…..but the war I am talking about is the war on drugs…….

Step into the “Way Back Machine”…the year is 1973 and the formation of the DEA….and the war began…..to date about $1 trillion, that is trillion with a “T”, has been spent to defeat drugs and to date it has NOT even come close to ending the use of drugs……millions and even billions are spent every year for everything from printed anti-drug pamphlets to actual armed attacks on drug lords….and in the almost 40 years and a trillion dollars we are no closer to solving the problem that has been with us since the 1930’s…….

In the recent debate on our spending….there seem to be a real chance that programs like Medicare and Social Security could be under the ax……they, the GOP freshman, want to get rid of inefficient programs…..but you know…I have NOT heard one of them say anything about the war on drugs……let us be honest…..just what have we gained from the trillion or so spent on this war?

The funds have been used to outfit armies…armies that have committed atrocities against their own people in the name of a war on drugs…..funds from this war have been used to prop up unpopular leaders……

If the government wants to work on the premise that only programs that show results or the ones that are efficient then the Wart on Drugs has got to go…..I am waiting to see just which programs will be cleared to keep getting their funding…..

This war is a war on a concept or a way of thinking….there is no way it can be won……I say crap the system and use the money for education or health care or something that will benefit the people of this country in our time of need……or we continue to fight a war that we cannot win (sounds familiar?)……..

The War Without End

From the VOMITORIUM

Fifty years ago today…..Pres. Richard Nixon made the War on Drugs official…….

No this is not a post on WW1 or WW2, wars that cost a lot, especially in human lives…..but rather the endless War on Drugs….anyone that has been a avid reader of Info Ink knows that I think that this country has pissed away billions upon billions of dollars fighting a war they cannot win….the War on Drugs.  I have said that the country should legalize them and then tax them…..this would do away with the massive profits of the cartels…in essence cut out the middle man and in doing so lessen the violence against civilians….back on 29 Dec 2009 I wrote a piece on the War and just how stupid it is (if you want read it go to archives)….but now I feel a bit vindicated from the criticism I took……

The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes several former heads of state and UN officials, has released a report calling the global war on drugs a failure.

“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world,” the report reads. “Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.”

Among the members of the commission are former presidents of Columbia, Mexico and Brazil, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former Fed Chair Paul Volcker, among others.

The report calls for an end to the “criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others,” and for governments to experiment with ways to regulate drugs so as to undercut organized crime and improve public health.

“Begin the transformation of the global drug prohibition regime,” the report says. “Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights – and adopt appropriate criteria for their evaluation.”

Read the full report here.

It would seem that more thoughtful people will see just how useless this War on Drugs is……makes criminals rich and pisses away billions on something that cannot be stopped…no matter how much cash or how many useless laws that are passed….then why waste the time and effort…..face reality!

Get Real, People!

From the VOMITORIUM

One of today’s biggest problems facing the US is that of immigration….well NOT ALL immigration…just that part of it that involves the drug lords and their war for territory and routes…..the American Southwest has become a hot bed of this illegal activity….people’s property being violated, people killed crime of all sorts being perpetrated….and now the common election rhetoric is that we must slam the door shut on the border…at least to keep the undesirables out (their term not mine).

Why are Americans worried about immigration?

All this concern (and I use the term loosely) is just so much lip service….and political lip service at that….after all it IS election time and this IS a good issue to emphasize during a campaign……

What is the main problem?  The demand for illegal drugs….and in as such creates the middle man which in this case creates the crime, the killings and the problem….but to blame ALL immigrants for the actions of a few is MORONIC.  A man in search of cash to feed his family is not causing the crimes!  The people supplying the demand for illegal drugs are causing the problem.

Let us look at the War on Drugs….a DISMAL failure!  Billions spent on control has done NOTHING to curb the drugs entering into the US.  It has not slowed demand or use or anything else.  But yet we keep throwing money at the problem, if you want to call it a problem.

You want to curb the violence in this country and in Mexico?  One sure fire way!  Eliminate the middle man!  Users of illegal drugs will keep using and farmers will keep growing…..that is all you need to know about the industry.

A radical idea!  LEGALIZE drugs!  Once legal they can be taxed …once that is done then the need for the middle man is gone.  With the middle man gone the crime will to lessened if not removed.  Farmers can make their money and users can get whacked out and the government has a new source of income.  The need for the War on Drugs is gone and that money can be used where it is needed….in the US of A.

All this in turn will help the deficit…something to consider if we are serious about controlling the deficit and responsibility.  But then I am NOT sure that we are serious, more like just more BS and lip service to make us think something is done…..I have NO confidence in the government…no matter which pack of lairs and cheats are in power.