This **** really pisses me off... :mad:

by Radley Balko

Radley Balko is a policy analyst for the Cato Institute.

In Washington, D.C., a 27-year old quadriplegic is sentenced to ten days in jail for marijuana possession, where he dies under suspicious circumstances. In Florida, a wheelchair-bound multiple sclerosis patient now serves a 25-year prison sentence for using an out-of-state doctor to obtain pain medication. And in Palestine, Texas, prosecutors arrest 72 people -- all of them black -- and charge them with distributing crack cocaine. The scene bears a remarkable resemblance to a similar mass, mostly-black drug bust in nearby Tulia five years ago.

These examples aren't exceptional. They're typical. America's drug war marches on, impervious to efficacy, justice, or absurdity. Drug prohibition was nowhere to be found in Election 2004. There was no mention of it in the debates, the conventions, or the endless cable news campaign coverage.

In some ways, that was a blessing. Campaign discussion of drug prohibition has too often focused on which candidate took what drugs when, and who was more sorry for having done so.

While it's refreshing that we've moved beyond apologies, it's also true that under the laws many of today's politicians support, a kid who experiments with illicit drugs the same way many of them once did may not get the chance to finish school or go to college, much less run for political office.

The number of policymakers who've dared to question any aspect of the drug war could comfortably fit on the back of a pocket-sized edition of the Bill of Rights. This needs to change. America should reexamine its drug policy.

Today, federal and state governments spend between $40 and $60 billion per year to fight the war on drugs, about ten times the amount spent in 1980 -- and billions more to keep drug felons in jail. The U.S. now has more than 318,000 people behind bars for drug-related offenses, more than the total prison populations of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain combined.

Our prison population has increased by 400 percent since 1980, while the general population has increased just 20 percent. America also now has the highest incarceration rate in the world -- 732 of every 100,000 citizens are behind bars.

The drug war has wrought the zero tolerance mindset, asset forfeiture laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and countless exceptions to criminal defense and civil liberties protections. Some sociologists blame it for much of the plight of America's inner cities. Others point out that it has corrupted law enforcement, just as alcohol prohibition did in the 1920s.

On peripheral issues like medicinal marijuana and prescription painkillers, the drug war has treated chronically and terminally ill patients as junkies, and the doctors who treat them as common pushers. Drug war accoutrements, such as "no-knock" raids and searches, border patrols, black market turf wars and crossfire, and international interdiction efforts, have claimed untold numbers of innocent lives.

For all that sacrifice, are we at least winning?

Even by the government's own standards for success, the answer is unquestionably "no." The illicit drug trade is estimated to be worth $50 billion today ($400 billion worldwide), up from $1 billion 25 years ago. Annual surveys of high school seniors show heroin and marijuana are as available today than they were in 1975. Deaths from drug overdoses have doubled in the last 20 years.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the price of for a gram of heroin has dropped by about 38 percent since 1981, while the purity of that gram has increased six-fold. The price of cocaine has dropped by 50 percent, while its purity has increased by 70 percent. Just recently, the ONDCP waged a public relations campaign against increasingly pure forms of marijuana coming in from Canada.

So despite all of the money we've spent and people we've imprisoned, despite the damage done to our cities and the integrity of our criminal justice system, despite the restrictions we've allowed on our civil liberties, despite the innocent lives lost and the needless suffering we've imposed on sick people and their doctors -- despite all of this -- the drug trade isn't just thriving, it's growing. Illicit drugs are cheaper, more abundant, and of purer concentration than ever before.

Like alcohol prohibition before it, drug prohibition has failed, by every conceivable measure. Isn't it about time for America to take a hard look at its drug policy?

You wanna talk about the government wasting our tax dollars.....look no further than the "war on drugs".

adding fuel to the fire:

http://civilliberty.about.com/b/a/050199.htm

Innocent People Killed During Drug War Crackdown
Most of the time when I speak of the injustice of the drug war, I am speaking of the failed policies here in America. But we need to remember that Nixon's foreign policy began the spreading of American drug policy to other nations. In nations with fewer protections than America, this international policy has resulted in egregious human rights violations.

For instance, recently Thailand escalated it's war on drugs, including a terrible "shoot to kill" policy, resulting in over 2600 dead by some estimates - including a number of innocent children and other citizens.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared victory, the blood of his dead citizens still on his hands. A chronology of Thailand's drug war can be seen here. And you can read This article, where the Thai government is attempting to down-size the death tolls.

However, Local and foreign human rights organizations expressed concern that the 2,625 dead included an unknown number of "extrajudicial" executions by officials using hit lists to meet the government's demand that their zone be "drug-free", as this article explains.

LOTS OF OTHER LINKS:

http://www.americandrugwar.com/

Are you pissed because drugs are illegal, or the fact that the guy writting this doesn't seem to have a clue? IMO legalizing drugs is not the answear. I live in an area where there are meth heads everywhere. These dumb ****s will drill into anhydrous ammonia tanks and steal it. If you where to inhale this **** straight on it will kill you. These guys try to make it at home and a lot of times they end up blowing up their houses. But if we were to legalize something like meth, you might as well sign thousands of death certificates. The stuff is so addictive these people wont quite untill they are six feet under. As for maryjane, I dont care that people smoke it in the privacy of their own homes, but has far as medicinal use. I dont really believe the arguments. I know a couple pharmacists and Doctors. They say there are many drugs that work better for pain management than weed.

The government spends more money going after weed and cocaine dealers than those who deal meth. Meth IMO is far more dangerous. Meth should be a higher priority.

If I lived in a country where they had a shoot to kill policy on drugs. Guess what, I wouldn't be ****ing using them. They knew the law, yet they chose to disobey it. Of course there are going to be innocent causualties. But I dont think governments should have to shoulder all the blame on them. Both sides need to take resposibility when an innocent bystander gets hurt or killed. The drug dealers are just as liable.

I dont think all drugs should be legal, but I think we need to stop throwing people in jail just for drugs. Meth, I agree with you is a scurge that needs to be stopped, but pot and coke, if people want to do that ****, so what? We need to stop telling people what they can do with their own bodies. People who steal **** to get a fix should be put in jail. For stealing!! Not for drugs.
As far as their being drugs that are better for pain than marijuana, so what? Of course there is. Morphene is one of them. Im sure most of the drugs that are better than MJ for pain are a lot more addictive, more expensive, and have harsher side effects. One of the major benefits of MJ is that it helps people on AIDS medication and under cancer treatment to maintain an appetite and eat. This enables them to keep a healthy body weight and stay alive (yes, the munchies :D ).

As far as the guy not knowing what hes talking about, it looks like he's stating facts, not opinions, to me. If you know of facts that contridict what he is saying, present them.

Ive had cancer, and at no time did anyone mention MJ for nausea or appetite.

Ive had cancer, and at no time did anyone mention MJ for nausea or appetite.

Well duh. MJ is illegal of course they would not. Plus they would rather perscribe drugs that they endorse. Doctors often work for pharmaceutical companies not the other way around.

The word "Drugs" is far too vauge. Some drugs are ok, some are legal some are not. Coffee has caffine, caffine is a drug. I think Manufactured drugs should be illegal. Weed and shcrooms are fine. Go after the ones that have been proven harmful to an individual or society.

My main issue is with weed being illegal. I would like to have someone take me down that slippery slope where me smoking a joint watching a football game turns into thier daughter turning tricks behind a dumpster. :D

We drink beer and hard liquor all the time and thats ok. We have drunk guys crashing cars, killing people, guys beating thier wives and leaving thier families, and weed is illegal. Give me a ****ing break. If the drug companies went so scared of competing with weed it would be legal. The drug companies know they cant compete, so the lobby to keep it criminal which anyone with half a brain knows is an injustice.

The drugs that was arugably the most overblwon in terms of danger was GHB. GHB is a fantastic substance...it has all the comforting effects of alcohol with none of the drawbacks. Doctors prescribed it to women and the elderly as a relaxant. People were literally crying in the doctors' offices when it was made schedule 1.

The problem is if you mix it with alcohol it can very dangerous. But so what, you mix Tylenol with alchool and it can be deadly too, right? The thing alcohol and Tylenol are ruled by big business so they win any battle against a rival.

There was a high-profile date rape case in Michigan in which four guys gave a girl GHB in her drink and she subsequently died. This is what made GHB schedule 1. Ignored by the press was the fact that the girl already had ketamine in her system, which was unexplained, meaning that she probably took it herself. The press and her parents protrayed her as a sweet, innocent girl, though, so this part got left out.

The drugs that was arugably the most overblwon in terms of danger was GHB. GHB is a fantastic substance...it has all the comforting effects of alcohol with none of the drawbacks. Doctors prescribed it to women and the elderly as a relaxant. People were literally crying in the doctors' offices when it was made schedule 1.

The problem is if you mix it with alcohol it can very dangerous. But so what, you mix Tylenol with alchool and it can be deadly too, right? The thing alcohol and Tylenol are ruled by big business so they win any battle against a rival.

There was a high-profile date rape case in Michigan in which four guys gave a girl GHB in her drink and she subsequently died. This is what made GHB schedule 1. Ignored by the press was the fact that the girl already had ketamine in her system, which was unexplained, meaning that she probably took it herself. The press and her parents protrayed her as a sweet, innocent girl, though, so this part got left out.

The problem with G is that people who take it dont often know how dangerous it is to mix it with things like alcohol. Maybe if it were legal, people would be more educated?
I have frowned on GHB over the years since a friend of mine ODed on it and died. She was drinking when she took it, and I think was on E too. People I know did that **** all the time until she died. I taught a lot of people a lesson.

The problem with G is that people who take it dont often know how dangerous it is to mix it with things like alcohol. Maybe if it were legal, people would be more educated?
I have frowned on GHB over the years since a friend of mine ODed on it and died. She was drinking when she took it, and I think was on E too. People I know did that **** all the time until she died. I taught a lot of people a lesson.

Sorry to hear that about your friend. Yeah, a lot of that stuff is pretty dangerous, but making it illegal makes it worse, IMO. E is mixed with speed and other junk all the time. And if, say, someone mixed perscription pills and alcohol and something happened to them there would be big companies involved that would face blame for not providing enough warning about the situation. When everything is out in the open problems are a lot easier to deal with.

yeah, the war on drugs is terrible

You wanna talk about the government wasting our tax dollars.....look no further than the "war on drugs".
Greens Call for Sane Drug Policy & End to the War on Drugs

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

Monday, September 25, 2006

Greens call for an end to the War on Drugs and enactment of sane drug laws that treat addiction as a medical problem

*Greens cite disproportionate targeting of people of color: "The real crime is the War on Drugs"
*Funding for the War on Drugs should be shifted to treatment

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green candidates and leaders called for an end to the 'war on drugs,' calling national and state drug policy a 'war on American citizens' and a waste of national resources.

"Draconian drug laws, mandatory sentencing, zero tolerance, and 'three strikes' statutes have been used to lock away hundreds of thousands of young people, poor people, African Americans and other people of color in prisons and prevent them from living productive lives," said Clifford Thornton, Green candidate for Governor of Connecticut <http://www.votethornton.com>. "The Green Party recognizes drug addiction as a medical problem. Addicts should be treated as patients, not as criminals."

"If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege, terrorism, and the war on drugs -- what these terms mean, how these concepts work -- then everything else you do understand will only confuse you," added Mr. Thornton, who is also co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. <http://www.efficacy-online.org>, which advocates major reforms in drug policy.

Greens especially called for immediate decriminalization of marijuana, citing an FBI annual Uniform Crime Report that police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana violations in 2005, the highest number ever recorded, and that 88% of these were charged with mere possession.

"Marijuana prohibition needs to be repealed immediately -- death from marijuana use is nearly zero, while hundreds of thousands die every year from using alcohol and nicotine," said Matt Abel, Green candidate for Congress in Michigan's 9th District <http://www.voteabel.org>, member of NORML <http://www.norml.org>, and a criminal defense attorney and who has handled numerous marijuana cases. "Locking up Americans for such offenses is a waste of lives, and a waste of about $69 billion per year in taxpayer dollars. Furthermore, the prohibition against medical marijuana has denied relief for people who suffer various symptoms of AIDS and other serious diseases, just as prohibition in many states against needle exchange has allowed HIV to spread faster."

"Politicians who are afraid of being labeled 'soft on crime' have enacted laws that have only aggravated public health problems related to drug use," added Nelson Eisman, Green candidate for Governor of Wisconsin <http://www.voteEisman.org>.

"They drove addicts underground when they needed medical help. They increased the spread of drug-related violence, which is a result of drug prohibition, not a result of the drugs themselves. They turned young people into hardened criminals, and placed a third of young African American men behind bars at some point in their lives. The real crime is the war on drugs." [Source: Thomas P. Bonczar, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population, 1974-2001," NCJ197976, August 2003]

"The use of drugs by wealthy, powerful people like Bill Clinton or George W. Bush is considered a youthful indiscretion to be overlooked, while for middle class and especially poor Americans, it's something that deserves years of jail time," Mr. Eisman added.

Green Party leaders noted that the war on drugs, supported by both Democratic and Republican parties, has been used as an excuse for massive rights violations, especially denial of Fourth Amendment guarantees against warrantless search and seizure and Fifth Amendment guarantees of due process, and for military attacks against Colombia, Panama, and other Latin American countries.

"There is almost no difference between Democratic and Republican administrations or majorities in Congress when it comes to drug policy," said Kevin Zeese, Maryland Green candidate for the U.S. Senate <http://www.kevinzeese.com>, President of Common Sense for Drug Policy <http://www.csdp.org>, and co-founder of the Drug Policy Alliance (formerly Drug Policy Foundation) <http://www.drugpolicy.org>.

"The war on drugs has been an obvious model for President Bush's so-called war on terror. Both programs attempt to induce fear in the American public and target certain populations for vilification and incarceration. Both programs benefit corporate lobbies with enormous political influence -- the defense and security industries, and the growing private prison business that makes its profits by filling up cells."

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

<P><!-- --> -->Sub title--></P>
<P><B><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt" face=Tahoma>The US Drug Enforcement Industry</FONT></B> </P>
<CENTER><B>The United States has a higher percentage of its black population<BR>in prison than South Africa did at the height of apartheid</B> </CENTER>
<P></P><embed enableJavascript="false" allowScriptAccess="never" allownetworking="internal" id=VideoPlayback style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 326px" src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer*****?docId=-5527847173427564456&amp;hl=en type=application/x-shockwave-flash>
<P></P>
<CENTER><B>Brief Dutch language introduction, <BR>but majority of the program is in English.<BR>This program has never been broadcast in the US<BR>Length - 1:32:29</B></CENTER>

<P>Surge in overdoses blamed on powerful Afghan heroin </P>

<P>Tue Dec 26, 2:11 PM ET </P>
<DIV class=spacer></DIV></DIV>
<P>A steep rise in drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles is being blamed on an influx of highly potent heroin from Afghanistan.</P>
<P>The Los Angeles Times cited figures from experts saying that heroin-related fatalities in the city and surrounding areas soared by around 75 percent in three years from 137 in 2002 to 239 in 2005.</P>
<P>Drug users over 40 who lack the resilience to deal with an unexpectedly strong dose were the most vulnerable, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology.</P>
<P>Afghan heroin, which is notable for its purity, is rapidly overtaking lower-grade Mexian heroin, the Times reported.</P>
<P>"The rise of heroin from Afghanistan is our biggest rising threat in the fight against narcotics," Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino told the daily. "We are seeing more seizures and more overdoses."</P>
<P>A Drug Enforcement Administration report said Afghanistan's poppy fields were the fastest-growing source of heroin in the United States, accounting for 14 percent of the market in 2004 from 7 percent in 2001.</P>
<P>A separate DEA report cautioned that the 14 percent figure could be higher, the paper added.</P>
<P><A href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061226/hl_afp/uscrimedrugs_061226180000">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061226/hl_afp/uscrimedrugs_061226180000</A></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT size=5>Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record<BR></FONT></STRONG>U.S.-Backed Efforts At Eradication Fail<BR></P>
<P><FONT size=-1><FONT size=3>By Karen DeYoung<BR>Washington Post Staff Writer<BR>Saturday, December 2, 2006; A01</FONT><BR></FONT>
<P>
<P>Opium production in <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/afghanistan.html?nav=el" target="">Afghanistan</A>, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday.</P>
<P>In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year -- for a total of 5,644 metric tons -- the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent.</P>
<P>White House drug policy chief John Walters called the news "disappointing."</P>
<P>The administration has cited resurgent Taliban forces as the main impediment to stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, and the U.S. military investment has far exceeded anti-narcotic and development programs. But U.S. military and intelligence officials have increasingly described the drug trade as a problem that rivals and in some ways exceeds the Taliban, threatening to derail other aspects of U.S. policy.</P>
<P>"It is truly the Achilles' heel of Afghanistan," Gen. James L. Jones, the supreme allied commander for NATO, said in a recent speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. Afghanistan is NATO's biggest operation, with more than 30,000 troops. Drug cartels with their own armies engage in regular combat with NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan, he said. "It would be wrong to say that this is just the Taliban. I think I need to set that record straight," he added.</P>
<P>"They have their own capability to inflict damage, to make sure that the roads and the passages stay open and they get to where they want to go, whether it's through <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/pakistan.html?nav=el" target="">Pakistan</A>, <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iran.html?nav=el" target="">Iran</A>, up through <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/russia.html?nav=el" target="">Russia</A> and all the known trade routes. So this is a very violent cartel," Jones said. "They are buying their protection by funding other organizations, from criminal gangs to tribes, to inciting any kind of resistance to keep the government off of their back."</P>
<P>Any disruption of the drug trade has enormous implications for Afghanistan's economic and political stability. Although its relative strength in the overall economy has diminished as other sectors have expanded in recent years, narcotics is a $2.6 billion-a-year industry that this year provided more than a third of the country's gross domestic product. Farmers who cultivate opium poppies receive only a small percentage of the profits, but U.S. officials estimate the crop provides up to 12 times as much income per acre as conventional farming, and there is violent local resistance to eradication.</P>
<P>"It's almost the devil's own problem," CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told Congress last month. "Right now the issue is stability. . . . Going in there in itself and attacking the drug trade actually feeds the instability that you want to overcome."</P>
<P>"Attacking the problem directly in terms of the drug trade . . . would undermine the attempt to gain popular support in the region," agreed Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. "There's a real conflict, I think."</P>
<P>The Afghan government has prohibited the aerial herbicide spraying used by U.S. anti-narcotic programs in Latin America. Instead, opium poppy plants in Afghanistan are destroyed by tractors dragging heavy bars. But only 38,500 of nearly 430,000 acres under cultivation were eradicated this year.</P>
<P>Because of security concerns and local sensibilities, all eradication is done by Afghan police, and corruption is a major problem at every level from cultivation to international trafficking. Although the drug trade is believed to provide some financing to the Taliban, most experts believe it is largely an organized criminal enterprise. According to a major report on the Afghan drug industry jointly released last week by the World Bank and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, key narcotics traffickers "work closely with sponsors in top government and political positions."</P>
<P>The report drew specific attention to the Afghan Interior Ministry, saying its officials were increasingly involved in providing protection for and facilitating consolidation of the drug industry in the hands of leading traffickers. "At the lower levels," the report said, "payments to police to avoid eradication or arrest reportedly are very widespread. At higher levels, provincial and district police chief appointments appear to be a tool for key traffickers and sponsors to exercise control and favor their proteges at middle levels in the drug industry."</P>
<P>Opium cultivation was outlawed during Taliban rule in the late 1990s and was nearly eliminated by 2001. After the overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S. forces in the fall of that year, the Bush administration said that keeping a lid on production was among its highest priorities. But corruption and alliances formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal chieftains, some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade, undercut the effort.</P>
<P>Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently noted that "once we thought terrorism was Afghanistan's biggest enemy" but said that now "poppy, its cultivation and drugs are Afghanistan's major enemy."</P>
<P>Eradication and alternative development programs have made little discernible headway. Cultivation -- measured annually with high-resolution satellite imagery that is then parsed by analysts using specialized computer software -- is nearly double its highest pre-Karzai level.</P>
<P>"There is supposed to be a tremendous energy associated with this," Jones said of the counter-narcotics programs, "but it needs a fresh look because . . . we're losing ground.</P>
<P><A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101654_pf.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101654_pf.html</A></P>
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The Alex Jones Report - Interview with Cele Castillo about the Phone Drug War

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<P>Surge in overdoses blamed on powerful Afghan heroin </P>

<P>Tue Dec 26, 2:11 PM ET </P>
<DIV class=spacer></DIV></DIV>
<P>A steep rise in drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles is being blamed on an influx of highly potent heroin from Afghanistan.</P>
<P>The Los Angeles Times cited figures from experts saying that heroin-related fatalities in the city and surrounding areas soared by around 75 percent in three years from 137 in 2002 to 239 in 2005.</P>
<P>Drug users over 40 who lack the resilience to deal with an unexpectedly strong dose were the most vulnerable, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology.</P>
<P>Afghan heroin, which is notable for its purity, is rapidly overtaking lower-grade Mexian heroin, the Times reported.</P>
<P>"The rise of heroin from Afghanistan is our biggest rising threat in the fight against narcotics," Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino told the daily. "We are seeing more seizures and more overdoses."</P>
<P>A Drug Enforcement Administration report said Afghanistan's poppy fields were the fastest-growing source of heroin in the United States, accounting for 14 percent of the market in 2004 from 7 percent in 2001.</P>
<P>A separate DEA report cautioned that the 14 percent figure could be higher, the paper added.</P>
<P><A href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061226/hl_afp/uscrimedrugs_061226180000">http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061226/hl_afp/uscrimedrugs_061226180000</A></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT size=5>Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record<BR></FONT></STRONG>U.S.-Backed Efforts At Eradication Fail<BR></P>
<P><FONT size=-1><FONT size=3>By Karen DeYoung<BR>Washington Post Staff Writer<BR>Saturday, December 2, 2006; A01</FONT><BR></FONT>
<P>
<P>Opium production in <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/afghanistan.html?nav=el" target="">Afghanistan</A>, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday.</P>
<P>In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year -- for a total of 5,644 metric tons -- the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent.</P>
<P>White House drug policy chief John Walters called the news "disappointing."</P>
<P>The administration has cited resurgent Taliban forces as the main impediment to stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, and the U.S. military investment has far exceeded anti-narcotic and development programs. But U.S. military and intelligence officials have increasingly described the drug trade as a problem that rivals and in some ways exceeds the Taliban, threatening to derail other aspects of U.S. policy.</P>
<P>"It is truly the Achilles' heel of Afghanistan," Gen. James L. Jones, the supreme allied commander for NATO, said in a recent speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. Afghanistan is NATO's biggest operation, with more than 30,000 troops. Drug cartels with their own armies engage in regular combat with NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan, he said. "It would be wrong to say that this is just the Taliban. I think I need to set that record straight," he added.</P>
<P>"They have their own capability to inflict damage, to make sure that the roads and the passages stay open and they get to where they want to go, whether it's through <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/pakistan.html?nav=el" target="">Pakistan</A>, <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iran.html?nav=el" target="">Iran</A>, up through <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/russia.html?nav=el" target="">Russia</A> and all the known trade routes. So this is a very violent cartel," Jones said. "They are buying their protection by funding other organizations, from criminal gangs to tribes, to inciting any kind of resistance to keep the government off of their back."</P>
<P>Any disruption of the drug trade has enormous implications for Afghanistan's economic and political stability. Although its relative strength in the overall economy has diminished as other sectors have expanded in recent years, narcotics is a $2.6 billion-a-year industry that this year provided more than a third of the country's gross domestic product. Farmers who cultivate opium poppies receive only a small percentage of the profits, but U.S. officials estimate the crop provides up to 12 times as much income per acre as conventional farming, and there is violent local resistance to eradication.</P>
<P>"It's almost the devil's own problem," CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told Congress last month. "Right now the issue is stability. . . . Going in there in itself and attacking the drug trade actually feeds the instability that you want to overcome."</P>
<P>"Attacking the problem directly in terms of the drug trade . . . would undermine the attempt to gain popular support in the region," agreed Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. "There's a real conflict, I think."</P>
<P>The Afghan government has prohibited the aerial herbicide spraying used by U.S. anti-narcotic programs in Latin America. Instead, opium poppy plants in Afghanistan are destroyed by tractors dragging heavy bars. But only 38,500 of nearly 430,000 acres under cultivation were eradicated this year.</P>
<P>Because of security concerns and local sensibilities, all eradication is done by Afghan police, and corruption is a major problem at every level from cultivation to international trafficking. Although the drug trade is believed to provide some financing to the Taliban, most experts believe it is largely an organized criminal enterprise. According to a major report on the Afghan drug industry jointly released last week by the World Bank and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, key narcotics traffickers "work closely with sponsors in top government and political positions."</P>
<P>The report drew specific attention to the Afghan Interior Ministry, saying its officials were increasingly involved in providing protection for and facilitating consolidation of the drug industry in the hands of leading traffickers. "At the lower levels," the report said, "payments to police to avoid eradication or arrest reportedly are very widespread. At higher levels, provincial and district police chief appointments appear to be a tool for key traffickers and sponsors to exercise control and favor their proteges at middle levels in the drug industry."</P>
<P>Opium cultivation was outlawed during Taliban rule in the late 1990s and was nearly eliminated by 2001. After the overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S. forces in the fall of that year, the Bush administration said that keeping a lid on production was among its highest priorities. But corruption and alliances formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal chieftains, some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade, undercut the effort.</P>
<P>Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently noted that "once we thought terrorism was Afghanistan's biggest enemy" but said that now "poppy, its cultivation and drugs are Afghanistan's major enemy."</P>
<P>Eradication and alternative development programs have made little discernible headway. Cultivation -- measured annually with high-resolution satellite imagery that is then parsed by analysts using specialized computer software -- is nearly double its highest pre-Karzai level.</P>
<P>"There is supposed to be a tremendous energy associated with this," Jones said of the counter-narcotics programs, "but it needs a fresh look because . . . we're losing ground.</P>
<P><A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101654_pf.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101654_pf.html</A></P>
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The Alex Jones Report - Interview with Cele Castillo about the Phone Drug War

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Something I was talking about years ago, with the Afgan war, we started importing pure, high grade afgan heroin(I knew it through my work in 2003). It is cheaper and stronger then synthetic dope that mexicans are smuggling.

are you retarded? Who would say legalize meth, crack, coke, heroin, or any other hard drugs like that it's not smart and I dont think the point of the article was to say lets legalize drugs it was more of a reminder that the current war on drug and the policy in place isnt working.

Take for example Marijuana, how many deaths a year from od's happen on that? How many mass murderers stem from smoking marijuana? How many people are locked up because they were smoking marijuana and being peaceful not harming anyone? A good 30 percent if not more of the population in jails now is from marijuana users that never harmed a soul in their lives, never had been in trouble before, and never caused someone else to od so on so forth because they dealt this drug.

Do you honestly feel this drug itself should be illegal? Why? And do you feel that people who smoke only deserve to be locked up and have the government use our money to pay for these so called criminals while they are in their? I know I dont, now dont get me wrong but dont you think it would be better if we decriminalized marijuana and cleared out 30 percent of our prison population and allow them to go home and continue smoking and instead making money for busting them like a 50 dollar fine for being caught with it the first time 250 the second time and 500 the third? when thats what we spend a day on these people in prison.

I still feel that other harder drugs the real drugs that kill like heroin crack coke ect should still be illegal but why is the first step lock them up and not get them help? It would still be cheaper in the long run offering these people help from the disease of addiction as opposed to locking them up first and drying them out second while spending thousands and thousands of dollars keeping them behind bars? Half the people if helped would go back home work and make something of themselves if they had the chance but we lock them up wait till they get out dont educate them and they go back to doing what they were doing.

it's people like you and 95% of this forum that make the laws what they are because you dont speak up, your all afraid of the image you might get if you say hey help these people dont lock them up, or Decriminalize Marijauna keep our good men and women out of jail. Dont be afraid go out and be someone, one voice does make the difference if your loud enough and the louder you are the more people who hear you and who will say wow this persons right we should do something and then to the next person it continues. We have to combat this the right way not the way we have been for 20 years. It's time for a change and we all need to stand up and fight for what we believe in!

The zero-tolerance attitudes of the govt on this issue is a problem. There are some sad overstepping of moral boundaries by the govt on this issue, apparently. But, the war on drugs needs to continue in a more sensible form. People who are addicted to drugs cannot be trusted and allowed to kill and rob to buy more drugs and when they are high they are a danger to others.

Not sure how to solve this problem overall though...

The zero-tolerance attitudes of the govt on this issue is a problem. There are some sad overstepping of moral boundaries by the govt on this issue, apparently. But, the war on drugs needs to continue in a more sensible form. People who are addicted to drugs cannot be trusted and allowed to kill and rob to buy more drugs and when they are high they are a danger to others.

Not sure how to solve this problem overall though...
its the drugs that do that to them, most all people are kind at heart then drugs enter their lives and it changes them you cant blame the person you have to blame the addiction and treat that first then you can fix the person it just takes patience and persistance. If you just go and lock people up it's not getting the right message across you have to say listen we know the drug is what made you do most of this so now you need to stop heres treatment and after treatment you will serve half your time then your out. or something not saying thats what to do but what we are doing now needs to be changed because for 25 years it hasnt worked and cost all of us dearly

its the drugs that do that to them, most all people are kind at heart then drugs enter their lives and it changes them you cant blame the person you have to blame the addiction and treat that first then you can fix the person it just takes patience and persistance. If you just go and lock people up it's not getting the right message across you have to say listen we know the drug is what made you do most of this so now you need to stop heres treatment and after treatment you will serve half your time then your out. or something not saying thats what to do but what we are doing now needs to be changed because for 25 years it hasnt worked and cost all of us dearly

Finally an expert has come out of to school us. I think the drug penalties haven't worked so far so why would they now. I agree with you.

its the drugs that do that to them, most all people are kind at heart then drugs enter their lives and it changes them you cant blame the person you have to blame the addiction and treat that first then you can fix the person it just takes patience and persistance. If you just go and lock people up it's not getting the right message across you have to say listen we know the drug is what made you do most of this so now you need to stop heres treatment and after treatment you will serve half your time then your out. or something not saying thats what to do but what we are doing now needs to be changed because for 25 years it hasnt worked and cost all of us dearly

It's not the drugs only. It's also that these people have charcter flaws. Futhermore, I agree treatment should be part of the solution. But people go to rehab all the time and then get back to doing drugs. When people get high, and are addicted to drugs, they kill and rob to get what they crave and they absolutely should be locked up in many cases. What we do now has to be altered somewhat and I've already said that.

People that are addicted, on the first offense, they should be forcefully put into rehab where they have no access to drugs and cannot leave the facility. Basically, it would be like boot camp, but more hopsitable.

It's not the drugs only. It's also that these people have charcter flaws. Futhermore, I agree treatment should be part of the solution. But people go to rehab all the time and then get back to doing drugs. When people get high, and are addicted to drugs, they kill and rob to get what they crave and they absolutely should be locked up in many cases. What we do now has to be altered somewhat and I've already said that.

People that are addicted, on the first offense, they should be forcefully put into rehab where they have no access to drugs and cannot leave the facility. Basically, it would be like boot camp, but more hopsitable.
no **** man, of course some people have character flaws I think that goes without saying but what I said was we should put them in rehab first regardless of if they are going to get locked up or not. Rehab is the first step to getting better not being sent to a jail cell to think about what you did all the while being scared about getting butt raped by big bubba in jail cell 13c while your taking a shower.

Rehab begins with the person and no you should not be let out of rehab, 3 months of being sober chances are you have a 80% chance of getting over the addiction thats how long it takes not 3 weeks not 2 days not having the option to leave and come back as you please like alot of these rehab facilities do and halfway houses.

People still need to be locked up dont get me wrong but they need to be treated for the real problem first so they can open their eyes to see what they have actually done then go to jail when it will make that difference.

War on Drugs = big business for Government and huge loss for Public. Judges and politicians are getting stankin ritch off of it. Nothing will change

too bad the government doesnt realize they could be making more if they just decriminalized marijuana, it's the biggest cash crop in the united states by billion of dollars next is corn then wheat and so on.

too bad the government doesnt realize they could be making more if they just decriminalized marijuana, it's the biggest cash crop in the united states by billion of dollars next is corn then wheat and so on.

Yeah, but then Alchohol and Tobacco two of the largest lobbying groups in Washington lose. And the Politicians are getting Fat off the contributions of those two groups. So would the judicial system. No fines and no tax raked in to house inmates.

Shows you where the Gov's head is. The states could impose a sales tax on mary J and create billions of dollars to allocate to a variety of needs. Education and infrastructure for instance. But the individuals at the top of the food chain will have there profits cut. And this is supposed to be a democracy?????

Yeah, but then Alchohol and Tobacco two of the largest lobbying groups in Washington lose. And the Politicians are getting Fat off the contributions of those two groups. So would the judicial system. No fines and no tax raked in to house inmates.

Shows you where the Gov's head is. The states could impose a sales tax on mary J and create billions of dollars to allocate to a variety of needs. Education and infrastructure for instance. But the individuals at the top of the food chain will have there profits cut. And this is supposed to be a democracy?????

Don't forget the pharmaceutical companies...

Don't forget the pharmaceutical companies...

Jesus and that is another story on it's own. They wont even get behind the use of medicinal use. For the fear that will lead to acceptable recreational use. = Profit loss. Sad, there are a lot of ill people that would benifit greatly.