Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 07:47:08 -0400 From: Eric Fawcett <•••@••.•••> Subject: sfp-167: global impact of drug wars, and who profits This paper reports on the impact of the drug wars on the poor, mostly black, back home in the USA, and reminds us that the poor in the majority world are its victims, while the drug kingpins and the resource-hungry multinational corporations make huge profits. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you pass this comment along to others, please include an explanation that Commentaries are a premium sent to Sustainer Donors of Z/ZNet and that to learn more about the project folks can consult ZNet (http://www.zmag.org) and specifically the Sustainer Pages (http://www.zmag.org/Commentaries/donorform.htm. Stubborn facts versus thick skulls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Sean Gonsalves Whoever coined the phrase "facts are stubborn things" has apparently never come across drug war advocates - a self-righteous bunch, undeterred by trivial matters of fact. Let me share a few of these trivial facts with you. According to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), the illicit drug industry is an annual market of $400 billion. That's eight percent of world trade - higher than the exports of the automobile industry, worldwide. Of course, the illegal drug business creates huge profits. A kilo of raw opium in Pakistan costs about $90 on average. In America, a kilo of opium sells for about $290,000. The UNDCP says that illicit drug profits are so inflated that 75 percent of all drug shipments would have to be intercepted by law enforcement agents in order to seriously reduce the profitability of the business. Right now drug cops, internationally, only intercept 30 percent of cocaine shipments and 10 to 15 percent of heroin shipments. In 1969, the Nixon administration spent $65 million on the drug war. In 1982, Ronald Reagan - the patron saint of "free-market" conservatism - increased "big government" spending on the drug war to $1.65 billion. The "liberal" Clinton administration upped the ante to $17.1 billion in 1998. That figure, obviously, does not include the $99 billion that the National Institute on Drug Abuse conservatively estimates to be the economic costs of drug abuse in America. And even though a 1994 Rand Corporation study found that increasing drug treatment is the single most effective way to reduce drug consumption, 60 percent of drug costs go toward drug-related law enforcement, incarceration and crime. What's driving all these illicit drugs in the U.S. market? The popular misconception has the problem being one of all those baggy-jean, bandana-wearing gang-bangers and crack-addicted, promiscuous black Jerry Springer show guests. But according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 74 percent of all illicit drug users are white. Who's being locked up? Mostly poor blacks that see the profitable drug industry as being their most realistic opportunity to achieve the "American dream." According to the Justice Department, 70 percent of all U.S. prisoners are either drug offenders or were regular users prior to incarceration. There are now more Americans in prison than there are on active duty in the military. Between 1990 and 1996 the number of blacks in federal prison for violent and property crime decreased by 726. But in that same time period, the number of blacks in federal prison actually grew by 12, 852 in the category of drug law violations. Only 11 percent of America's illicit drug users are African-American but my people account for 37 percent of those arrested for drug violations, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The incarceration rate for black men in America is four times as high as it is in South Africa. Two years ago the American Psychologist reported that harsh measures like three-strikes-and-you're-out laws disproportionately imprisons blacks and Hispanics, who are guilty of little more than a history of untreated addiction and several prior drug-related offenses. States will absorb the staggering cost of, not only constructing additional prisons to accommodate increasing numbers of prisoners who will never be released, but also warehousing them into old age. And let's not harbor any illusions that the drug war is about going after smugglers and kingpins. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, of the 1,506,200 arrested in 1996 for drug law violations, 75 percent (1,131,156) were for drug possession. Only 25 percent were for the sale or manufacture of a drug. Our aid to Colombia is alleged to have something to do with going after drug kingpins. Right now Colombia is embroiled in a civil war. If you read declassified documents and scholarly essays written by our military planners, you'll find that their primary concern is using violence to establish a nice climate for foreign investment, especially on behalf of U.S. based corporations. The idea that we are helping the Colombian government fight drug trafficking would be laughable if it didn't mean death to so many Colombian peasants who are murdered and repressed with our crucial support. The Colombian government has the worst human rights record in the hemisphere. And it is estimated that Colombian narcotics cartels spend $100 million annually in bribes to Colombian officials. Apparently drug war advocates are immune to facts. Meanwhile, the poor abroad, and particularly the black poor here in America, are taking it on the chin. As a former boxer, I can tell ya: a fella doesn't take it on the chin without at some point either fighting back or getting knocked out. Neither option is very promising when the arena is not a boxing ring. ------------------------------------------------------- To [remove]add your address to this list, email: •••@••.••• with no message in the text and Subject: [unsubscribe]subscribe sfpcan. Messages are posted on http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/ ------------------------------------------------------
