Jericho: The War on Drugs has FAILED!
The US Government has to stop declaring war on nouns! The War on Poverty, LBJ's pet program, obviously failed. Bush's War on Terror is going no where. Yet, we are still fighting Nixon's War on Drugs! Prohibition didn't work - why should this?
Not only do we keep throwing money at this waste of time, it's coming back to haunt us. Opium and Heroin sales from poppies grown in Afghanistan is supporting the Taliban and probably al Qaeda.
This is what we needed. Money from American addicts is flowing to fighters in other countries who are killing American soldiers. Perfect! Two of our noun wars are clashing and Americans all over are dying from it.
Let me toss out an idea here. This isn't my idea alone, I've seen others with the same idea. Great minds think alike - apparently they just don't think like this in D.C.! This idea is usable in the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the cocaine farms of Columbia and even the marijuana fields of the US of A!
The idea is this: the farmers are the ones producing the product. They produce it because the local drug lords pay top money for it. Much more than what they would pay for equal amounts of food stuffs. Often, the product being grown grows far better than a food stuff as well; mary jane and poppies are practically weeds - they'll grow anywhere!
So, instead of sending in troops with guns and flame throwers, or training local militias (who are often bought by local drug lords) - send in one guy. This one guy will ride around the country side. If you give him a ton of opium, he'll give you a ton of food. If you give him a ton of cocaine, he'll give you a brand new John Deere tractor, or a new diesel powered truck. Next year, same deal, but, instead of poppies for tractors, the guy from America will give you food, seeds and fertilizer to grow a food crop or cotton or some other beneficial crop. The following year, the guy will come by and trade you food for more seeds and fertilizer and maybe another tractor or truck or other beneficial item, etc., etc., etc.
This kind of reverse share cropping will keep the drugs out of the hands of the drug lords and terrorists. The drugs can be burned or turned into useful pharmaceuticals. The drugs will never reach American shores. The drugs that do get to the states will be so high priced that most addicts will have to give up.
This process has got to be cheaper than sending troops and helicopters. It's got to be better than killing innocent people and wrecking their lives. Talk about winning hearts and minds! If I had my choice of trading drugs for a pittance to the local drug lord or trading for farm equipment and Cheerios with an American - I think I would go with the later every time. At least the guy with the Cheerios won't smack me in the head with the butt of his AK-47!
Not only do we keep throwing money at this waste of time, it's coming back to haunt us. Opium and Heroin sales from poppies grown in Afghanistan is supporting the Taliban and probably al Qaeda.
This is what we needed. Money from American addicts is flowing to fighters in other countries who are killing American soldiers. Perfect! Two of our noun wars are clashing and Americans all over are dying from it.
Let me toss out an idea here. This isn't my idea alone, I've seen others with the same idea. Great minds think alike - apparently they just don't think like this in D.C.! This idea is usable in the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the cocaine farms of Columbia and even the marijuana fields of the US of A!
The idea is this: the farmers are the ones producing the product. They produce it because the local drug lords pay top money for it. Much more than what they would pay for equal amounts of food stuffs. Often, the product being grown grows far better than a food stuff as well; mary jane and poppies are practically weeds - they'll grow anywhere!
So, instead of sending in troops with guns and flame throwers, or training local militias (who are often bought by local drug lords) - send in one guy. This one guy will ride around the country side. If you give him a ton of opium, he'll give you a ton of food. If you give him a ton of cocaine, he'll give you a brand new John Deere tractor, or a new diesel powered truck. Next year, same deal, but, instead of poppies for tractors, the guy from America will give you food, seeds and fertilizer to grow a food crop or cotton or some other beneficial crop. The following year, the guy will come by and trade you food for more seeds and fertilizer and maybe another tractor or truck or other beneficial item, etc., etc., etc.
This kind of reverse share cropping will keep the drugs out of the hands of the drug lords and terrorists. The drugs can be burned or turned into useful pharmaceuticals. The drugs will never reach American shores. The drugs that do get to the states will be so high priced that most addicts will have to give up.
This process has got to be cheaper than sending troops and helicopters. It's got to be better than killing innocent people and wrecking their lives. Talk about winning hearts and minds! If I had my choice of trading drugs for a pittance to the local drug lord or trading for farm equipment and Cheerios with an American - I think I would go with the later every time. At least the guy with the Cheerios won't smack me in the head with the butt of his AK-47!
posted by Jericho Brown at 9/07/2007 03:41:00 PM
15 Comments:
not bad but what if instead of providing other countries with much needed help what if we as a country first help ourselves, we have too much food, so much that much of the population is obese and the government has to subsidize the food growers, what if some of those food growers simply dropped growing icky vegetables (that no one in this supersized country likes anyway)except for corn, we need more corn, because the cars like to eat the corn. and starts growing cannabis and poppies. Then we fund our own wars, even the ones on nouns instead of going into debt and robbing from the education funds, just a thought really...
It would be stupid to get rid of those crops. Poppies are needed to make morphine, coca to make novocaine. Hell, cannabis is probably propping up the pizza delivery industry.
No more veggies - just grow drugs. If everyone is stoned, there is no drug problem. Lots of drugs = no problems. Interesting theory - I see why you remained anon! :)
Pot propping up pizza delivery - classic!
Most people forget that afghanistan is the end of the world. Its a desolate country and the majority of the soil there sucks for growing any wheat or food or any plant in that matter(how many people do you know wanna go to afghanistan anyway). The two things that just so happen to grow in abundance there are weed and opium. Oh yes i also need to add that before we stuck our nose in afghanistan the taliban actually enforced drug laws of their own and did a better job then us. The Taliban being smart have then taken the side of the farmers now knowing they can make profit and turn the people against us. If the U.S. didnt stick its nose in everyone business we might not have all the problems we are dealing with today.
Oh and to just remind everyone its our money going to the opium farmers and taliban. There are american people buying their goods so in the end we can only blame ourselves as a nation.
I wonder what would happen if drugs would be decriminalized? No black market, no money flowing back to terrorists. Wait, that would also mean, no police money, no prison complex money, no money for all sorts of "enforcement" jobs. That might equal job loss, can't have that. No wonder "wars" equate jobs. Albeit at a loss for humanity.
Ben, thanks for depressing us with the truth! :)
If you can grow weed and opium, some other cash crop will grow - don't ask me what.
When I was in college, I had an anthro prof that was huge on nutritional anthro. The guy had a big thing about amaranth. Amaranth is commonly called pig weed - see the "weed" part there? Hardy. Difficult to kill. Will grow anywhere.
According to Wikipedia, there are varieties grown all over the planet. Some as grains, some as leafy vegetables.
The point is, if we give them the ability to grow their own food and a cash crop to boot (it's getting more popular in Europe and the US) they will not have a reason to grow drugs.
Will this make the drug problem go away? That question doesn't concern me. Will it take the money out of the crimminal's hands and keep our armed forces out of harm's way? Maybe - sounds to me like a better plan than what we are doing now.
Wars do equal jobs.
Feeding everyone on the planet and bringing their standard of living up to ours would create jobs, too. Here and abroad.
The worst paying jobs in this country bring a king's ransom when compared to other countries.
According to Jericho "feeding everyone on the planet and bringing the standard of living up to ours would create jobs too". That is a false utopia or socialist system. You should know in a capitalist society you have to have the "haves" and "have not's". In this sad case the "haves" want to have the "have not's" stay that way so the "haves" have jobs and the "have nots" have to create a criminal enterprise just to "have " a little. Which in turn creates a vicious cycle and they know this. If not there would be no prohibition; which ultimately was a failure doomed from the start.
A society that puts equality... ahead of freedom will end up with neither.- Milton Friedman
"American officials are cautious about connecting Taliban drug money to al Qaeda-sponsored terrorism outside of Afghanistan. "
Wow Jericho, you were right, American Officials are cautious about mixed metaphors in the War on Nouns too. We'll never win until our Officials realize all nouns are equally at fault and stop discriminating them from one another. Look at the Taliban. They had no trouble transferring from No-drug to Pro-drug. Ideals are luxuries. Outmoded artifacts handed down from administrations remote from the human condition. The reason American officials are reticent in the admission of connection between the poppy and terrorism is their refusal to collectively clean philosophical house. When's the last time anyone heard an original idea emanating from our government. All the real leadership in this conflict has been military. Who do they think they are, anyway? If we really wanted to maintain our Ideals we'd give somebody direct control. Then there'd be nothing separating us from the future. Except me.
Wow. I called out the crank patrol, huh? :)
I'm not talking about building Utopia or an Empire or anything like that.
I said bring them to our standard of living. The US standard of living is no Utopia. But, the lowest layers of our society at least has a chance - a chance - of rising above their station. You and I have that same chance - to become a have instead of being a have not.
If you are living in a situation where you have to grow drugs to pay off the protection racket that's holding you down - you'd love to be cleaning offices and mowing lawns here in the states. That's not Utopia, but it's better.
Dane, there's nothing wrong with ideals. Freedom and justice for all. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. These ideals will never be outmoded.
What's outmoded is lying to the American people and putting American lives at risk to upkeep the profits in the Military-Industrial complex.
End the Wars. Raise my Taxes if you have to - but take care of the American people. Last, stop fucking lying to us!
You know you love it when Shrub whispers he sweet, sweet lies.
Just want to correct Max regarding the need for the poppies for medication. Medical poppies are carefully controlled commodities grown specially in a controlled manner, anything else is elicit drugs.
Anyway anybody who buys this heroin has got blood on their hands, American blood. Addicts fund the terrorism on American soil.
Just want to correct anonymous for his Bush like commentary. "Addicts fund the terrorism on American soil." I remember the administration drawing similar comparisons with other illicit substances (pot)in a drug-free commercial. Can anyone say BS propaganda created by the military industrial complex. ^5 to Jericho for the use of his catch phrase.
Here's Mine. God and mother nature must be laughing at us at making plants illegal for human consumption.
Yes, bad guys profit from the illegal drug trade. They profit in the exact same way that bad guys profited from illegal trade in alchoholic beverages during prohibition. Banning something does not eliminate the demand for it. It just makes it rare, driving up prices, and profits. Before cannabis was outlawed, no one profited from it. Why? Because it was everywhere. It is a weed that grew from the edge of the Arctic tundra to edge of southwestern desserts. No one paid $50 for a half an ouce of Kind, because you could grab your own for free out in your yard or the park or the woods.
Lather, rince and repeat, replacing "cannabis" with "poppies" and "coca".
When it comes right down to it, these plants are as old as humanity, if not older. There was no such thing as proscription (no I did not mistype the word "prescription", get a damn dictionary) until the middle of the 20th century. Yet humanity survived. Since the start of the "drug war", these plants have not ceased to exist. Recreation use has only increased. All we have rid ourselves of is billions of dollars and many of our freedoms.
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