Category Archives: War On Drugs

Ventura 3:58 p.m. PT June 12, 2017

In this Jan. 12, 2014 file photo, men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of Michoacan, ride on a sandbag-filled truck while trying to flush out alleged members of The Caballeros Templarios drug cartel from the town of Nueva Italia, Mexico.(Photo: Eduardo Verdugo/Associated Press)

The following editorial appeared in The Orange County Register:

While American foreign policy has for years fixated on conflict in the Middle East, just across the border in Mexico and throughout Central America tens of thousands of people lost their lives last year because of drug cartels competing to deliver illicit drugs into the United States.

According to an International Institute for Strategic Studies new report, 50,000 lives were lost in Syria last year, while 39,000 were killed in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, much of which is attributable to drug-war violence.

Although the exact number of people killed because of the drug war in Mexico is unlikely to ever be known, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service cited estimates of 80,000 to more than 100,000 in that country alone.

The violence is a predictable consequence of our failed policy of drug prohibition. In the near-half century since President Nixon declared a war on drugs, hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been killed in conflicts fueled by a lucrative illicit drug trade made possible by our prohibition of drugs.

Were losing badly the war on drugs, Donald Trump said in 1990. You have to legalize drugs to win that war.While Trump may have since lost this insight, the war on drugs is still doing more harm than the drugs themselves.

Rather than squander more lives and resources fighting a war that cannot be won, the United States must recognize the futility and harm of its drug policies.

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Editorial: 'War on drugs' costing too many lives - Ventura County Star

While American foreign policy has for years fixated on the conflict in Syria and the Middle East, just across the border in Mexico and throughout Central America tens of thousands of people lost their lives last year because of the conflict between drug cartels competing to deliver illicit drugs into the United States.

According to a recent report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, whereas approximately 50,000 lives were lost in Syria last year, approximately 39,000 were killed in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, much of which is attributable to drug-war violence.

Mexicos homicide total of 23,000 for 2016 is second only to Syrias, and is only the latest development in a conflict that stretches back to 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the military to combat drug cartels.

Although the exact number of people killed because of the drug war in Mexico is unlikely to ever be known, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service cited estimates from 80,000 to more than 100,000 in that country alone.

The cause of this violence is obvious, and it is a direct, predictable consequence of our failed policy of drug prohibition. In the near-half century since President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been killed in conflicts fueled by a lucrative illicit drug trade made possible by our prohibition of drugs.

This is an insight a certain New York developer possessed 27 years ago. Were losing badly the war on drugs, Donald Trump said in 1990. You have to legalize drugs to win that war. You have to take the profit away from these drug czars.

While Trump may have since lost this insight, the fact remains that the war on drugs does more harm than drugs themselves.

Rather than squander more lives and resources fighting a War on Drugs that cannot be won including in our inner cities the United States must recognize the futility and harm of its drug policies.

See the article here:

'War on drugs' is costing thousands of lives - Manhattan Mercury (subscription)

Forbes

The War On Cannabis Heats Up Forbes The war on drugs or at least the cannabis industry is heating up and certain to create even more nervousness among cannabis investors. While the Department of Justice has its hands tied with regards to being funded to pursue cannabis law breakers ... and more »

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The War On Cannabis Heats Up - Forbes

New York Times

Duterte, Focused on Drug Users in Philippines, Ignored Rise of ISIS New York Times The government has largely been in denial about the growth of ISIS and affiliated groups, said Zachary M. Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington who specializes in Southeast Asian security issues. Duterte has been preoccupied ... Philippines: Duterte focused on drugs, ignored rise of IS analystAsian Correspondent US Special Forces Help Philippines Fight Islamic MilitantsBloomberg The warning from Marawi for regional securityThe Straits Times Rappler -BusinessWorld Online Edition all 596 news articles »

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Duterte, Focused on Drug Users in Philippines, Ignored Rise of ISIS - New York Times

On May 31, Ross Ulbricht lost his appeal with the Second Circuit appellate court. He will serve out the remainder of his life sentence, a sentence passed down in part due to allegations that he commissioned multiple murders-for-hire. Whether or not Ulbricht ordered these hits, his case illustrates how, by criminalizing drugs, the United States government has created an institution that incentives violence.

Ulbricht did not begin with violent intentions. He was an Eagle Scout who founded The Silk Road as a beacon of freedom. He agonized over the idea of a hit: As Wired reports, He had talked to Inigo [an employee] about how he just wishes the best for people, and loves them in the libertarian spiriteven Green [Ulbrichts first alleged target], in flagrante delicto. But for Ulbricht and others involved in the drug industry, violence was in his self interest.

Opponents of drug prohibition argue that the drug industry is by nature violent. However, buying and selling drugs isnt inherently more violent than is buying and selling alcohol. Rather, its black markets that create incentives for violence.

Black markets naturally attract criminals, in part because its difficult for convicted felons to find a career aboveboard. The black market for drugs offers lucrative opportunities that are especially attractive to those who have already committed violent crimes and are thus unlikely to find legal work.

Black markets also attract violent individuals because the crimes associated with selling drugs are proportionately less costly for those who already have a rap sheet. Legitimate businessmen are unlikely to sell drugs, because if they are caught they could face decades in prison. But for hardened criminals, the primary danger is in being caught, not in one more charge being added to an existing long list.

Additionally, black markets incentivize criminals to protect their secrecy. For many drug sellers, the most effective way to do so is to silence potential leaks. This was the context for Ulbrichts first alleged hit: He feared that if his victim (an employee of The Silk Road) werent silenced, the employee might report Ulbrichts crimes to the FBI. The difference between serving 10 years for drug trafficking and serving life for murder was a relatively small one compared to the difference between going to prison or remaining free.

Finally, black markets require violent dispute resolution. As Attorney General Jeff Sessions correctly argues, You cant sue somebody for drug debt; the only way to get your money is through strong-arm tactics, and violence tends to follow that. Faced with employees he suspected were cheating him, Ulbricht resorted to a seemingly violent resolution.

Ulbricht wasnt attracted to illicit sales by his background, but once in the industry, his incentives pointed towards violence.

Violence is inherent in black markets, not theoretical: History makes a strong case that prohibition encourages aggression. When the 18th Amendment was passed, alcohol transitioned from a legitimate business to a funding source for organized crime. Violent crime increased dramatically as sellers went to extreme lengths to protect themselves and their stake. The 18th Amendment was passed in 1919, and homicides rose steadily from 1920 to 1933. Writing in American Law and Economics Review, Harvard Professor of Economics Jeffrey Miron argues that drug and alcohol prohibition have substantially raised the homicide rate in the U.S. over much of the past 100 years.

By contrast, when goods are legalized, crime declines. Legitimate businessmen replace Mafia gangsters, and entrepreneurs lose their incentive to kill in order to protect themselves. After the 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933, homicides diminished for 11 years straight. Part of this was due to improving economic conditions, but part was likely also due to the fact that legal markets discourage violence.

The same trend can be seen with regards to medical marijuana. Writing in the Journal of Drug Issues, researchers analyzed violent and property crime in 11 Western states and found, Significant drops in rates of violent crime associated with state MMLs [medical marijuana laws]. When drugs are legalized, violent crime declines.

Prohibition advocates argue that legalizing drugs might increase violent crime, as criminals move from the drug market into other illicit enterprises. This movement is plausible, but the net effect is still likely to be less crime. Prohibited substances fund criminal enterprises, and strangling this funding also strangles the organizations other activities.

Ulbricht began The Silk Road as a beacon of freedom and non-violence, but if reports about his activities are true, then he eventually embodied the violence of prohibition. Prohibition creates an incentive structure that encourages aggression. Black markets attract violent individuals, and move even decent people to brutality. If we want a safer and more peaceful world, we should learn a lesson from Ross Ulbricht and end the war on drugs.

Julian Adorney is a Young Voices Advocate and a FEE 2016 Thorpe Fellow. He currently works at Colorado SEO Pros. Hes written for a number of outlets, including National Review, the Federalist, the Hill, FEE, and Lawrence Reeds latest anthology Excuse Me, Professor.

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The Uncomfortable Link Between the War on Drugs and Violent Crime - Observer

NEW figures show methamphetamine use has plunged across WA, providing the first real evidence that the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on combating the drug is paying off.

Tests in April that measured the concentration of the meth in raw sewage showed that consumption in Perth had almost halved since September when usage was at its peak.

It was also the best result since testing for meth in wastewater began two years ago, showing consumption had fallen about 25 per cent on the average recorded in the 2015-16 financial year when West Australians consumed about 2.1 tonnes of the drug.

Consumption is now estimated to have fallen by more than half a tonne.

The trend downwards in the past three test periods is obviously pleasing, but the sobering reality is WA still has a projected annual meth habit of 1.54 tonnes, with an estimated street value of just over $1.5 billion, State Crime Acting Assistant Commissioner Pryce Scanlan said.

No one is immune to this drug and it is still having a significant impact on the community.

While the sudden fall has been cautiously welcomed, it comes after a huge investment by the State and Federal governments to help tackle the supply and demand of the drug.

Mr Scanlan said WA Police had made unprecedented efforts to target meth dealers in the past two years, setting up dedicated meth teams within the organised crime squad which had helped seize almost 900kg of the drug.

From a policing perspective we have had considerable success, in tandem with our Federal partners, in interrupting supply, and in 2015-16 and 2016-17 we have so far intercepted approximately 890kg of meth headed for our streets, he said.

It could be that the major trafficking syndicates may not be viewing WA as such a soft target after those losses.

And the theory that WAs mining boom and the high disposable incomes it created contributed to our high rate of meth use in the past could, if true, be working in reverse with the end of the boom.

Since 2015, significant government funding had also been poured into education to warn users about the dangers of meth and money for rehabilitation facilities had also been boosted.

The downward trend in WA mirrored the results of a recent national survey that showed meth use around the country had been steadily falling.

The National Household Drug Survey, released this month, showed the number of Australians who admitted using meth had fallen from 2.1 per cent in 2013 to 1.4 per cent last year.

Although no new State-based figures were available, WA is still believed to be the biggest user of any State, running at almost twice the national average.

The survey also found that respondents now considered meth to be the most addictive drug on the illicit market and the drug most likely to cause serious harm to users, overtaking heroin.

Of the regional centres tested for meth, Bunbury had the biggest fall, which helped it shed its tag as the meth capital of WA.

That tag has now shifted to Kalgoorlie which has also recorded significant falls.

The rate of meth use per 1000 people in Bunbury in September was 50 per cent higher than in the Perth metro area. Bunbury was still higher than Perth in April, but consumption had more than halved.

Kalgoorlie mayor John Bowler said that though the meth capital title was obviously unwanted, his community would be pleased to see drug use overall had come down.

While it is a title we obviously do not want ... the use is coming down pretty clearly, so we take that as a positive, he said.

Police Minister Michelle Roberts said that while the local results were encouraging, tackling the meth scourge would remain a top priority for her party.

The McGowan Government wont be taking its foot off the pedal when it comes to tackling the devastation meth causes in our community, she said.

We have laws before Parliament which give life jail sentences for meth traffickers and were boosting police efforts to seize more of the drug before it hits our streets, by introducing a meth border force.

Shadow police minster Peter Katsambanis also welcomed the results which he said were a credit to the former Barnett governments commitment to tackling the meth problem.

I call on the Government to continue these initiatives to make sure our community continues to see improvements in relation to this insidious drug, he said.

Police for the first time in April also tested for the presence of meth at 11 remote Aboriginal communities, finding it was present in all, but only in low levels.

Read more:

War on drugs: Raw sewage testing shows drop in meth use across WA - Perth Now

The National

All for one in war on drugs The National Given our relatively crime-free society, it would be easy to imagine that drugs pose no threat to us. But as The National reported yesterday, international drug smuggling networks are increasingly using our country and region as a gateway to ...

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All for one in war on drugs - The National

While American foreign policy has for years fixated on the conflict in Syria and the Middle East, just across the border in Mexico and throughout Central America tens of thousands of people lost their lives last year because of the conflict between drug cartels competing to deliver illicit drugs into the United States.

According to a recent report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, whereas approximately 50,000 lives were lost in Syria last year, approximately 39,000 were killed in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, much of which is attributable to drug-war violence.

Mexicos homicide total of 23,000 for 2016 is second only to Syrias, and is only the latest development in a conflict which stretches back to 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the military to combat drug cartels.

Although the exact number of people killed because of the drug war in Mexico is unlikely to ever be known, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service cited estimates from 80,000 to more than 100,000 in that country alone.

The cause of this violence is obvious, and it is a direct, predictable consequence of our failed policy of drug prohibition. In the near-half century since President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been killed in conflicts fueled by a lucrative illicit drug trade made possible by our prohibition of drugs.

This is an insight a certain New York developer possessed 27 years ago. Were losing badly the war on drugs, Donald Trump said in 1990. You have to legalize drugs to win that war. You have to take the profit away from these drug czars.

While Trump may have since lost this insight, the fact remains that the war on drugs does more harm than drugs themselves.

Last year, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos used his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to call for a rethink of the drug war, which contributed to decades of conflict in Colombia that killed hundreds of thousands.

Rather than squander more lives and resources fighting a War on Drugs that cannot be won including in our inner cities the United States must recognize the futility and harm of its drug policies.

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'War on drugs' is costing thousands of lives Press Enterprise - Press-Enterprise

More than 59,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, according to a recent analysis by the New York Times.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50, the Times reported Monday. Cautioning that the data are preliminary, the Times estimated drug deaths rose 19percent over the 52,404 recorded in 2015. And all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017.

It's worsening here, as well.

This year, from Jan. 1 to the end of May, there were 468 drug overdoses in Allen County, Fort Wayne Police Capt. Kevin Hunter said Thursday. During the same period in 2016, there were267 drug overdoses.

As of this week, overdoses have led to 35 confirmed deaths; toxicology results are awaited in 15 other fatalities. It's likely, Hunter said, that those will also be confirmed as drug deaths.

In all of 2016, there were 68 overdoses.

Nationally and locally, the increases in deaths are being driven by addictions to opioid pills and heroin. Hunter, who leads the Fort Wayne department's drug-fighting efforts, said his officers also are seeing an increase in overdoses caused by the synthetic cannabinoids known as spice, though to his knowledge none of the spice victims has died.

Authorities have tried manynew strategies locally and statewide, tightening access to opioid medicines, improvingtraining formedical workers, making naloxone the overdose antidote more widely available and, recently in Fort Wayne, trying to follow the drugs that caused overdoses back to their sources. But as the problem shows no signs of abating, more attention has shifted to the need for more resources to treat addicts. Even with more federal and state funds being allocated, there's a sense that treatment facilities can't keep up.

In Ohio, where the Times estimated overdose deaths there increased by 25percent last year,officials adopted a strategy Indiana should consider. The state sued the pharmaceutical industry, contending that misleading marketing campaigns fooled patients and doctors into believing opioids were safe.

Modeled on legal actions against the tobacco industry in the 1990s, the opioid lawsuits are viewed as a way to raise funds to fight health problems it can be argued the companies involved helped create.

West Virginia won a similar lawsuit that will provide the state tens of millions of dollars, the Times reported, and lawsuits also have been filed by Mississippi, the city of Chicago and by counties in several states.

We are aware of the filings in Ohio and will be following this lawsuit closely, Attorney General Curtis Hill said in a statement emailed to The Journal Gazette Thursday. We are also aware of actions and litigation occurring in other states in this regard. My office has been and will continue to gather information and monitor these various actions as we consider the best course of action for the state of Indiana.

Thescope of the drug problem demands that dramatic solutions be considered.

In addition to fighting opioids and spice, local police are seeing an increase in crystal meth from Mexico which offsets the good news that the numberof homegrown meth labs here has dropped dramatically. And, Hunter said, his department is bracing to deal with more cocaine, which is reportedly making a comeback in other communities.

I don't expect that things will get any better soon, Hunter said.

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New war on drugs - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

If you had any doubt that the War on Drugs is racist, check out this story of two average Americans who faced the same legal problem that had very different impacts on their lives because of their racial and economic background.

In the one corner, you have Ross - a young white guyfrom Houston who got pulled over one day in his hometown. After searching his car, the cop found a sock full of a powdery substance that the arresting officer tested using a drug field kit. Ross sat in the back of the officer's car, chatting with a friend as he waited for the bad news:he was charged with possessing 252 grams of meth based on the results of the field test.

In the other corner, you have Barry, a black guy who was also pulled over in Houston one day. His vehicle was also searched, and a powdery substance found inside was also put througha field test. But unlike Ross, Barry had to wait for the result while lying on the ground with an officer's knee on his neck because they found a gun magazine in his car. No, not a 'magazine' as in a clip of bullets. Officers found a copy of Guns & Ammomagazine in his car. Barry was then taken into custody when the sample tested positive as less than a gram of cocaine.

So both men were charged for drug crimes. But Ross got to walk out shortly afterward because his dad secured a bail bond and hired a lawyer that had the case overturned after a more accurate test revealed that the sock was actually full of kitty litter. Turns out, Ross' dad put the litter-filled sock in his car after reading that it was a good makeshift de-humidifer/de-odorizer.

Barry wasn't so lucky. He couldn't afford a lawyer, so he got stuck with a court-appointed attorney who recommended taking a plea bargain instead of waiting for the results of the drug test to come through. And Barry had good reason to take the lesser sentence since the prosecutor wanted 20 years for the crime. And the judge warned him, "If you all want to play with me, by the time you get out of jail, they'll have flying cars."

So Barry ended up doing 180 days in prison. When he got out, his criminal record kept him from getting public assistance or food stamps. Then a year after his release, a lab report came out verifying that the roadside test was wrong. But he had to wait another 5 years to be exonerated of the charge.

But the worst part is that we're going to be seeing a lot more cases like Barry's because Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made it tougher to double-check the results of those flawed field tests -- which can give false positives for substances like chocolate, soap, cheese, anything with sugar and a lot of other common household items. Samantha Bee explains why in this video.

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Still Don't Think The War On Drugs Is Racist? Watch This Video - Civilized