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Originally Posted by Cincinnatus
We should treat it as a medical problem. Make use and possession civil offenses, use the fines to finance treatment for those who seek it or for those whose use becomes such a problem that treatment is mandated. Hit FARC, the Taliban, and the various criminal syndicates HARD in their pocket books, free up the courts and the prisons, reduce corruption, and save a fortune on interdiction, prosecution, and incarceration. Never happen, but definitely the way to go.
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Not to be adversarial, and please do not interpret my remarks that way, but when you make statements like "hit FARC, and Taliban, and the various criminal syndicates hard in their pocket books," I cringe.
Let's break it down:
1. Hit FARC.
This is beset with sovereignty issues, and incidentally, Colombia has been at war for decades against FARC. I am not saying that it cannot be done. I am saying that it is a snarled undertaking, one that requires a fresh look, new thinking, and by no means is it amenable to resolution with a glib wave of the hand. We need a modern incarnation of Edward Lansdale here.
2. Hit the Taliban.
Well, we pretty much invaded Afghanistan because the Taliban were harboring UBL and AQ. It has finally dawned on policy makers that this was trivial in comparison to the allocation of national will, resources, and troops that would be required to sincerely address the opium problem in Afghanistan. Yes, I just said what I said. The invasion of Afghanistan pales in comparison to the potential dimensions of a sincere effort to definitively resolve opium cultivation in Afghanistan.
3. Hit the criminal syndicates.
Well...where to begin. (*Sigh*). We have entire agencies and umpteen bureaucracies dedicated to doing exactly this, and their victories have historically been shallow, ephemeral, and ultimately inconsequential. Again, I am not saying that it cannot be done. I am saying that the way that we have been doing it has failed, and not just a little bit. Our historical approach to combating the cultivation, trade, and abuse of illegal substances has failed massively. We need a whole new mojo, a completely new paradigm. Anything else...is merely throwing more good money after bad.
4. Free up the courts and prisons.
This one....well, let's just talk about America and prisons for a moment. Guess what? They are full. We have a huge slice of America behind bars, and law enforcement is not able to stem the onslaught. Cops are overwhelmed. Prosecutors are buried. Courts are jammed. What exactly do you propose? Building more prisons? Hiring more cops? Hiring more prosecutors and judges, and running the courts 24/7? Fine. If nothing else, the construction and the expansion creates jobs. But the numbers of criminals behind bars has never been higher, and simply building more prisons, and incarcerating more criminals, is not going to fundamentally change the dynamics of the problem. Again, throwing more good money after bad. A fundamental reassessment is required, and this is tantamount to re-evaluating
all social relations. In short, it will not happen until the Next Revolution.
5. Reduce corruption.
My favorite. All that I am going to say on this one is that anyone who is not familar with
Alfred McCoy is not equipped to have an informed conversation. His classic,
Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, is required reading.
Again, do not interpret my remarks in a personal manner.
This problem of illegal substances....goes far deeper, and is much vaster, than most Americans can imagine. We are very much in tinfoil hat territory here.
Just my opinion.