When Western countries decide how to implement solutions to their illegal drug problems, they will need to withdraw from 'Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by 1972 Protocol' and 'Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971'. Conventions and drug laws have been outdated by improved medical knowledge, economic factors, and exponential growth of criminal illegal drug industries. Drug laws and Conventions no longer serve to help people. Rather drug laws serve to legitimize support for untoward factions. To save national societies, governments, and economies from illegal drug industries -- every nation must do what is best for their people. That is, if politicians are willing.
Latin America Illegal Drug Industries
Ecuador - significant transit country for cocaine originating in Colombia and Peru, with much of the U.S.-bound cocaine passing through Ecuadorian Pacific waters; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics; attractive location for cash-placement by drug traffickers laundering money because of dollarization and weak anti-money-laundering regime; increased activity on the northern frontier by trafficking groups and Colombian insurgents (2011).
Peru - until 1996 world's largest coca leaf and cocaine producer, Peru is now world's second largest producer of coca leaf, though it lags far behind Colombia; cultivation of coca in Peru was estimated at 40,000 hectares (154 square mile) in 2009, a slight decrease over 2008; second largest producer of cocaine, estimated at 225 metric tons (248 short ton) of potential pure cocaine in 2009; finished cocaine is shipped out from Pacific ports to international drug market; increasing amounts of base and finished cocaine, however, are being moved to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia for use in Southern Cone or transshipment to Europe and Africa; increasing domestic drug consumption (2011).
El Salvador - transshipment point for cocaine; small amounts of marijuana produced for local consumption; significant use of cocaine.
Venezuela - small-scale illicit producer of opium and coca for the processing of opiates and coca derivatives; however, large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia bound for US and Europe; significant narcotics-related money-laundering activity, especially along the border with Colombia and on Margarita Island; active eradication program primarily targeting opium; increasing signs of drug-related activities by Colombian insurgents on border (2011).
Costa Rica - transshipment country for cocaine and heroin from South America; illicit production of cannabis in remote areas; domestic cocaine consumption, particularly crack cocaine, is rising; significant consumption of amphetamines; seizures of smuggled cash in Costa Rica and at the main border crossing to enter Costa Rica from Nicaragua have risen in recent years (2008).
Colombia - producer of coca/cocaine, opium poppy, and cannabis (coca leaf is not the problem, coca leaf is not cocaine, chemical processes are necessary to produce problem cocaine); world's leading cocaine producer with 116,000 hectares in coca cultivation in 2009, a 3% decrease over 2008, producing a potential of 270 metric ton (298 short ton) of pure cocaine; the world's largest producer of coca derivatives; supplies cocaine to nearly all of the US market and the great majority of other international drug markets; in 2010, aerial eradication dispensed herbicide to treat over 101,000 (390 square miles) hectares combined with manual eradication of 61,000 hectares (236 square mile); a significant portion of narcotics proceeds are either laundered or invested in Colombia through the black market peso exchange; important supplier of heroin to the U.S. market; (2011).
A kilogram of cocaine in the highlands of Colombia or Peru for around $2,000 accrues value as it makes its way to market. In Mexico, that kilo fetches more than $10,000, within U.S. it could sell wholesale for more than $30,000. Break it down into grams to distribute retail, and that same kilo sells for more more than $100,000. U.S Justice Department identifies that Colombian and Mexican cartels reap $18 billion to $39 billion from illegal drug sales in the United States each year. Drug cartels are both diversified and vertically integrated, producing and exporting marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine as well. Illegal drug trade profits are huge, making elected officials and justice systems just employees of drug cartels.
Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of worldwide coca/cocaine crop, followed by Peru, Bolivia and several others. There is an organized and illegal attempt to redefine knowledge of global illegal drug industries -- in particular mask high-profit margin cocaine sources.
Latin America Tri-Border Area (TBA) - TERRORIST AND ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS IN THE TRI-BORDER AREA OF SOUTH AMERICA (2010) - Islamic terrorist group activities in Tri-Border Area (TBA) during the 1999 to 2003 period provides substantial evidence for concluding that various Islamic terrorist groups have used the TBA -- where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet -- as a haven for fund-raising, recruiting, plotting terrorist attacks elsewhere in the TBA countries or the Americas in general, and other such activities.
In addition to Islamic terrorist groups, the TBA provides a haven that is geographically, socially, economically, and politically highly conducive for allowing organized crime and the corrupt officials who accept their bribes or payoffs to operate in a symbiotic relationship that thrives on drug and arms trafficking, money laundering, and other lucrative criminal activities.
Cooperative and individual national efforts of the Argentine, Brazilian, and Paraguayan security forces to fight illicit activities by organized crime and terrorist groups in the TBA appear to have constrained these activities since late 2001, but by no means eliminated them. Their efforts have been hindered by endemic corruption within the police, criminal justice systems, and governments of the TBA countries; poor pay; inadequate training, equipment, funding, law-enforcement techniques, and penal codes; poor organization; human rights abuses; weak anti-money-laundering laws and enforcement thereof; and secrecy provisions of banking laws.
Argentina (TBA) - a transshipment country for cocaine headed for Europe, heroin headed for the U.S., and ephedrine and pseudoephedrine headed for Mexico; some money-laundering activity, especially in the Tri-Border Area of South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay); law enforcement corruption; a source for precursor chemicals; increasing domestic consumption of drugs in urban centers, especially cocaine base and synthetic drugs (2008)
Paraguay (TBA) - major illicit producer of cannabis, most or all of which is consumed in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile; transshipment country for Andean cocaine headed for Brazil, other Southern Cone markets, and Europe; weak border controls, extensive corruption and money-laundering activity, especially in the Tri-Border Area; weak anti-money-laundering laws and enforcement.
Brazil (TBA) - is second-largest consumer of cocaine in the world; illicit producer of cannabis; trace amounts of coca cultivation in the Amazon region, used for domestic consumption; government has a large-scale eradication program to control cannabis; important transshipment country for Bolivian, Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for Europe; also used by traffickers as a way station for narcotics air transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in drug-related violence and weapons smuggling; important market for Colombian, Bolivian, and Peruvian cocaine; illicit narcotics proceeds are often laundered through financial system; significant illicit financial activity in Tri-Border Area (2008). In just 30 years, and in the wake of repressive policies of containment and control, more than 1,000,000 Brazilians lost their lives to crime wars.
"Where Is Brazil in the Global Drug Debate?"
Huffpost World
Posted: 04/13/2012
Opening months of 2012 have witnessed an unprecedented debate across Latin America on alternatives to the so-called war on drugs. The sitting presidents of Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama are actively exploring decriminalization, regulation and harm reduction as a means of ending spiraling violence associated with drug trafficking. What was once considered to be heresy is now going mainstream.
And while the debate has its detractors, it is definitely catching on. This weekend, 34 heads of state will gather at the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. For the first time since the war on drugs was launched more than four decades ago, leaders will discuss more humane approaches to dealing with the causes and symptoms of the illegal drug trade. Many privately recognize that the war has failed: the production and consumption of drugs continues unabated and efforts to control illicit markets have instead resulted in a surge in violence.
Every president in the western hemisphere acknowledges that the costs of the war on drugs have been devastating. With just 9 percent of the world's population, Latin America exhibits more than 30 percent of its annual homicides. It is hardly surprising, then, that governments are starting to rethink their approaches to controlling drugs. This is especially so since the "war" on drugs has resulted in more avoidable deaths and higher social costs than their consumption. The costs of waging the war has also drained public coffers and exposed democratic institutions to unparalleled corruption and organized crime.
Particularly given the devastating implications of this failed war on Brazil's society and democratic institutions, the government's silence is deafening. Brazil experiences the highest absolute number of homicides on the planet. For example, in 2010, roughly one Brazilian citizen was assassinated every 10 minutes. According to the country's own Ministry of Justice, more than 49,900 people were violently killed that year and more than two-thirds executed with firearms.
Unlike some other countries in Latin America, Brazil does not have a system to track deaths due specifically to drug violence and organized crime. Even so, the available data gives some insights into the scale of the problem. In 1980, before the arrival of cocaine, the homicide rate was 11.7 per 100,000. By 2010, the rate had more than doubled to 26.2 per 100,000. In just 30 years, and in the wake of repressive policies of containment and control, more than 1,000,000 Brazilians lost their lives in wars without end.
Brazil is not alone in confronting the epidemic of drug violence. Mexico has experienced a massive spike in homicidal violence since President Calderon launched a U.S.-backed campaign against drug cartels. Since 2006, roughly 50,000 to 60,000 men, women and children have been brutally assassinated. And while the human toll is horrific, Mexico's figures pale in comparison to Brazil. And yet curiously Mexico dominates the media cycle like no other country, another sad testament to a misconceived war.
The notable absence of Brazil from the international debate on drug policy is at odds with its reputation as an emerging global leader. Moreover, its refusal to engage with more progressive approaches to managing drugs reveals a jarring dissonance with its own domestic realities. This is because Brazil is not only experiencing an epidemic of violence generated by militarized approach to controlling drugs, but it is also witnessing a surge in the consumption of all manner of drugs, and transshipment to consuming nations in Western Europe and beyond.
And there are ominous signs that the situation in Brazil could worsen. For example, a major federal-level public security program known as PRONASCI, which funded states' improvements and innovations in the security field, experienced sharp budget cutbacks under the new government that came into power last year. This volte face is occurring despite the positive dividends generated on the ground, including the so-called pacification police (UPP) in Rio de Janeiro. In a worrying sign, the new government has also suspended the national plan for the reduction of homicides in 2011 and there are no obvious replacements in sight.
If genuine security and safety dividends are to be achieved in Brazil, the government needs to make some pragmatic choices in relation to national drug policy. For example, law 11.343, passed in 2006 -- which, in theory, exempts drug consumers from prison and thus separates users from traffickers -- needs to be detailed and enforced. But so long as drug consumption is still dealt by the criminal justice, and consumers are publicly vilified as criminals, there is little chance that the law will get much purchase. At a minimum, Brazilian lawmakers need to break the taboo around drugs and initiate an informed debate about alternatives to the status quo.
From a public health perspective, it is critical that Brazil and its neighbors offer support to users with chemical dependencies, including for those abusing alcohol and prescription drugs. But without changes to the existing laws and ensuring opportunities for improved treatment, for example, Brazil's recently launched Plan to Combat Crack and Other Drugs will not succeed. Scandalously, even today, Brazil does not have a public or therapeutic system to support drug dependents.
More positively, Brazil has shown an impressive level of innovation in the public health and security sectors. Its programs to treat HIV-AIDS and reduce smoking are widely considered world class. Likewise, its community justice interventions and community policing activities are being closely monitored and copied across Latin America. It is inevitable that Brazil will eventually develop more humane approaches to drug policy as it contends with its worst social crisis in decades. But it will also take courage on the part of Brazil's leadership to imagine an alternative. It is also critical that the proposed cure is not worse than the illness.
Brazil faces a real and present danger from which it can not and must not hide. At the upcoming Summit of the Americas, President Dilma has an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to building a new architecture for global drug policy. She can make a decisive break with the past. A new approach would emphasize public health, social justice and cultures of peace rather than repression, enforcement and war. If Brazil is to consolidate its international legitimacy and position as promoter of human rights, it needs to adopt more humane policies back home.
Fin
As the largest consumer of illegal drugs and leading contributor to the lost War on Drugs, U.S. Presidents and Congresses lag in implementation of alternatives to the so-called war on drugs.
According to former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and César Gaviria of Colombia, the United States-led drug war is pushing Latin America into a downward spiral; Mr. Cardoso said in a conference that "available evidence indicates that war on drugs is a failed war." Latin American governments have followed advice of U.S. to combat drug war, but policies had few benefits. Commissions have made some reasonable recommendations to President Barack Obama to consider new policies, such as decriminalization of cannabis (marijuana) and to treat illegal drug use as a public health problem and not as a security problem. It is time to seriously consider drug decriminalization and legalization, a policy initiative that are in direct opposition to the interests of criminal gangs and drug cartels.
Illegal drug industries are now such a large part of some nations income that several illegal industries are now maintained by informal covert trade agreements among world leaders.
European Illegal Drug Industries
In short, Europe is willing to treat drug addicts, but is unwilling to control and provide legal supplies of drugs of potential abuse from legal controlled sources. European drug decriminalization EXCLUDES decriminalizing drug supply sources. Unwillingness of global politicians to decriminalize and control drug supply sources is the global illegal drug problem.
Greece - a gateway to Europe for traffickers smuggling cannabis and heroin from the Middle East and Southwest Asia to the West and precursor chemicals to the East; some South American cocaine transits or is consumed in Greece; money laundering related to drug trafficking and organized crime.
Netherlands - major European producer of synthetic drugs, including ecstasy, and cannabis cultivator; important gateway for cocaine, heroin, and hashish entering Europe; major source of U.S.-bound ecstasy; large financial sector vulnerable to money laundering; significant consumer of ecstasy.
Germany - source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs; major financial center.
Italy - important gateway for and consumer of Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European market; money laundering by organized crime and from smuggling.
France - Metropolitan France: transshipment point for South American cocaine, Southwest Asian heroin, and European synthetics. French Guiana: small amount of marijuana grown for local consumption; minor transshipment point to Europe. Martinique: transshipment point for cocaine and marijuana bound for the U.S. and Europe.
Spain - despite rigorous law enforcement efforts, North African, Latin American, Galician, and other European traffickers take advantage of Spain's long coastline to land large shipments of cocaine and hashish for distribution to the European market; consumer for Latin American cocaine and North African hashish; destination and minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering site for Colombian narcotics trafficking organizations and organized crime.
Portugal - seizing record amounts of Latin American cocaine destined for Europe; a European gateway for Southwest Asian heroin; transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe; consumer of Southwest Asian heroin.
United Kingdom - producer of limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, marijuana, and synthetic drugs; money-laundering center.
Switzerland - a major international financial center vulnerable to the layering and integration stages of money laundering; despite significant legislation and reporting requirements, secrecy rules persist and nonresidents are permitted to conduct business through offshore entities and various intermediaries; transit country for and consumer of South American cocaine, Southwest Asian heroin, and Western European synthetics; domestic cannabis cultivation and limited ecstasy production.
Asia Illegal Drug Industries
Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 95% of global supply while Southeast Asia is responsible for 9% of global opium. Asia produces large quantities of precursor drugs needed to produce illegal drugs.
North America and Mexico Illegal Drug Industries
Identify POLITICIANS who benefits from very huge illegal tax free DRUG PROFITS and you identify illegal drug reform opposition. It is politicians who are most skilled at directing unprofitable attention from themselves. Sometimes arrest of high officials may not always be what it first appears to be.
In 2010, U.S. homicide rate was 4.8 per year per 100,000 population. But multinational suppliers of U.S. illegal drugs pay a heavy price for U.S. illegal drug consumption. In 2011 alone, homicides numbered more than 3,000, or eight murders per day, making Juarez the criminal murder city of U.S. Border. Mexican cartels control large swaths of Mexican territory and dozens of municipalities, and they exercise increasing influence in Mexican electoral politics and now dominate the U.S. wholesale illicit drug market by controlling 90% of the drugs that enter into the U.S. Measured in dollar value, at least four-fifths of all the illicit drugs consumed are of foreign origin, including virtually all the cocaine and heroin. More than 14 million Americans buy illicit drugs and use them at least once per month.
Expanding upon what U.S. has done for more than 40-years, on March 2009 the Obama administration outlined plans to redeploy more than 500 federal agents to border posts and redirect $200 million to combat smuggling of illegal drugs and money laundering, aided by left Democrat opposition to guns politics of U.S. Attorney General's 'Fast and Furious' weapons program. Since then illegal drug flow into U.S. has increased and many more people have been killed.
Considering size and scope of illegal drug industries, the only way to change illegal drug industry is to change illegal drug laws and Conventions. National governments need to regulate legal sources, production, distribution, and sales of drugs of potential abuse. Alcohol and tobacco is regulated, so can other licit drugs be regulated.
Mexico - is major drug-producing and transit nation; opium poppy cultivation in 2009 rose 31% over 2008. "Black tar" heroin is dominant form of Mexican heroin in western United States; marijuana cultivation increased 45% in 2009; government conducts largest independent illicit-crop eradication program in world; continues as primary transshipment country for U.S.-bound cocaine from South America, with an estimated 95% of annual cocaine movements toward U.S. stopping in Mexico; major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout country; producer and distributor of ecstasy (MDMA); significant money-laundering center; major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to US market (2011). Pushing illegal drug product north into U.S. is only half the equation, the other half of the problem is money laundering huge profits back to Mexico. Illegal drug business generates such volumes of currency that there is only so much you can launder or reinvest, which means that money can start to pile up.
For political reasons and trying to stay alive, Mexican press is not allowed free reporting of massive criminal drug activity that is destroying Mexico.
NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO, May 4, 2012 — In a bold public display of the gang violence sweeping across northern Mexico, residents in border city of Nuevo Laredo awoke at dawn Friday to find 23 corpses of men and women hanging from a bridge at a busy intersection just a 10-minute drive from Texas. Hours later, police found dismembered corpses of 14 people in garbage bags and ice boxes dumped near police station of Nuevo Laredo, police investigators said. The city is an important gateway for smuggling drugs and people north to the United States, and for shipping bulk cash and weapons south to Mexico. Nuevo Laredo is a battleground between Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, Zetas. Horrific events like this are too common within Mexico.
GUADALAJARA, MEXICO - Mexican police have found (10 May 2012) the dismembered and decapitated bodies of at least 18 people in the western part of the country, where violence between rival drug gangs has flared. Prosecutor Says the remains were discovered stuffed inside two vans near Lake Chapala Wednesday, not far from the city of Guadalajara. Police say a handwritten note believed to be from the Zetas drug gang was found at the scene.
VERACRUZ, MEXICO -- Cartels battle for control of one of Mexico’s largest ports has spawned horrors such as the slaughter of 35 people dumped on a main highway in rush-hour traffic in September 2011. Drug cartels battling for control of smuggling routes often use threats, bribes or both to demand support of local officials, prison directors, and other influential people in cities they are fighting over. Journalists have not been spared. At least seven current and former reporters and photographers have been slain in Veracruz over last 18 months. Under President Obama, for political reasons, such slaughters in Mexico are infrequently reported within U.S. press.
More than 50,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on traffickers after taking office in late 2006 and deployed tens of thousands of federal police and soldiers across Mexico (supported in 2007 to present by U.S. Congress left Democrats and President Obama).
Honduras - latest focal point in America’s drug war. American troops there cannot fire except in self-defense, and they are barred from responding with force even if Honduran or Drug Enforcement Administration agents are in danger. President Obama is downgrading his opposition to flow of illegal drugs into Europe and U.S. President Obama, who opposes decriminalization of illegal drugs, is reinforcing anti Vietnam War Communist premise that illegal drugs are channels to transfer wealth from too rich Americans to poor Latin American countries. Now, Communist movements are engaged in for profit illegal drug industries.
Canada - illicit producer of cannabis for the domestic drug market and export to U.S.; exports ecstasy (MDMA), use of hydroponics technology permits growers to plant large quantities of high-THC marijuana indoors; increasing ecstasy production, some of which is destined for U.S.; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering because of its mature financial services sector.
United States - is world's largest consumer of cocaine (shipped from Colombia and other sources through Mexico and Caribbean), Colombian heroin, and Mexican heroin and marijuana; major consumer of ecstasy (MDMA), and Mexican methamphetamine; minor consumer of high-quality Southeast Asian heroin; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, street methadone, and methamphetamine; largest money-laundering center in world. Oakland, California, is largest supplier of hydroponics technology supplies.
For political reasons, U.S. press is not allowed any reporting of massive criminal drug activity that is destroying the nation. Electronic media reporting (ie, internet) is unlawfully manipulated. Alternatives to the so-called war on drugs is not disused. Electronic manipulation of information is a increasing ongoing problem since Obama administration came into office. When legalizing drugs of potential abuse is accepted, needs for cyber information criminals will shift to other cybersecurity criminal activity.
American drug violence is well below global averages because American political systems accept regional illegal drug industries as long as local violence levels are low. Additionally, compared to poverty within some other countries, there is no poverty within America that justifies violence. But drug gang violence is high, which is part of illegal drug culture. As illegal immigration population increases within U.S.: numbers of illegal drug industry criminals increase, transported illegal drugs increase, and money laundering increases.
The federal government, not the state or local law enforcement agency, determines what immigration enforcement action, if any, is appropriate. 'Secure Communities' helps identify criminals. Federal 'Secure Communities' depends upon federal agencies being notified by state and local agencies. Within California, where there is a large illegal immigrant prison population, politicians are lowering state prison population levels by transferring prisoners from state to county and city facilities where they are then given early releases. 'Secure Communities' notifications are not known to be systematically occurring.
Original U.S. supporting political rationale for allowing increased consumption of illegal drugs and increased illegal drug import was Vietnam War protests and to provide an illegal drug industry income for U.S. and Latin American poor (ie, Communist economic leveling). But now illegal drug supplies have increased significantly while street prices are decreasing. A few years ago Washington, D.C., drug dealers earned an average of $30 an hour, today with increased supplies and decreased risks they earn less than federal minimum wage ($7.25). However, drug cartel leaders take in billions a year and do not pay taxes. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (1949-1993) was a Colombian drug lord. Forbes magazine in 1989 declared Escobar as the seventh richest man in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of US$ 25 billion.
Global motive for politicians retaining illegal drug criminalization is to assurance continuation of political and criminal profits.
Opiates
World opiates - worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation continued to increase in 2007, with a potential opium production of 8,400 metric tons (9,260 short ton), reaching highest levels recorded since estimates began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 95% of global supply; Southeast Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for U.S. market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin, potential global production would be 1,000 metric tons (1,102 short ton) of heroin in 2007. Opiates actually produce a high degree of harm.
Cocaine
World cocaine - worldwide coca/cocaine leaf cultivation in 2007 amounted to 232,500 hectares (898 square miles); Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of worldwide crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production decreased 7% to 865 metric tons (954 short ton) in 2007; Colombia conducts an aggressive coca eradication campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons (607 short ton) of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been seized or destroyed in 2005; U.S. consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons (419 short ton). For some within an identified profile, cocaine produces harm.
In mid 2012, according to Drug Enforcement Administration data, one gram of pure cocaine from your typical local pusher is 74 percent cheaper than it was 30 years ago.
Cannabis (marijuana)
Since the beginning of the 20th century, at U.S. President Nixon's promotion, most countries have enacted laws against the cultivation, possession or transfer of cannabis. Political paranoia lead to cannabis being classified as equivalent to heroin within the U.S. Controlled Substance Act (1970). However, U.S. street-uses of marijuana (including politicians) have a much better understanding of marijuana -- medical marijuana legislation has been passed in 16 states plus the Washington District of Columbia (that is home for U.S. Congresses and Presidents). Cannabis (marijuana) produces a low degree of potential individual dependence and physical harm to drug abuse.
Illegal Drug and Supply Reform
Vast social and economic problems resulting from existing laws and Conventions can be easily changed to regulate-decriminalize illegals drugs and regulate-decriminalize sources of illegal drugs on a national basis. There is a need to take a stand for rational and medical based illegal drug law and Convention reform.
However, scientific and medical resolution to issues of drugs of potential abuse is under the control of corruption, criminals, mafia, politicians, and drug cartels. Scientific and medical drug resolution counts nothing against annual $100s billions to be made by supporting national and global illegal drug industries.
Illegal drug criminal profit motive is driving force of political and multinational corruption, crime, and society decay. Drugs will no longer be a problem when illegal drug profits are eliminated and drug decriminalization provides legal drug supply sources regulated by governments. Without removal of criminal profit motive there is no solution to illegal drug problems.
Legalization and a government regulation program for all drugs of potential abuse would move drug trade into the open regulated market, driving down drug price, and undermining criminal and cartels’ profits, power, and influence. National and individual economic resources are freed up for other more productive purposes.
Decades of research provide a comprehensive assessment of impacts of global “War on Drugs” and international scientific community calls for an acknowledgement of limits and harms of drug prohibition. Evidence that law enforcement has failed to prevent availability of illegal drugs in communities is now unambiguous. Over last several decades, national and international drug surveillance systems have demonstrated a general pattern of falling drug prices and increasing drug purity -- despite massive investments in drug law enforcement.
Leadership within Washington DC politics does not exist. To be elected, political systems have advanced from doing real harm to America to just doing nothing. If a terrible problem does not register in a public opinion polls -- politicians, TV, and news media have no interest in problems. Politicians feel that they get more votes and money if they do not decriminalizing drugs and just ignore its problems. No longer does mass media attempt to support changes for common good -- they are just interested in their corporate profits. Attention to global warming is another example of corrosive benign neglect caused by politicians and media.
One would think that after more than 40-years of failed criminalization of drugs of potential abuse that U.S. Congress and President Obama and world leaders would learn from experiences, but politicians learn nothing, they just game the system. What we have is a failed U.S. political system whose individuals are too dependent upon support from multinational illegal drug industry economy and people who run it. Criminalization of illegal drugs has not and still does not work.
Based upon degree of individual dependence and physical harm to drug abuse there are three general categories of popular "illegal" drugs of potential abuse, examples:
HIGH: Heroin, Cocaine, Street methadone
IN BETWEEN: Tobacco, Alcohol, Benzodiazepines, Amphetamine, Ketamine
LOW: Cannabis (marijuana), Ecstasy (MDMA), Methylphenidate (4-MTA), Solvents, Alkyl nitrites, Anabolic steroids
Politicians and law enforcement continuing classification of drugs as "illegal" has resulted in nothing but decades of increasing harm to many people and nations. Historically, removal of drug prohibitions greatly decrease social harm of drugs and provides greater individual access to treatments. Governments are to decriminalize, regulate legal sources, production, distribution, and sales of drugs of potential abuse. Education about drugs, not criminalization, is to counter improper use of drugs of potential abuse.
Corruption and politicians maintain illegal drug profits that continues illegal drug harms. Illegal drug laws and Conventions produce greater harm than they provide societal good.
