Author Topic: Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply  (Read 765 times)

Offline bigsky

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« on: July 02, 2005, 08:28:36 AM »
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-drugs28jun28,1,898329.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

# Despite $5.4 billion spent since 2000, coca growth in the Andes is high and prices in America low. More money is on the table.

By Sonni Efron, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and congressional allies are gearing up to renew a plan for drug eradication in Latin America despite some grim news: The $5.4 billion spent on the plan since 2000 has made no dent in the availability of cocaine on American streets and prices are at all-time lows.

United Nations figures released this month show that coca cultivation in the Andean region increased by 2% in 2004 as declines in Colombia were swamped by massive increases in Peru and Bolivia. And the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said last week that the anti-drug effort had had "no effect" on the price or purity of drugs in the United States.

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The findings have fueled skepticism in Congress, where conservative groups have joined efforts to lobby against continued funding. The National Taxpayers Union called the anti-drug program a "boondoggle."

Nonetheless, a House committee last week approved the administration's request for $734.5 million for next year as part of a foreign aid bill. Debate on the bill could start as early as today. President Bush also may unveil a renewed multiyear commitment to South American anti-drug efforts this year when Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a staunch U.S. ally, is expected to visit.

"We are heading in the right direction and we are winning," the federal drug czar, John P. Walters, told Congress last month.

"Plan Colombia" — a six-year effort by Washington and Bogota to eliminate drug trafficking, end more than 40 years of armed conflict with rebels and promote economic and legal reform in Colombia — expires this year. The Bush administration wants to continue it, a senior State Department official said.

"You adjust your tactics and you adjust your resources," the official said. "There's no inclination on the part of our administration to give up just because it's tough."

Negotiations with Bogota over details of a successor program to Plan Colombia will begin next month, the official said.

Administration and some congressional officials say Plan Colombia has had some striking success. Killings, massacres of villagers and other attacks blamed on drug trafficking all have fallen sharply since 2002, and kidnappings have fallen by half, according to Colombian Defense Ministry figures, even though this year has seen a resurgence of violence.

Drug crop eradication and drug interdictions are cutting into the profits of Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels, Walters told Congress last month.

Walters testified that "cocaine production in the Andes has declined by 29% since 2001, and Colombia's opium crop was cut in half from 2003 to 2004." He said the reason that price and availability had not been affected was the lag of six months to a year between the time when the coca plant was harvested and when its cocaine was available on American streets.

The reports call the administration's assessment into question. Whereas cocaine production fell 11% in Colombia in 2004, it soared by 23% in Peru and 35% in Bolivia, according to the report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Overall, coca cultivation in the region increased 2%, the U.N. study said.

"The [U.N.] numbers are devastating," said Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy, which has argued that eradication campaigns must be accompanied by large-scale development efforts that offer peasants alternative livelihoods.

"The spraying, when it isn't accompanied by any alternative development, doesn't seem to discourage [coca farmers] from trying again, because there just aren't a lot of other good choices out there," Isacson said.

Peasants have responded by planting even more coca, hiding it under trees and among other crops, and turning to varieties that produce a higher yield, the U.N. report said.

Whether or not the anti-drug effort is succeeding, the U.S. foreign aid budget is under new scrutiny, especially with the war in Iraq costing more than $4 billion a month and a $379-billion deficit looming for 2006. Colombia, the fifth-largest recipient of U.S. aid after Iraq, Israel, Egypt and Afghanistan, could be a target for cuts.

The Congressional Research Service tallied State Department and Defense Department spending on the Andean Counterdrug Initiative at $5.4 billion since 2000. Though the anti-drug program aids Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Panama and Venezuela, Colombia has received most of the money, about $4.5 billion."While there has been measurable progress in Colombia's internal security, as indicated by decreases in violence, and in the eradication of drug crops, no effect has been seen with regard to price, purity and availability of cocaine and heroin in the United States," the research agency report said.

The report said Colombia was no closer to ending its decades-long armed strife.

The conservative National Taxpayers Union last week called for the program to be cut back or killed.

"By all measurable criteria, Plan Colombia's effectiveness is dubious," said Paul Gessing, governmental affairs director of the anti-tax group. "It's a big taxpayer boondoggle."
Liberals also contend that the program is wasteful. Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Mass.) plans to offer an amendment to the foreign aid bill that would slash $100 million in U.S. military and security aid to Colombia.

One senior U.S. government policy advisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear he would be excluded from administration policy discussions, agreed with many of the critics.

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"It's a complete waste of money," the advisor said. "You have to ask yourself, why are we in Colombia?"

He added: "The bottom line is not how much they produce or how much we eradicate, the bottom line is, is there enough supply to meet the demand [in the United States], and there always is…. The traffickers are always one step ahead of us."

Plan Colombia began under the Clinton administration primarily to fight drugs. But after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration has emphasized counter-terrorism and regional security.

While some conservatives wish to cut funding for Colombia, many Democrats want to spend less on its military and more on rural economic development. Democratic critics also wonder whether the U.S. has an exit strategy for Colombia.

Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), a former Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, said the U.S. effort there violates a key principle of international aid: "Work yourself out of a job."

After five years of U.S. funding, American military advisors are still training Colombian troops and American companies are still being paid to maintain expensive U.S. Black Hawk helicopters, Farr said.

"Look at how much attention is being paid to building local capacity in Iraq so we can leave," Farr said. "This is where we're failing in the war on drugs, because we're not developing the capacity of these countries to handle their own problems."


its like a slot machine that never pays, cha-chink.
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Offline Suave

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Re: Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2005, 08:59:21 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by bigsky
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-drugs28jun28,1,898329.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

# Despite $5.4 billion spent since 2000, coca growth in the Andes is high and prices in America low. More money is on the table.


Coca is not illegal to grow in Bolivia, unless something has changed recently. You can buy coca leaves at markets. Processed cocaine is a very different matter. If you want to get a buzz legally you'll have to use it in it's tea form.

Offline culero

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2005, 10:38:03 AM »
I believe Corporate America would be more successful in alleviating the illegal drug smuggling problem than the Feds, via open market competition.

We're having a lot more luck quelling alcoholism since we eliminated the Prohibition, and the liquor companies tend to be good citizens rather than violent gangsters. Perhaps we should consider the implications where recreational drugs are concerned.

The War On Drugs makes no sense at all, IMO.

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Offline spitfiremkv

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2005, 10:41:26 AM »
I can see that working for pot, but not for stronger stuff!

Offline Gunslinger

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2005, 10:42:00 AM »
[sarcasm]
I disagre.  The war on drugs is in a quagmire.  We need a clear and defined date in wich we will no longer be engaged in hostilities in the "war on drugs"  Clearly this administration needs to set some kind of exit strategy.
[/sarcasm]

on a more serious note, I did read that drug manufacturers are changing chemical properties of over the counter drugs to keep meth cookers from being able to use them.

Offline Jackal1

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2005, 10:50:41 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Gunslinger
 I did read that drug manufacturers are changing chemical properties of over the counter drugs to keep meth cookers from being able to use them. [/B]


  Which, in turn, opens up a whole new illegal market. We are getting pretty good at that.
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Offline Gunslinger

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2005, 10:55:58 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Jackal1
Which, in turn, opens up a whole new illegal market. We are getting pretty good at that.


The market has ALLWAYS been there.  What we did was make it harder for meth cookers to buy the simple ingredients over the counter.  

I'm all for legalizing pot or at least efforts to decriminalize it but METH????? no way.  I used to see what that did to people on a daily basis when I lived in Arizona.

I'd come home at night and my roomate and 4 of his meth fiend friends would be playing UNO.  I'd go to bed, they'd still be playing.  I'd wake up at 530...they'd still be playing.  I would go to work and they'd still be playing.  

The other victory here is that meth is extremly volitile to cook.  It's a good thing when you make it harder for the average idiot off the street to cook it in a neighborhood.

Offline Jackal1

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2005, 11:05:05 AM »
Yea , I know the meth market has always been there. What I was referring to was the fact of making the over the counter stuff harder to get and changing some of it`s makeup, we in turn, started another illegal market for the supply of ingredients/chemicals.
  In other words , instead of stopping or even slowing down the meth market, it did just the opposite by opening up another illegal market.
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Offline Casca

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2005, 11:53:07 AM »
If one set out to design a system from the ground up  to be of maximum benefit to all parties in the chain inclucing Juan Valdez, the Cartels, the DEA, the State Department, huge contrators like Computer Sciences Crop. (nee Dyn Corp) assorted judges and law enforcement, and domestic criminal groups, I don't see how one could improve on the system that is already in place.  The people that are getting hosed in the deal are the end users and John Q. who has to deal the the fallout from our misguided policy decisions.

To paraphrase Marie Antionette: "Let them play Uno."
I'm Casca and I approved this message.

Offline bigsky

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2005, 12:18:21 PM »
i guess your talking about efedra you can cook up psudo-efedra just as easy, just another step for the chemist.
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Offline Raubvogel

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2005, 12:57:48 PM »
Someday all the old geezers will die and someone with common sense will decide to regulate drugs instead of fighting a losing battle.

Offline vorticon

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2005, 01:04:32 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Raubvogel
Someday all the old geezers will die and someone with common sense will decide to regulate drugs instead of fighting a losing battle.



lets regulate terrorists while were at it...give them nice concrete pads where they can blow themselves up without harming anyone else, that sort of thing.


you dong quit just because your fighting poorly, you pull in a better general.

Offline Octavius

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2005, 02:04:49 PM »
Yeah Raub.  Let us start by correcting the hilarious lies and misconceptions pumped into the public.  Is DARE even around?  What a miserable failure that was.  

What fuels the 'war' on drugs?  Public ignorance and retards in Washington, trying to protect us from ourselves.
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Offline SMIDSY

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2005, 02:33:28 PM »
i sell me brain medicine to the highest bidder:cool:

Offline Suave

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Drug War Fails to Dent U.S. Supply
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2005, 03:08:24 PM »
Casca brings up a good point. As it is now it's a win win situation for all involved in the war on drugs.

You see if you attack the supply instead of the demand, you'll have yourself a self perpetuating situation.

Funny thing how all those countries between the US and the Andes, countries in which coca and mota are incredibly cheap, with the exeption of the US-Mexico frontera, don't have a similar monstrous drug problem.