tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post3092567050022875557..comments2023-09-20T11:15:28.673+01:00Comments on Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog: Press Release: Count the Costs project is launched at UN Commission on Narcotic Drugsjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15263261726046054614noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-84028515656686621382011-04-20T13:19:48.514+01:002011-04-20T13:19:48.514+01:00When it comes to counting the cost of the war on d...When it comes to counting the cost of the war on drugs, the Center(sic) for a New American Security clearly considers not enough is being spent. This jingoistic off-shoot of the neo-con Project for a New American Century have produced a number of studies (though I feel the word should be propoganda) calling for a Regional Security Framework of Central American states, Mexico, and Colombia with the US as leader (of course). <br />Their latest offering, Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere, available from www.cnas.org/node/6003, is one of the most repetitious and shallow documents on the war on drugs I have read (and I am researching the topic for a doctorate), but intellectual and literary merit aside, the proposals outlined by authors Killebrew and Irvine are deeply disturbing, and amount to the further securitisation of the war on drugs. <br />From the opening line:<br /><br />The most dangerous threat to the<br />United States and its allies in the<br />Western Hemisphere is the growth of powerful transnational criminal organizations that threaten law, order and governance in Mexico<br />and the seven states of Central America.<br /><br />the authors, who are clearly spokesmen for the military-industrial complex, tell us over and over again that the only effective solution is if:<br /> <br />The United States and its partners throughout the Western Hemisphere stand the best chance of securing the region against the most dangerous cartels by attacking them together.<br /><br />So a third world war between the nuclear armed US and a mob of crims appears to be the way we're going.<br /><br />Maybe I'll get drunk, and stoned, and drop a trip or two, and maybe a few points, but after reading the guff from CNAS I don't think any drug in the world will relieve my despondency.J D Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14800882929865185474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-7664751562851690402011-03-24T11:12:41.311+00:002011-03-24T11:12:41.311+00:00I do celebrate your campaign calling for a cost-be...I do celebrate your campaign calling for a cost-benefit analysis of the current drug prohibition regime and its alternatives. It will help people to understand that a regime seeking to legalise and regulate the production, distribution and consumption of drugs CANNOT be as destructive and corrosive — socially, economically and politically speaking — as the current prohibition regime is. Even those who believe that legalisation and regulation of drugs is evil must accept that it is the lesser of two evils.<br /><br />Gart Valenc<br />http://www.stopthewarondrugs.orgGarvalukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15208449413586269926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-75639977672239182532011-03-24T01:05:51.139+00:002011-03-24T01:05:51.139+00:00I wonder why no government has ever quantified the...I wonder why no government has ever quantified these negative costs, or meaningfully explored alternatives to the war on drugs<br /><br />"Drugs and crime chief (Antonio Maria Costa) confessed $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions": http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims<br /><br /> <br />"The Banking Industry’s Dirty Little Secret: Money Laundering For The Drug Cartels": http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/91579<br /><br /> <br />"CIA drug trafficking" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_drug_trafficking<br /><br /> <br />"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Heroins_in_South-East_Asia<br /><br /> <br />"Bank of Credit and Commerce International" http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Bank:of:Credit:and:Commerce:International.html<br /><br /> <br />"The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations" http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm<br /><br /> <br />"A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking" http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1998_cr/980507-l.htm<br /><br /> <br />"Beast friends: Gangster & cop": http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/447785/Frank-Lucas-New-Yorks-biggest-drug-baron-Friends-with-cop-Richie-Roberts.html<br /><br /> <br />The Statesman, "Police and drugs": http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=106&section=1<br /><br /> <br />"DSI Duffy Corrupt Middlesbrough Police Officer; Secret pay deals give top police thousands extra" : http://www.david-duffy.cleveland-police.co.uk/<br /><br /> <br /><br />"Police Officer Sentenced To 27 Years for a drug trafficking conspiracy which spanned a period of at least eight years dating back to 1996"<br />http://www.kztv10.com/news/former-mcallen-police-officer-sentenced-to-27-years/<br /><br /> <br />More corrupted police and government stories that happened during the winter of 2010-11 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/dec/21/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories<br /><br /> <br /><br />Why British Police LOVE prohibition:<br />"Top cop's house used as cannabis factory" http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/12/27/top-cop-s-house-used-as-cannabis-factory-115875-22808908/<br /><br /> <br />"Man Says Officer Seized $14,000 That Wasn't Drug Money" http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/01/man_says_officer_seized_14000_that_wasnt_drug_mone.php<br /><br /> <br />"Cash-Strapped Police Departments Find New Source of Revenue: Stealing!" http://reason.com/blog/2009/12/04/cash-strapped-police-departmen?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reason%2FHitandRun+%28Reason+Online+-+Hit+%26+Run+Blog%29<br /><br /> <br />"Policing for Profit – The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture" http://www.copblock.org/94/policing-for-profit-the-abuse-of-civil-asset-forfeiture/<br /><br />"Caught on tape: Cops talk about stealing man’s property over bag of weed" http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/28/caught-on-tape-cops-talk-about-stealing-mans-property-over-bag-of-weed/<br /><br />"Why can’t the US legalize drugs? There’s ‘too much money in it,’ Clinton says" http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/07/clinton-legalize-drugs-too-much-money/daniel carternoreply@blogger.com