THE DRUG WAR

Last week we looked a bit at the Drug War in Europe. This week I'd
like to look at the Drug War in the Americas North and South.

Remarkable things are happening in South America. Jorge Batlle, the
president of Uruguay has called for the legalization of drugs. He
announced his plan in front of a group of US reporters last November
in Panama at a Latin American presidents' summit. Of course in the
US of America his statement was not reported at all. There is a world
wide clipping service http://www.mapinc.org/ where you can find out
about how the war is really going daily. They report all sides. It's
free. No need to miss any of the news.

In Columbia the news is not particularly good. We are in a real
shooting war. And its not going well. After 6 or 8 months of plan
Colombia and about 140,000 acres sprayed with Roundup government
estimates of coca acreage in production in Colombia has had to be
doubled or quadrupled. Let me tell you why I think this is happening
based on piecing together various reports on Colombian happenings.

Roundup is a very useful weed killer because applied carefully in a
controlled agricultural setting it is not too toxic and dissipates
quickly. In the US agricultural planes fly at the lowest possible
altitude to localize the area covered by the weed killer. That stuff
costs money and you don't want to waste a drop. It eats into profits.
In Colombia on the other hand pilots have to spray from 3,000 feet or
higher because they get shot at. At 3,000 feet what are the odds of
localizing the spray? Slim and none; and why should they economize
any way? They are burning Uncle Sugar's thousand dollar bills and
getting paid well for the privilege.

So the spray which is relatively safe when localized, is killing
legitimate crops, killing livestock, killing the rain forest and
sickening children. This of course does not leave the locals well
disposed to the USA. In addition they are now poorer than ever and
have sick children to tend. What to do? Well as soon as the Roundup
dissipates (about 2 weeks) plant more coca. In a few months -
instant cash. In addition those who can't wait a few weeks move
deeper into the jungle and add more coca acreage to cultivation.

The end result is that the more effective and wide spread the
spraying the more peasants we get in opposition to the US and the
more coca acreage we get under cultivation at no additional charge.

Did I mention that the charge for our little Colombia adventure this
year is $1.3 billion. With a $700 million kicker for the rest of the
Andes countries added by Bush Two. And likely more to come. Well
Vietnam started small. But no doubt our military industrial complex
has great hopes for the Andes now that the cold war is over. Which
may have something to do with why you are not getting the news.

For more drug news from South America go to:

http://www.narconews.com/

And for news on E.J. see:

http://sites.netscape.net/ejpagel/freeej

M.L. Simon is an industrial controls designer and Libertarian activist