WAR ON DRUGS NOT WORKING

Here we are, supposedly fighting the war on (some) drugs, when what we're
really after is oil (happy petrochemical companies), another Vietnam-ish
black hole for expensive high-tech weapons (happy arms producers) and an
excuse to spray literally tons of toxic chemicals (happy chemical
companies). As usual, the victims are - besides taxpayers who bankroll this
evil - indigenous people.

As we defoliate not only Colombia's coca crops but rubber plantations, food
crops and water supplies, coca production is increasing in neighboring
areas. The war on (some) drugs - truly a war on people - just doesn't work,
and it never has. And after we destroy the land, right-wing paramilitaries
will force the locals to sell their land, with oil companies hovering,
ready for exploratory drilling.

Many Europeans say Plan Colombia violates fundamental human rights. It
wouldn't be the first time the hypocritical United States refused to play
by its own rules. Land reform offers the best path to peace, and enabling
farmers, via economic opportunities, to grow alternative crops would
provide tangible, long-term solutions. But rhetoric aside, peace and
workable solutions are bad for business.

The so-called war on (some) drugs simply attempts to legitimize our
presence anywhere. Death, destruction, refugees and societal breakdown seem
worth the unattainable moralistic goal of eradicating substances used for
millennia. Arms manufacturers lobbied hard for this war. They always win,
no matter who loses.

And nobody voluntarily unemploys themselves. What would we do with our
ruthless civil police squads and prison-industrial complex if we stopped drugs?

LAURA M. OHANIAN Eugene