DRUG WAR FINANCING GLOBAL TERRORISTS

Remember those Office of National Drug Control Policy commercials a
few years ago that equated drug use with aiding terrorists? The
rationale behind them was that terrorists often finance their
operations with proceeds from sales of illegal drugs, so good
Americans shouldn't buy drugs because doing so aids the enemy. It's
difficult to argue with that. For many years, rebels in drug-producing
areas of the world have used to the illicit drug trade to generate
revenue. the U.S. government considers these rebels terrorists.

An Associated Press report last week noted that the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime says Afghanistan's Taliban rebels are
stepping up production of opium and heroin to finance operations
against U.S. troops and the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. The U.N.
estimates the Taliban rake in $100 million a year from its trade in
opium and related drugs. That buys a lot of arms and ammunition to
turn against coalition troops. But the U.S. government is going about
combating that source of income the wrong way.

The Taliban and others are able to pull down that kind of money
because drugs are illegal in most parts of the world. It's the drug
war, not the drugs themselves, that boosts prices to levels that make
dealing in them so attractive to unsavory elements.

Winston Churchill said that prohibiting a free market in a particular
good does nothing but create a lucrative black market for it. The U.S.
saw this during Prohibition, when organized crime gangs that had been
relatively small and local turned to bootlegging to create huge
profits. Prohibition didn't stop the demand for liquor, it just raised
the price of a drink.

That's not to say alcohol or drugs are good for people. Most of the
evidence says they're not, especially in large quantities. But if
government is going to start banning everything that's bad for us or
costs society, get ready for some major changes.

It's not government's job to protect us from ourselves. When it
attempts to save us from our own poor choices, it restricts our
freedom to live our lives the way we want. Government doesn't decide
which job we take, why do we allow it to choose how we relax?

It's time for clear-thinking, freedom-loving Americans to demand
government rethink the war on drugs. We've been fighting it for
decades and are no closer to winning it now than we were in the
beginning. This flawed policy costs too much in treasure, lives and
freedom. Maybe the feds should consider that the next time they
consider a new strategy in the war on terrorism. Depriving terrorists
of a major source of income would severely limit their ability to
operate against us.