A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR, THOUGH JUST AS HYPOCRITICAL

The U.S. government loves its wars, especially against vague terms
and unspecific countries. For example, we are currently in a War on
Terror. Our strategy is to blow up "fear" with bombs ... and by
"fear," they mean Muslims. We also had a War on Poverty, which
resulted in the creation of an agency to deal with the problem (what
a solution!). And, believe it or not, we are still involved in the
War on Drugs.

Given my stance on marijuana (legalize it, bitches), you may not be
shocked at my disapproval of this latter term of warfare. However, if
you think I am against the War on Drugs because I'm a pothead who
just wants to get high without consequence, you're only half right.

After watching a recent documentary entitled "American Drug War: The
Last White Hope," I found myself disgusted with the tactics of this
government during the 1980s. While the absurdity and incompetence of
the Bush administration has undoubtedly left you nauseated at some
point during the last few years, the War on Drugs revealed a whole
different side of our government: deception.

"Freeway" Ricky Ross may sound like a black rapper, but he was
actually the top drug trafficker of crack cocaine during the '80s. He
was blamed for introducing crack to the black ghettos, which quickly
deteriorated the humanity of a person due to its highly addictive
nature. Guess who sold Ross all his cocaine? The CIA.

According to the documentary, in the '80s, the United States was
backing the Contras, an anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebel
group in Nicaragua. As portrayed in the documentary, in order to help
fund the Contras, the CIA imported kilos of cocaine from Nicaragua to
the U.S. and had Oscar Danilo Blandon, a Nicaraguan national and
heavy supporter of the Contras, supply Ross.

The hypocrisy of the United States' actions during the crack epidemic
directly contradicts their War on Drugs. Not only are there more
drugs in the United States than before, but the country is morally
bankrupt because of the CIA's involvement.

Speaking of hypocrisy, I also found out that those anti-drug
commercials you saw on TV when you were a kid by Partnership for a
Drug-Free America were sponsored by major pharmaceutical, tobacco and
alcohol corporations. The reasons these specific companies supported
Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) was to distinguish the
differences between legal and illegal drugs. The funding from these
corporations also stopped PDFA from voicing opinions on the misuse of
the legal drugs such as tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs.

The War on Drugs has been exposed as nothing but a ploy -- a ploy to
keep the wealthy rich and the poor addicted to drugs. In a society
where money equals power, keeping people to the lower rungs of the
social ladder benefits those already in power. I agree some drugs are
too dangerous and too addictive to be legalized, such as PCP and
methamphetamine (crystal meth), while others, such as marijuana, are
misplaced in that same category. But for the government to take us
for idiots and try to promote a war on drugs while using drugs to
their advantage just goes to show that they may not be as "fair" as we thought.

Since I'm not rich and don't hold political power, I really can't
explain the correlation between having money/power and being a
heartless, manipulating demon, but I'm sure President Bush can.
Please excuse his stuttering, as he has a reputation of being a
blundering fool to live up to.