A DANGEROUS MIX

AN OBSESSION is a very dangerous abnormality for it generally causes a
person to become fixated on a single idea to the exclusion of all others.
For example, a person's preoccupation with the perpetual checking and
rechecking of doors and windows before going to sleep may cause that person
to forget that there is a pot of oil still sizzling on the stove. The
probable result is too horrible to even contemplate.

As it is with an individual, so it is with a nation. The United States'
preoccupation with illicit drug trafficking is perhaps the most glaring
case of this form of obsessiveness. That country is so fixated on the
illicit drug trade that it is totally oblivious of the firearm trafficking
that accompanies this activity.

It is true that the sale and use of illegal drugs have become the bane of
society worldwide, and its perniciousness has had devastating effects on
millions of all ages. Therefore, individuals and nation-states that are
guilty of trafficking in illegal drugs should be punished very severely.
Similarly, manufacturers and nations that are engaged in the illegal trade
of firearms should also pay a heavy price for their morally depraved
actions. Imposing sanctions on the perpetrators of illegal drugs without
imposing sanctions on the perpetrators of illegal firearms is not only
futile, but hypocritical.

It is well known that guns and illegal drugs form an inseparable
combination of evil. Both are equally lethal and immoral.

While a significant portion of the illegal drugs circulating in the US may
likely originate in many Third World countries, it may be readily assumed
that over 90 per cent of the firearms associated with the illegal drug
trade originates in First World countries including the United States.

Since illegal drugs and firearms are inextricably linked, why is it that
the US is so reluctant to impose sanctions on itself, and other
industrialised countries that continue to export illicit guns to the Third
World and other countries? Is it because these First World countries and
their industrialised tycoons are bent on nurturing the perniciousness of
their firearms economy? Isn't it time the US stop its futile, and
hypocritical obsession solely with the illegal drug trade, and launch a
two-pronged attack on the illicitness and perniciousness of drugs and guns?

RUPERT JOHNSONA