ILLEGAL DRUGS: TERRIFYINGLY SUCCESSFUL INDUSTRY

Drug use, both legal and illegal, has plagued us through the centuries,
defying our attempts to cure the problems it creates.

Our failure to solve them, or even to mitigate their tragic consequences,
flows from our failure to recognize the true nature of both local and
global drug operations. They constitute a malevolent industry,
ultra-efficient and yet disarmingly simple in many respects, and devilishly
dispersed throughout the world. It should remind us all of international
terrorism, for that is what it is.

If it were legitimate, there would be much to admire about the illegal
global drug industry in all of its differing manifestations. It is highly
profitable. It produces its wares for a small fraction of the price its
customers are willing to pay for them. It has skilfully taken advantage of
growing globalization, responding to changing markets and transportation
routes and methods, as well as the ease with which money can now be moved
from here to anywhere. It markets its goods to the young without need to
employ costly advertising. It operates on a high level of trust and loyalty
of its employees, largely because of the horrendous consequences of
betraying it, or even leaving it. It brings business to some of the world's
poorest countries and employs many of the minorities and unskilled labour
of the rich world.

No question about it, however, it is a very bad business that depends on
the illegality of its operations for its existence. It produces simple
agricultural extracts and rather basic chemical compounds that it sells for
astonishing prices. A kilo of heroin, 40 per cent pure, sells for up to
$290,000 US on the streets of the United States. The grand total of annual
sales has been estimated at about $400 billion US.

We must be cautious about figures because every number about the
production, consumption and price of illegal drugs involves an
accuracy-destroying amount of educated guesswork. It is probably smaller
than the often-quoted estimate of the United States Office of Drug Control
and Crime Prevention of $400 billion US, which would put it ahead of the
global petroleum industry. Global retail sales are probably around $150
billion US, which is about half of the legitimate world pharmaceutical
industry, and in the same league as consumer spending on tobacco, $204
billion US, and alcohol, $240 billion US.

You may find it repulsive to think of the illegal drug trade as an ordinary
business, responding to normal economic signals and trends while it
lavishly rewards some of the world's nastiest people and most disagreeable
and selfish countries far beyond the usual standards of compensation
legally earned, or morally justified.

Why do people take drugs? Many do because they get a certain type of
pleasure from them. It is improbable that so many would spend so much money
on voluntarily eating, smoking, sniffing or injecting drugs, if to do so
brought them nothing but misery. Abusing drugs wrecks many lives. Once
people become fully dependent on them, it can take years to break the
cycle. As with cigarettes, the pleasure then consists mainly in avoiding
the pain of giving them up. But the vast majority of drug users go through
a period when drugs form part of their lives, and then they move on.

The dangers of drugs should not be underestimated, nor should they be
exaggerated. With the exception of heroin, drugs contribute to fewer deaths
among their users than either nicotine or alcohol. Tobacco kills
proportionately more smokers than heroin kills devotees of it. Consuming a
drug is rarely the only cause of death. More often, the user is taking some
other risk. The mortality rate for people who inject heroin is two to four
times as high as that for non-injectors, mainly because of the danger of
contracting HIV or hepatitis from dirty needles.

Even drugs that do not kill people may still hurt them. Evidence suggests
that drugs may affect brain activity. Some even hint that marijuana,
regarded by its fans as safer than chocolate (and less addictive), may do
damage. A recent study suggested that for middle-aged people, the risk of
heart attack rose by nearly five times after smoking marijuana, but it is
reasonable to judge cannabis less a threat than either tobacco or alcohol.
Moderate indulgence in cannabis has little effect on health.

Health apart, drugs cause other kinds of harm, not to just the individual
user but to society at large. Crack cocaine seems to be linked to domestic
violence, marijuana makes workers groggy and no drug is good for motorists.

People who use drugs heavily are disproportionately likely to commit
crimes. Given the expense of a heavy drug habit, crime is an obvious income
source. The sort of person who becomes a "chaotic" drug user is also
proportionately likely already to be an "acquisitive offender," a thief,
shoplifter or burglar. The preconditions for starting on heroin are to be a
risk-taker and to have quite a bit of money.

Where drug use directly harms society, government is right to intervene.
But the best way to protect society may not necessarily be to ban drugs. If
that were the right cause, government should begin by banning alcohol which
causes much more aggression and misbehaviour than any other substance,
licit or illicit. Instead, governments everywhere pursue tougher policies
against drugs, some of which may be more harmful than the drugs themselves.

I have sketched the nature and operation of the illegal global drug
industry and some of its odious results. My next column will deal with
suggested programs and policies to cure our failures and to cure the
destructive results of the illegal drug industry's operations.

Could it be to legalize them?