TO FIGHT TERRORISM, QUIT FIGHTING DRUGS

Here's a bold way to strike back at terrorists that the government hasn't
tried yet: End the War on Drugs.

Ending the War on Drugs would take the profit out of drug-trafficking and
inflict a crippling financial blow to terrorist networks.

The War on Drugs turns ordinary, cheap plants like marijuana and poppies
into lucrative black-market products, funneling vast profits into drug
cartels and their terrorist allies.

Why? Because the more risk there is in selling any product - the risk of
arrest, from rival gangs or of seizures by police - the more the price is
inflated to compensate for that risk. Even the U.S. government acknowledges
this.

In a report, "The Price of Illicit Drugs: 1981 Through the Second Quarter
of 2000" (October 2001), the federal government notes: "A kilogram of pure
cocaine costs about $25,000 at the wholesale level. This is a high price
for a product that is basically agricultural, requires inexpensive chemical
processing and has minimal shipping costs . . . . Consequently, (law
enforcement) programs almost certainly explain high wholesale prices . . .
. Illicit drug prices are many magnitudes higher than would otherwise be
the case were there no effective source zone, interdiction and domestic law
enforcement programs."

Which federal agency published this report, acknowledging that the War on
Drugs boosts the price of illegal narcotics and creates windfall profits
for terrorists? The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). That's
the same agency now running newspaper ads accusing the 94 million Americans
who have peacefully used drugs of "supporting" terrorists.

One typical ONDCP ad shows a close-up of a young woman's face, and says:
"Last week, I washed my car, hung out with a few friends, and helped murder
a family in Colombia."

The bottom of the ONDCP ads state: "Drug money helps support terror. Buy
drugs and you could be supporting it, too."

But claiming that drug users are to blame for financing terrorists is like
a maniac who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the
court because he is an orphan.

After all, the government-created War on Drugs causes the very problem
these ads complain about by driving up prices and generating exorbitant
profits for terrorists.

How much does the War on Drugs inflate the price of illegal narcotics? In
the Hoover Institution's Hoover Digest (Issue No. 1, 2000), Joseph D.
McNamara, former police chief of Kansas City, Mo., and San Jose, Calif.,
wrote: "The vast profits resulting from prohibition - a markup as great as
17,000 percent - have led to worldwide corruption of public officials and
widespread violence among drug traffickers and dealers that endangers whole
communities, cities and nations."

Consider that figure: 17,000 percent.

That's the extra profit terrorists make because of the War on Drugs.
Without the War on Drugs, $100 worth of cocaine would be worth 59 cents, a
$25 bag of marijuana would be worth 15 cents - and terrorists who depend on
illegal drug profits to finance their bloody attacks would be almost penniless.

The U.S. government acknowledges that terrorists profit from illegal drugs.
At its Web site - www.theantidrug.com - the Office of National Drug Control
Policy writes: "Twelve of the 28 terror organizations identified by the
U.S. Department of State in October 2001 traffic in drugs."

The bottom line is that the War on Drugs dramatically increases the price
of drugs.

As a result, terrorists flock to the drug trade and earn hundreds of
millions of dollars.

Then they use that money to finance violence against innocent people,
corrupt law enforcement, wage civil wars and destabilize governments.
Without the War on Drugs supporting prices for the drug cartels, many
terrorist groups would find their funding squeezed to almost zero. And
Americans would be safer.

The fact is that politicians don't need to keep trotting out new government
programs to combat terrorism.

Instead, they should eliminate one government program: the War on Drugs.
Until they do that, they should stop blaming pot-smoking teen-agers for
funding terrorism and blame themselves instead.