NATION MUST SMOKE OUT DRUG TERRORISTS

During the Super Bowl last month, the U.S. government rolled out a new
series of commercials that are designed bolster its war on drugs. Drug
users put money into the hands of terrorists, the commercials claim, and,
as a result, weaken the country's national security. With shots of aspiring
drug users intercut with shots of aspiring terrorists, the message was
clear: drugs equal terrorism.

It caused a minor media brouhaha for a while: Liberals decried the ads as
simplistic and misleading, exploiting American fears of terrorism for
promoting the Republican agenda on drugs. Meanwhile, many conservative
commentators welcomed the connection. Bill O'Reilly, for example, echoed
the campaign's message in his column: "So if you buy dope, you are hurting
your country. It is simple logic."

It is simple logic. The Taliban made money, and al Qaeda still makes money,
off of opium sales from Afghanistan. In fact, any government that takes
power will make money off of opium, as it is the country's only real cash
crop. In Colombia, the U.S. State Department has listed all three rebel and
paramilitary factions in that country's civil war as terrorist
organizations, and they make much of their money from the rich and illicit
Andean cocaine trade. Wherever you look, terrorists and drugs makes a
dangerous, deadly mix, one that destroys millions of American lives and
puts cash into the coffers of organizations that would destroy us, our
allies and our way of life.

So our dependence on foreign drugs is killing us. Simply put, we need to
reduce that dependence. We can never again genuflect before narcoterrorists
in the Andes, Central Asia and elsewhere. We must now, more than ever,
boost domestic drug production and find new sources of made-in-the-U.S.A.
marijuana, cocaine and opium. With that step, we can finally pull the rug
out from underneath those who would seek to destroy us.

We need drugs; all-American drugs. President Bush, we need a national
campaign to cut off narcoterrorists worldwide. That's right, we need
Operation Mongo Weed for Freedom.

Now, of course, many out there would say we could simply reduce drug
consumption, and perhaps conserve our national stash through patriotic
programs such as pot rationing and Victory Hydroponics. Better than
conservation, however, increased domestic production could provide
much-needed jobs to Teamsters, agricultural workers and commune-dwelling,
Haight-Ashbury leftover hippies. We're still in a recession, and there's no
reason that we should import drugs when hard-working Americans are out of
work. It'll be a much-needed hallucinogenic-induced stimulus.

In fact, tax revenue from these new fields could cover much of the cost for
new proposed hikes in military spending. For example, the administration
wants to spend money on the Crusader, an enormous, nearly immobile heavy
artillery piece designed to engage entire infantry divisions, thousands
strong. Bush has declared this weapons platform, along with many others,
vital for fighting against rapidly moving, small bands of terrorists, the
battle it has been so obviously designed for. But where can we find the
funding? Drugs provide the answer, and so increased production at home
becomes the patriotic duty of every American.

But everywhere you look, liberals have only increased our dependence on
foreign terror drugs. In the waning days of the last administration, former
President Bill Clinton (SFS '68) created Parashant National Monument in
northern Arizona, preventing the region from being used for domestic opium
production. This region could have served as a bulwark against terror drug
exports from abroad; instead, it protects cactus and not smack. Under
further pressure from ODEC (Organization of Drug Exporting Countries),
Clinton expanded national monuments along the coast of California,
sacrificing potentially prime marijuana fields in order to save endangered
otters and other sea critters. The sheer number of federally protected
lands in Hawaii and other subtropical locales prevents this country from
experimenting in commercial coca production, necessary if we truly want to
blunt cocaine exports from terror groups in Colombia.

We must open these parks to commercial exploitation if we are to win the
war on terror. Each day we procrastinate, we help subordinate this country
to interests in the Middle East, South America and around the world. So,
listen to the Bush administration's message closely; if drugs from abroad
equal terror at home, there can be no other solution. Free our drugs, free
our economy, free our lands and we ultimately liberate our country. No
terrorist can ever take away our resolve. Or our pot.