Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

U.S. drug policy not working

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Lora J. Mackel

Just this week, a massive international operation sponsored by the U.S. was completed with the capture of a powerful Colombian drug cartel leader. The flow of illegal drugs, especially cocaine, has made Colombia especially unpopular with the United States since it began passing and enforcing strict narcotic control laws in the 1920s. These laws have indirectly made some opportunistic Colombians rich but also affects the lives of innocent Colombians. Despite the millions in U.S. foreign aid and training the Colombians receive each year, the drug problem in Colombia and on U.S. soil does not seem to be coming to an end. This is because American drug policy does not address the needs of its citizens, nor to the needs of the Colombians. Alternatives to U.S. narcotic policy should be found to provide Colombians with other economic choices and to provide effective treatment and prevention of drug addiction in the U.S.

In the past, Colombia has received millions of dollars in aid with the specific purpose of fighting narcotics production within the country. This money has been used to buy equipment and to train Colombian police. Despite their intentions, these millions have done little statistically to stop the flow of illicit drugs out of Colombia into the U.S. Colombia, it is estimated, produces 40,800 metric tons of coca leaves a year. These crops provide the drug cartels with three-fourths of the cocaine that is trafficked in the U.S. Cocaine provides hundreds of millions of dollars to the Colombian cartels, who in turn can afford to buy off the very officials and police that the U.S. aids.

Drug production in Colombia is directly linked to the consumption of illegal drugs in other countries. The incentive U.S. laws provided for the production of cocaine are unparalleled - it is estimated that the U.S. policy increases the value of cocaine by 20 percent. It is time that the U.S. takes a look at its citizenry and logically creates policy that prevents the use, treatment and production, to stop the demand for illegal substances in this country. Presently, for every cartel leader caught by a multi-million dollar operation, there are thousands of addicts who could be receiving treatment for their addictions. In this country are 4.1 million people addicted to illicit drugs. According to a study published by the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, 1.1 million of these people are under the age of 18. Clearly, the American addict provides the demand that is needed to keep Colombian cartels afloat. The U.S. does very little to aid these people, besides arresting and releasing the and, despite the strong link made between addiction and crime by criminologists. It is said that once a cocaine addict enters the justice system, they will continue to be arrested annually, at taxpayer cost.

U.S. policy is not only impractical for its own people, but is harmful to the many Colombians who do legitimate farming. U.S. frustration at policing Colombian drug farmers has lead to the random drenching of field with potent herbicides. These chemicals then seep in the groundwater, are ingested by birds and animals, and make cultivation of land impossible. Colombian farmers must then retreat farther into the dwindling amount of rain forest, and cut trees down to raise crops. This is an inhuman treatment of the Colombian people, and it does much to ally their sympathy with the cartels.

Drug addiction is not a non-issue in this country. It is a noble goal for a nation to want to rid its citizens from the evils of addiction. Drugs and crime have been linked for years, as have drug use and abuse of all kinds. That is why I find it so curious that the government- who has been advised by drug-addictions specialist for years that drug treatment is the only effective way to prevent drug consumption - would rather spend millions on deforesting Colombia. If the U.S. would address the addiction problems in its own country, it would be less necessary to commit inhumane acts in supplier countries. The government has tried its war against drugs; it is not working.