| Fact |
Comment |
America has spent two trillion dollars on the war against drugs since the seventies.
T.V. Programme - Drugs Incorporated - Nat Geo (2010). |
How much does this futile exercise actually cost society and how much could such colossal amounts of money benefit other areas greatly in need? The irony is that all this money spent does not stop people getting the product if they want it. It is generally still freely available anywhere. |
In 2009 over seven hundred and fifty tons of cocaine was smuggled out of the Amazon Basin and sold to the world market for an estimated eighty five billion dollars.
T.V. Programme - Battle for the Amazon - Sky 1 (2010). |
The bulk of this profit goes to organised crime. The producing countries benefit so little that they are currently populated by some of the poorest and most disadvantaged of all people on the planet. If the revenue from this product was managed properly, it could help safeguard the welfare of the indigenous people as well as the future of the rain forest. |
In Britain, an estimated twenty five to thirty five tons of heroin enters the country each year. Average purity has increased while street prices have consistently decreased.
T.V. Programme - Afghan Heroin - Nat Geo (2010). |
We know that prohibition does not work and you cannot stop all drugs reaching the people that want them. However, if people were educated and exposed to the sordid truth about heroin, they wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. Society creates the heroin problem, along with many others, by taking a wrong or insufficient approach in the way it deals with drugs and drug awareness. |
Londoners with crack or heroin addictions spend an average of two hundred and ninety pounds
per week on drugs. One estimate puts the number of problem drug users in the capital at seventy thousand.
T.V. Programme - London Drug Culture - Current TV (2011). |
When the only thing that matters in the world is getting your fix, the money has to come from somewhere. Currently people who fall into this trap have to resort to crime or prostitution to finance their needs. Innevitably, with the former, it is others who fall victim. The latter would speak for itself, especially if it was your son or daughter. Simply giving addicts what they need when they need it would save a lot of heartbreak for many people, as well as police resources. |
Meth Amphetamine is one of the world's most powerful chemicals and can be made at home from chemicals found in any pharmacy or hardware store.
T.V. Programme - Drugs Incorporated - Nat Geo (2010). |
Meth Amphetamine, or crystal meth, is an extremely destructive drug and no amount of policing and resource allocation can stop people getting it if they can simply just make it at home from readily available ingredients. The only solution, again, has to be education and common sense. Show people the truth before they find out the hard way and allow them safer alternatives. |
The Mexican drug cartels produce an estimated two hundred metric tons of meth every year for the American market alone with an estimated revenue of eight billion dollars.
T.V. Programme - Drugs Incorporated - Nat Geo (2010). |
Far too many people are being sucked into the crystal meth trap in the U.S. Why is such a hideous and damaging drug so popular? Answer, anyone can make it from off the shelf supermarket products. However, people would be much better off using cocaine instead. Although there are some pitfalls, it's more manageable, less addictive and far less damaging in the long run. |
The global illegal drug's industry is worth some three hundred billion dollars a year.
T.V. Programme - Drugs Incorporated - Nat Geo (2010). |
A fantastic amount of money that could do so much good in the world. Add to that the amount that governments currently spend on the fruitless and wasteful task of trying to stem the flow of illegal drugs, and one can see that that kind of money could greatly improve the world in many needy areas. |
Columbia alone exports some eight hundred tons of cocaine every year, a world record, bringing in more than twenty billion dollars.
T.V. Programme - War On Cocaine - Current TV (2011). |
Columbia and other countries in South America are amongst the poorest in the world. So many genuine people could benefit genuinely if governments had a change of heart. After all, governments don't actually stop people getting cocaine if they want it. They just waste money and cause death whilst trying to do so. They also divert any profits into organised crime and terrorism instead of society. |
Since the establishment of the 'Columbia Plan', seven years ago, the US has spent five billion dollars in this country alone.
T.V. Programme - War On Cocaine - Current TV (2011). |
As well as providing helicopters and financing the local armed forces in the war on cocaine, US strategy is currently poisoning the land, the people, and legitimate crops with aerial bombardments of pesticides. It is not just a war on cocaine production, it is a war on the environment and the ecology of the region. This does not make the authorities any friends amongst the poor and does not help the people that need it. |
An average of twenty soldiers a week are killed in Columbia alone fighting the war on cocaine. This does not include deaths of civillians.
T.V. Programme - War On Cocaine - Current TV (2011). |
This does not include deaths of policeman, civilians and members of drug cartels, many of which are just kids that get caught up in it all. All of this killing is because people disagree and are prepared to fight for their belief. |
Sixty people a week are killed in the Mexican border town of Juarez as rival cartels fight with each other and with armed police for control of the illegal drugs' market.
T.V. Programme - News At Ten - ITV (Feb 2011). |
Ten thousand police were sent to Juarez to try and crush the drug's cartels. They police daily fight a losing battle, the end result - death. Mostly young people. To say nothing of the amount of money this costs along with extreme loss of life and the heartbreak it causes, this situation can only exist because of the current policy on drugs. |
Thirty five thousand people have been killed in Mexico alone, mostly in the last two years, as a result of the continual battle surrounding drugs.
T.V. Programme - News At Ten - ITV (Feb 2011). |
Mexico is only one of the countries in South America that suffers continual violence and the consequences, measured in high numbers of deaths and all the suffering and heartbreak that goes along with it. Again, this situation only exists because of the current policy on drugs. |
Mexican police are increasingly infiltrated and corrupted by the cartels. In just one year forty senior officers were arrested, including one of the leaders of the main anti-drug squad.
T.V. Programme - Mexican Drug Wars - Current TV (2011). |
What chance has society got of preventing drugs reaching the people that want them when even the police are helping the traffickers. Many people are frightened to have anything to do with the police for fear of who they can trust. Casualties and killings occur on a daily basis in the war on drugs, and for what? It is simply a war that cannot and will not be won! |
Even the police in London are bought off and corrupted by the cartels and the money on offer.
T.V. Prog - Ross Kemp: Extreme World: Juarez - Sky 1 (2011). |
It seems it is not just the South American police and officials that are bought off. Police and officials in the USA, Europe and even in London are hansomly paid to cooperate in the illegal distribution of cocaine. |
The two drugs currently legitimised by society, tobacco and alcohol, are each responsible for more deaths than all illegal drugs put together.
Common knowledge. |
Every year tobacco and alcohol each kill more people than all illegal drugs put together, and yet, rightly so, we still give people the choice. However, the hypocrisy is blatant and the fact that this situation exists perhaps typifies the ignorance and confusion that surrounds our current understanding of drugs. |
The illegitimacy, the disagreement surrounding, and the resultant war on drugs, causes more death than all illegal drugs put together.
Common Knowledge. |
It is not just the money wasted, although this is substantial. It is not just the amount of unnecessary death, although this too is substantial. It is about the single most important thing perhaps to all conscious life, a person's simple right to choose for themself without being persecuted by others. |
The average drug (heroin) addict will cost the rest of us around £26,000 a year and be responsible for around half the common crimes.
T.V. Programme - Daybreak ITV (July 2012). |
The illegality of drugs does not stop people from getting them. The cost on the black market, however, does mean that an average heroin addict's need currently has to be met through crime or prostitution. Giving an addict what they need would be safer and eradicate this cost and inconvenience to the rest of society. |
The current illegitimacy and resultant war on drugs actually causes more death than the drugs themselves.