Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2000
Date: 09/06/2000
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Author: Mark Kyren

The first article in the Sun's special series on the war on drugs was
superb.  But I hold little hope for the U.S. ever changing its policy.
There are too many interests attached to the cash flow created by the
high cost of illicit drugs.  This is true on both sides, law
enforcement and the bad guys.

Since the pacification of its frontiers, the U.S. has always liked to
have a large and visible internal police force.  There was always an
enemy to be conquered; from the wilderness, to the Indians, to the
slavers, to the boozers, to the Reds, to the druggies.

Let us never lose sight of the fact the Americans won the Cold War.
They are top dog on the planet today and, from their moral high
ground, in this case a war against the evil druglords, they'll lob
lumps of their economic might at whomever might question their stance.
 Still, in spite of that persistent puritanical propensity, better the
U.S.A. than the U.S.S.R.

Mark Kyren
Coquitlam