Pubdate: Mon, 08 Oct 2001
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Wayne Saums

CONNECT DRUG-WAR DOTS

Few readers may notice a connection between two disparate reports in the 
Oct. 3 Chronicle -- one local and one national.

The Page One article, " Afghan opium benefits Taliban," said that the 
Taliban government and Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization are funded 
in part by the crimson opium poppies of Afghanistan.

In the Metropolitan story, "Slain couple were under surveillance," a couple 
shot to death in their Sugar Land-area home, along with their 5-year-old 
daughter, were reportedly "under surveillance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration."

These two seemingly unrelated tragedies would not have happened without our 
war on drugs, our drug prohibition laws and the black market forces that 
result.

Wayne Saums
Houston
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MAP posted-by: Beth