Pubdate: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2001 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: J.M Wolowitz Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n698/a13.html 'WAR ON DRUGS' HAS A DUBIOUS PAST Your editorial just before Earth Day, and during the Quebec Summit, urges protesters to speak out against drugs (April 21, "Fight drugs, not trade"). It claims that drugs pose a greater threat to democracy than free trade does. If this is so, how does the United States government explain its well-documented use of drug lords in order to fight communism? This took place in Vietnam, with planes from the Central Intelligence Agency being used to smuggle heroin into the United States. Cocaine was implicated in the guns for drugs Iran-Contra scandal, in which George Bush Sr. played a prominent role. Also, the CIA helped the present thugs in Afghanistan get into power. These retrograde fundamentalists use drug trafficking to fund their regime, which flouts democracy and basic human rights. Today's generation of dissenters is well aware of the falseness of the War on Drugs, which many view as a war on black males. Also, in Colombia, the War on Drugs is used as a smokescreen for a widening counter-insurgency. In Peru, it allowed a military plane to murder an innocent missionary and her child. We didn't ask for the state to spend so much on a basically useless war against drugs, particularly against soft drugs. This money should be spent on real policing, so women need not fear the streets at night. Putting so many black males in prison has just fuelled the rage, and done nothing to improve society. It's also ironic that you advocate the war against drugs, while at the same time publishing a special section on the huge pharmaceutical industry. These are the real drug pushers, who impoverish our elderly, protect high prices and place too high a value on their own intellectual property. This faulty suggestion, that today's protesters don't know what to oppose, would have led to the total destruction of Vietnam. The power of an empire, left unchecked, would spread misery and sadness around the planet. And how would this reduce the demand for the products of the drug lords? J.M Wolowitz Saint-Donat - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart