Pubdate: Mon, 10 Jul 2000
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2000, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm
Author: Mike Plylar, Kremmling, CO

NOT REALLY FIGHTING DRUGS

I couldn't help but wonder while reading "Fungal herbicide weighed as tool 
to kill coca in Colombia" (Nation/World, July 6) just how far we will let 
them go. There's little doubt that our nation's drug warriors are prepared 
to lay waste to Colombia to continue their feast of pork called the "War On 
Drugs," but what will happen when coca cultivation mounts in a neighboring 
country?

How about when coca farming expands to Afghanistan, which will shorten the 
supply lines to Europe, where a burgeoning market awaits?

The "Golden Triangle" opium country in northern Thailand would probably be 
an excellent place to grow coca, and surely such a lucrative crop would 
draw the attention of the world's heroin suppliers. What then? Are we 
prepared to unleash all manner of pestilence upon these people to further 
the careers of the drug warriors and expand the pork-barrel politics of our 
nation's drug war? How much more havoc will drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey 
and the world's drug warriors wreak upon our planet before we are convinced 
that enough is bloody enough? End this charade before it ends us.
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