That is the reality.
There has been a lot of talk from the Administration about eradicating drugs, dealing with the drug problem. The fact is that the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime recently reported that not only did the number of fields used to cultivate poppies�the raw ingredient for heroin�grow to near-record levels in 2003, but, according to surveys of farmers, seventy per cent expect to grow even more next year. Much of that is taking place in areas in which the U.S. has a major military presence. The Taliban, awful as they were, hated drugs, and in their last year in power heroin production had fallen to a hundred and eighty-five metric tons; last year, the number was thirty-six hundred.
Almost a twentyfold increase.
Seymour Hersh/New Yorker 05.May.04
Who's running the international drug trade these days? What roles do Ghana and Haiti have in that? Ghana being low profile because no one of the stature and recognition of Aristide was there to call the world's attention. Not that Aristide was able to do anything more than be a living martyr for his land and people.
There is much suffering in Ghana, but not much overt conflict, and no oil.
Al Quaeda isn't running the global heroin market, we know that. So who is it?
Interesting the way the television in the US is filled with smug sarcasm about pot, and prisons overflow with harshly-sentenced decent men and women, while the US government finances and protects much greater evil.
Who's running the international cocaine and heroin trade these days?
