* Impoverish terrorists? Legalize Drugs!
Topics: foreign policy
27 Sep 2001
From: "\"Ervan Darnell\" (by way of Ervan Darnell )"
Various government sources claim that the Taliban and Al Qaeda control 3/4 of the world's supply of opium ([1][2]). If we were serious about cutting off their income, legalizing drugs would be an easy place to start. How much money does Al Qaeda make selling alcohol? It's got to be close to $0 and that's no coincidence since it's legal to produce most places in the West (and selling moonshine to fellow Afghanis is not very profitable).
It's a painful irony that the current situation is portrayed as an assault on the "free world" and the ideals of American liberty. If we were so in favor of liberty, we could start with the freedom to medicate yourself as you see fit, and cut-off a supply of money to the terrorists. That's not even on the table. It looks like we'd rather fund the next attack than leave someone alone to find whatever pleasure or fall to whatever addiction they choose of their own accord.
The second irony is that clandestine sales and money laundering networks grew largely in the first place to support the illegal drug trade. Had drugs not been illegal, it would have been that much harder for terrorists to hide their cash flow in the drug-money stream (or that of any other legal business) and there would have been fewer outlets specializing in money laundering (from any source).
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[1] CNN broadcast, 9/25/01, quoting DEA sources.
[2] http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010921/wl/attacks_drugs_1.html
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