-Caveat Lector-
The Function of the Drug War
by J. Orlin Grabbe
The function of the Drug War is to create the Drug
Crisis. The Drug Crisis involves billions of dollars
of hidden cash flow. Addicted to this flow of money
are law enforcement agencies, drug producers and
distributors, covert agencies who use it as a source
of black funding, and politicians and bankers who are
hired to protect the drug revenues. Addiction to drug
revenues requires that the drug war be fought so as to
be lost. Failure thus becomes the criterion of
success.
Many state agencies, and federal agencies such as US
Customs, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the
Department of Justice, and the U.S. Treasury, reward
themselves for fighting the Drug War by claiming a
portion of the loot seized�helping themselves to cash,
bank deposits, securities, boats, automobiles, houses,
land, on-going businesses, as well as the
readily-marketable drugs themselves. The Drug
Warriors' financial focus ("follow the money")
requires them to devote their energy in the direction
it will be most rewarded�to look for juicy targets
flush with success. Such juicy targets consist of
those who have created flourishing drug enterprises in
the midst of the Drug War. These successful drug
enterprises make up the necessary list of worthwhile
targets leading to successful busts. Big drug busts
involving heretofore lucrative drug businesses are
announced in a blaze of publicity�emphasizing the
amount of money and drugs seized, and people arrested.
Only the failure of the Drug War and the continuing
success of drug enterprises can sustain the continuing
stream of assets ripe for seizure (off-budget funding)
and the beneficial media publicity, such as lurid TV
footage of stacks of plastic-wrapped money and
cocaine. Thus the failure of the Drug War becomes the
measure of the Drug Warriors' success, and the
ineffectiveness of the Drug Warriors becomes the
continuing justification for their existence. The Drug
Warriors are ever justified by the continuing Drug
Crisis and the richness of the Drug Warriors' targets.
Hence the Drug Warriors must fight the Drug War ever
harder in order to ensure that it will be successfully
lost.
Producers and distributors of illegal drugs require
the Drug War in order to eliminate competition and
maintain profit margins. Without the Drug War, a slew
of small farmers would take over the growth of
marijuana crops and would eventually drive pot prices
down to the marginal cost of production. The giant
methamphetamine kitchens in Mexico require the
Drug-War-inspired monitoring of chemicals to prevent
competition from the once pervasive amateur labs in
American homes. Cocaine producers and distributors
require enforcer watchdogs such as the Drug
Enforcement Administration to keep out new lower- cost
entrants to the market. General Manuel Noriega
received an award from the DEA for his cooperation in
the Drug War. Noriega served the Medellin cartel and
kept out Cali competitors by turning them in to the
DEA. The DEA was happy, Noriega was happy, and the
Medellin cartel was happy. By cooperatively fighting
the Drug War, the Drug Warriors and Drug Suppliers
ensured the continuing flow of money and drugs through
Panama. But whenever competition increases, the Drug
War must be fought ever more vigilantly to ensure the
continuing success of its failure. Only if competition
is controlled can the market price of illicit drugs be
kept well above their marginal cost of production,
thus ensuring the massive profits upon which Drug
Suppliers and Drug Warriors depend.
Covert agencies are increasingly tasked with supplying
intelligence on the illegal drug trade, such as in the
US where drugs have been designated a national
security problem. The best vantage point from which to
gather intelligence on the illegal drug market is to
be in the illegal drug business. Thus covert agencies
must deal drugs in order to assist the War on Drugs.
Moreover, being covert requires covert monies for
financing, and the most obvious source of "black
market" funding is drug money. Drug money is obtained
by supplying services to the drug trade. Here in Costa
Rica the CIA provides air transport to "the brothers"
who run a lucrative trade in illicit substances. In
other locations other agencies are similarly involved.
The NSA, through the NPO (National Programs Office),
provided secure storage for cocaine in its network of
secure warehouses across the US. In another country,
the DIA operates a drug manufacturing facility.
Similar statements can be made about the British,
French, and Israeli intelligence services. The Drug
War provides black market funding for the covert
agencies, and justifies the need for them to provide
intelligence to fight the Drug War. The Drug War must
be fought harder to ensure the requisite funds and
intelligence to fight the Drug War.
The Drug War provides a political rationale for the
continuing production and sale of military equipment
and consulting services in the absence of obvious
enemies. Just recently the US sold Guatemala a
sophisticated electronic fence to protect its border.
Similar sales have been made to other countries.
References to drug traffickers and smugglers form as
much a part of the political justification for these
expenditures as do references to the threat of
invasion. In the case of Guatemala, what the US did
not tell the local military was that it is now a
matter of US national security policy to only install
fences with holes in them. The electronic holes are
intended to ensure that US bombers can reach their
destinations unimpeded by surveillance. When someone
informed the Guatemalan military of this fact, they
angrily demanded of the US to know if this were true.
Yes, there are holes, the US admitted; but the US also
claimed that no one would be able to find them,
because of the ultra-sophisticated top secret
technology involved. It was a lie. A consultant showed
the Guatemalans the location of the holes using only a
few hundred dollars of off-the-shelf electronic
equipment. There were 12 holes, each roughly a quarter
mile wide, providing an air corridor open from the
ground to the heavens. The location of such holes is
usually sold to drug couriers in a matter of a few
weeks. Thus the drugs continue to flow through the
fences unimpeded, helpfully keeping alive the original
rationale for military involvement in the Drug War.
(In the case of Guatemala, the same drugs might show
up at the Guatemalan airport, where security is
provided by Wackenhut. Wackenhut is a private security
firm supplying security services to top- secret US
military and nuclear facilities. In some of these
facilities, computer hard drives containing nuclear
secrets may appear and disappear behind copying
machines much like drug planes may appear and
disappear on either side of electronic fences with
well- designed security holes.)
Drug propaganda supplies an essential ingredient in
the Drug War. We see an endless parade of TV shows in
which photogenic actors and actresses protect the
young and innocent from the big bad drug dealers,
along with just-say-no campaigns of mindless
emotionalism. A cigarette looks silly in your ear; it
looks sillier in your mouth. Don't think, just be
embarrassed and believe. Here are pictures of crack
babies; aren't they revolting? The cooperation of the
news media in government propaganda creates a
pervasive background of Pavlovian conditioning which
can be stirred up to a hysterical boil whenever the
Drug War is threatened, or when it needs to be
reinvigorated. The public will then "demand something
be done", and the hired politicians will smoothly
respond with the needed legislation.
Take George W. Bush and Al Gore, for example.
Whichever man is elected, he will call for a new
effort to sustain the Drug War's vigor, whether it be
called "Reinventing the Drug War" or the "Drug War
with Compassion", or something entirely different.
Because, like other hired politicians, the new
President will know the Drug War must be fought harder
to keep the money and drugs flowing, and everyone
happy. Only in failure will there be success.
http://www.orlingrabbe.org/drugwar.htm
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