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Thread: The United States' 'War on Drugs' Really Did Make Things Worse, New Research Finds

  1. #1

    The United States' 'War on Drugs' Really Did Make Things Worse, New Research Finds



    After five decades of intense and expensive policing, the United States' so-called 'war on drugs' has only created a bigger problem, a new study has found.

    The research is based on a unique geographic model, called NarcoLogic, that was designed to figure out how cocaine smuggling networks have adapted to US drug interception over the years.

    It's a perennial cat-and-mouse game that's been going on since 1971. Yet despite the government spending up to almost US$5 billion federal dollars annually on the seizure and disruption of cocaine shipments, the new model has now corroborated what critics have long suspected: the mouse is winning.

    "This work demonstrates that supply-side counterdrug strategies alone are, at best, ineffective and, at worst, intensifying the trafficking problem," says lead author Nicholas Magliocca, a geographer at the University of Alabama.

    "These networks have demonstrated their ability to adapt to interdiction efforts, identifying and exploiting new trafficking routes in response."

    Drawing on their own field research, as well as multiple empirical studies, government theoretical perspectives, and media reports, the authors were able to track where, when, and how cocaine was trafficked between 2000 and 2014.

    It's the first time that smuggling routes through Central America have been explicitly modelled, and while many of these paths aren't mapped or even known, there is enough circumstantial evidence and classified intelligence to make some educated guesses.

    The updated model now suggests that drug traffickers are actively adapting and adjusting their routes, exploiting new locations to get around US drug control. This essentially means that the very presence of law enforcement has only made drug trafficking more widespread and harder to eradicate.

    As a result, between 1996 and 2017, the space that drug traffickers use has spread from roughly 5 million square kilometres (2 million square miles) to over 18 million square kilometres (7 million square miles) - a 3.5-fold increase that will only make future enforcement more difficult and expensive.

    "In other words, narco-trafficking is as widespread and difficult to eradicate as it is because of interdiction, and increased interdiction will continue to spread traffickers into new areas, allowing them to continue to move drugs north," the authors write.

    Today, counterdrug interdiction efforts are at the very core of US national security, receiving US$4.7 billion in 2016, or about 18 percent of federal drug control spending.

    Primarily designed to seize or disrupt cocaine shipments in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, these efforts have had little effect on the supply of cocaine in the US, let alone its price.

    "Wholesale cocaine prices in the United States have actually dropped significantly since 1980, deaths from cocaine overdose are rising, and counterdrug forces intercept cocaine shipments at a low rate," says co-author David Wrathall, a geographer at Oregon State University.

    "More cocaine entered the United States in 2015 than in any other year."

    Clearly, something is not working here, but the ramifications are not just limited to drug abuse. Wrathall says that as trafficking has spread, it's triggered a host of smuggling-related damages, including "violence, corruption, proliferation of weapons, and extensive and rapid environmental destruction".

    This, in turn, has forced many people in Central America to flee drug-related violence in their own home countries - a particularly important point given the current furore over migrants in the US.

    https://www.sciencealert.com/us-war-...ngs-even-worse
    "The Patriarch"



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  3. #2
    Absolutely... But to think they will ever change it is a fantasy.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    Absolutely... But to think they will ever change it is a fantasy.
    Why? Pot is becoming legal all over the place, change is slow but possible.
    "The Patriarch"

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Why? Pot is becoming legal all over the place, change is slow but possible.
    Too much money involved with funding appropriations to fight it. There is a whole lot of "legal" money to be made as long as there is a "problem" to fight. Don't think for one minute that politicians all the way down to local government are not also profiting from the war on drugs.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    Too much money involved with funding appropriations to fight it. There is a whole lot of "legal" money to be made as long as there is a "problem" to fight. Don't think for one minute that politicians all the way down to local government are not also profiting from the war on drugs.
    Well.. ya. The same thing can be said about pot though.
    "The Patriarch"

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Well.. ya. The same thing can be said about pot though.
    The only reason they are relaxing on pot is because they figured out how to make local legal money off it. They are still getting the Fed dollars on top of that to fight the war on drugs. If the choice had been either/or, it would never had happened. They might allow a little bit, but they are never going to allow it all and risk losing all those federal funds. Even if all drugs were legal in a state and they taxed it, they could tax it 100% or more and still never replace the amount they would lose coming from the feds. It's huge, it's a legal cabal of it's own all the way down to local economies that depend on prisons and contractors and subcontractors.

  8. #7
    The best book on the “War on drugs” I’ve read is the following (although it’s mainly on the Nixon administration it’s conclusions are generally applicable).
    Quote Originally Posted by Firestarter View Post
    I’ve read another book on the War by drugs; Edward Jay Epstein – Agency of fear; Opiates and Political Power in America (1977): http://www.mediafire.com/file/c61nk1...djdjjkmmmm.pdf
    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...=1#post6518704
    Do NOT ever read my posts. Google and Yahoo wouldn’t block them without a very good reason: Google-censors-the-world/page3

    The Order of the Garter rules the world: Order of the Garter and the Carolingian dynasty

  9. #8
    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...Reconstruction

    REP MASSIE: TO WHAT EFFECT HAVE OUR ERADICATION EFFORTS BEEN EFFECTIVE?

    SIG SOPKO: OUR ERADICATION HAS ABSOLUTELY HAD NO EFFECT ON THE AMOUNT OF POPPY BEING PRODUCED. WE SAID THAT. AND I THINK WE BRIEFED YOU OR YOUR STAFF WHEN WE CAME OUT WITH THIS LESSONS LEARNED REPORT ON NARCOTICS. AS A MATTER OF FACT, NONE OF OUR PROGRAMS, NOT ONE, HAS BEEN EFFECTIVE IN AFGHANISTAN ON FIGHTING NARCOTICS.
    Last edited by timosman; 04-06-2019 at 11:24 AM.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    The only reason they are relaxing on pot is because they figured out how to make local legal money off it. They are still getting the Fed dollars on top of that to fight the war on drugs. If the choice had been either/or, it would never had happened. They might allow a little bit, but they are never going to allow it all and risk losing all those federal funds. Even if all drugs were legal in a state and they taxed it, they could tax it 100% or more and still never replace the amount they would lose coming from the feds. It's huge, it's a legal cabal of it's own all the way down to local economies that depend on prisons and contractors and subcontractors.
    Yes, I am aware of all these things. But the reason they relaxed on pot isn't because they figured out how to make money off it. That option was always there and they knew it. It was because they had no choice, people just quit buying their propaganda.
    "The Patriarch"

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Yes, I am aware of all these things. But the reason they relaxed on pot isn't because they figured out how to make money off it. That option was always there and they knew it. It was because they had no choice, people just quit buying their propaganda.
    Unfortunately, just like the "environmental industry" they created, there will always be an "enemy" or two to perpetually fight against in the war on drugs industry no matter what the people say.

    Don't get me wrong, I am all for ending it and all the problems it really does create, but I am also a realist. Even if it happened there would be someone to mess it up and they would just put it back in place again. Like those I talked to years ago about this same topic, they thought it should be legal to sell heroin from vending machines even to minor children if they want it. This type of thinking would ruin the whole thing all over again.

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    Unfortunately, just like the "environmental industry" they created, there will always be an "enemy" or two to perpetually fight against in the war on drugs industry no matter what the people say.

    Don't get me wrong, I am all for ending it and all the problems it really does create, but I am also a realist. Even if it happened there would be someone to mess it up and they would just put it back in place again. Like those I talked to years ago about this same topic, they thought it should be legal to sell heroin from vending machines even to minor children if they want it. This type of thinking would ruin the whole thing all over again.
    Can minors buy cigarettes from vending machines? Can adults even do that anymore? Pot? It's irrelevant to the discussion.
    "The Patriarch"

  14. #12
    There has to be war don't you get that?

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Working Poor View Post
    There has to be war don't you get that?
    Lol. Ya, I get it, maybe one day a majority of people will too.
    "The Patriarch"

  16. #14
    Tucker Carlson said Trump doesn't want to be president anymore because he signed a law that commuted peoples drug sentences. So you have to be for the drug war to be president..

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Lol. Ya, I get it, maybe one day a majority of people will too.
    We will never see it... Won't be in our lifetime.

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    We will never see it... Won't be in our lifetime.
    Ok Nostradamus.
    "The Patriarch"



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Ok Nostradamus.
    Prohibitions on cannabis started in the 1920's, Almost a hundred years later we are still only where we are now. We will not see the war on drugs end in our lifetime.

  21. #18
    The "WAR" on anything always makes things worse, IMHO. It brings more government intrusion and more control over our lives, but I think that has always has been the agenda.
    “The spirits of darkness are now among us. We have to be on guard so that we may realize what is happening when we encounter them and gain a real idea of where they are to be found. The most dangerous thing you can do in the immediate future will be to give yourself up unconsciously to the influences which are definitely present.” ~ Rudolf Steiner

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by donnay View Post
    The "WAR" on anything always makes things worse, IMHO. It brings more government intrusion and more control over our lives, but I think that has always has been the agenda.
    Absolutely, I agree and that is why they will never fully give up that control and money without a huge fight. It's a good fight to fight though, and maybe our grandchildren might see it in their lifetime.

    But I have to be a realist about it. I remember the first time I smoked weed, I was 10. I remember thinking that I liked it and hoped that someday it would be legal so that I didn't have to break a law to enjoy it. That was almost 50 years ago.

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    Prohibitions on cannabis started in the 1920's, Almost a hundred years later we are still only where we are now. We will not see the war on drugs end in our lifetime.
    And prohibition can repealed just like it was implemented, quit acting like you know the future. And by the way, your defeatist attitude sucks. If people only listen to folks like you nothing will ever change, because nobody will ever try.
    "The Patriarch"

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by ATruepatriot View Post
    Absolutely, I agree and that is why they will never fully give up that control and money without a huge fight. It's a good fight to fight though, and maybe our grandchildren might see it in their lifetime.

    But I have to be a realist about it. I remember the first time I smoked weed, I was 10. I remember thinking that I liked it and hoped that someday it would be legal so that I didn't have to break a law to enjoy it. That was almost 50 years ago.
    I don't even like pot, never did. But that's not really the point.
    "The Patriarch"

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    And prohibition can repealed just like it was implemented, quit acting like you know the future. And by the way, your defeatist attitude sucks. If people only listen to folks like you nothing will ever change, because nobody will ever try.
    I wish it would happen tomorrow even if just to end all the gang and cartel violence alone...

  26. #23
    Of course its getting worse. We've been fighting this drug war for almost 50 years. The war was literally designed to never be won.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Globalist View Post
    Of course its getting worse. We've been fighting this drug war for almost 50 years. The war was literally designed to never be won.
    I wage war on taxes . I pay as little as possible while still living well . That way I do not contribute to the millions of americans imprisoned needlessly by that leading american industry . I suggest others all do the same . Once they cannot afford to incarcerate them they will change policies .
    Do something Danke



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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by oyarde View Post
    I wage war on taxes . I pay as little as possible while still living well . That way I do not contribute to the millions of americans imprisoned needlessly by that leading american industry . I suggest others all do the same . Once they cannot afford to incarcerate them they will change policies .
    Absolutely. Stop feeding the beast.

  30. #26
    Alcohol prohibition ended.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  31. #27
    If the government really wanted to be done with it then it would be done like the WoT. Doesn't matter whose country if there is a poppy field or a cocaine production facility then rain fire with phosphorous and napalm. Unlike the WoT, where terrorists can blend in, it's hard to hide fields.
    Probably should have started in Afghanistan, instead of protecting the poppies.

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    If the government really wanted to be done with it then it would be done like the WoT. Doesn't matter whose country if there is a poppy field or a cocaine production facility then rain fire with phosphorous and napalm. Unlike the WoT, where terrorists can blend in, it's hard to hide fields.
    Probably should have started in Afghanistan, instead of protecting the poppies.
    Send Monsanto to burn the crops.

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    I don't even like pot, never did. But that's not really the point.
    I do..
    and I knew I had been lied to the first time I tried it..

    Only recently,, have I become a Regular user.. and found even more benefits..

    I am convinced beyond doubt that Cannabis is a Gift, and prohibition of it a Great evil..

    I smoke it with Thanksgiving.
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    If the government really wanted to be done with it then it would be done like the WoT. Doesn't matter whose country if there is a poppy field or a cocaine production facility then rain fire with phosphorous and napalm. Unlike the WoT, where terrorists can blend in, it's hard to hide fields.
    Probably should have started in Afghanistan, instead of protecting the poppies.
    With Full Blown Chemical/Biological Warfare and All the Military might,,, they lost in Vietnam.. at a huge cost.

    quit thinking they are "all that".
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

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