Drug Trade Funding Terrorists
Southwest Asia: Afghan Opium Trade Wreaking Global Havoc, UNODC Warns
Southwest Asia: Afghan Opium Trade Wreaking Global Havoc, UNODC Warns
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned Wednesday that the traffic in Afghan opiates is spreading drug use and addiction along smuggling routes, spreading diseases, and funding insurgencies. The warning came in a new report, Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Threat of Afghan Opium. "The Afghan opiate trade fuels consumption and addiction in countries along drug trafficking routes before reaching the main consumer markets in Europe (estimated at 3.1 million heroin users), contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases," the report said.
Neighboring countries, especially Iran, Pakistan, and the Central Asian republics, are among the hardest hit, said UNODC. According to the report, Iran now has the highest opiate addiction rates in the world. "Iran faces the world's most serious opiate addiction problem, while injecting drug use in Central Asia is causing an HIV epidemic," UNODC said.
But the impact of the multi-billion flow of Afghan opiates could have an especially deleterious impact on Central Asia, UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa warned in remarks accompanying the report. "The Silk Route, turned into a heroin route, is carving out a path of death and violence through one of the world's most strategic yet volatile regions," Costa said. "The perfect storm of drugs, crime and insurgency that has swirled around the Afghanistan/Pakistan border for years is heading for Central Asia."
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the opium trade is funding violent radicals. "The funds generated from the drugs trade can pay for soldiers, weapons and protection, and are an important source of patronage," the report said. In Afghanistan, the Taliban generated between $90 million and $160 million annually in recent years, the UNODC estimated. In Pakistan, the UNODC estimated the trade at $1 billion annually, with "undetermined amounts going to insurgents."
Although Afghan opium production declined slightly last year, the country is producingâand has producedâmore opium needed than to meet global supply. As a result, the UNODC estimates that there is an unaccounted for stockpile of 12,000 tons of opiumâenough to satisfy every junkie on the planet for the next three to four years. "Thus, even if opiate production in Afghanistan were to cease immediately, there would still be ample supply," the report said.
Unsurprisingly, the UNODC report did not address the role that global drug prohibition plays in exacerbating problems related to opiate use and the opiate trade. Prohibitionist attitudes restrict the availability of harm reduction programs, such as needle exchanges, that could reduce the spread of blood-borne diseases. And it is global drug prohibition itself that creates the lucrative black market the UNODC says is financing insurgencies and spreading political instability.
Mexican Drug Cartels Dissolve Corpses in Vats of Acid
Lately, the drug war is sounding less and less like an actual government policy and more like a distopian future from a science fiction movie:
They call him "The Stewmaker" and his henchmen attacked the police station with machine guns after he was captured.
Does any of this sound like the story of a drug policy that works? How much more of this unfathomable gory mayhem do we feel like putting up with? Weâve crossed the line into some seriously dark territory here and itâs way past time something is done about it, something completely different from everything weâve tried before.
As the nation's drug war rages on, with its weekly tallies of headless torsos, it is getting harder to produce a shock wave in the Mexican media. But the gruesome recipes of "The Stewmaker" have gripped public attention here, as authorities describe how a "disposal expert" working for a Tijuana drug cartel boss allegedly got rid of hundreds of bodies by dissolving the corpses in vats of caustic liquid. [Washington Post]
They call him "The Stewmaker" and his henchmen attacked the police station with machine guns after he was captured.
Does any of this sound like the story of a drug policy that works? How much more of this unfathomable gory mayhem do we feel like putting up with? Weâve crossed the line into some seriously dark territory here and itâs way past time something is done about it, something completely different from everything weâve tried before.
Mexican Gangs Threaten School Children
Every day, the stories coming from Mexico get worse. Nothing surprises me at this point. Not even this:
MEXICO CITY â Elementary school teachers are the latest victims of an exploding extortion racket in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, as criminal gangs threaten educators to either hand over their coming Christmas bonuses or see harm done to their families or students, teachers' groups say.
With Monday a school holiday and news of the threats spreading in the media, on the Internet and by word of mouth during the long weekend, there were fears that an increasing number of parents would keep their children at home today, forcing additional schools to close. [Dallas News]
Is anybody going to come forward and claim this is just a temporary problem? Shall we double our drug war donations to restore law and order? Letâs get real. The drug war is destroying the entire country before our eyes and thereâs no limit to how bad it can get.
Itâs amazing to witness the criminal feeding frenzy that is now erupting all over the country now that the drug war has turned Mexicoâs justice system into a complete mockery. Dangerous levels of police corruption have created a horrific laboratory in which violent criminals have begun experimenting with all sorts of terrible schemes. Can you even imagine whatâs next?
If anything can solve the crime problems plaguing Mexico, it will have to be the exact opposite of everything we're doing right now.
If Terrorists and Drug Traffickers Collaborate, Itâs the Drug Warâs Fault
Has drug war destabilization in South America become a threat to our national security?
Well that just sucks. Realistically, however, I think weâre relying on a rather twisted interpretation of the drug traffickersâ agenda here. These guys are making huge profits and they donât want to rock the boat. Terrorists might pay for cover upfront, but theyâre bad for business in the long term. I doubt high-level traffickers would deliberately abate straight-up terrorists whose goal is basically to kill their customers. They bring a different kind of attention that you seriously donât want if youâre just moving a product.
Still, itâs certainly true that the massive blackmarket infrastructure has led to the development of invisible networks and services that terrorists could take advantage of. If youâre selling underground transit, you donât ask too many questions of your customers. Itâs not willful collaboration we should be worried about, so much as the reality that thereâs an industry built around bringing anyone and anything into our country.
After decades of drug war demolition tactics throughout South and Central America, the situation is worse than ever. As new threats emerge, the drug war continues to literally puncture every mechanism that might protect us.
MIAMI (AP) â There is real danger that Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaida and Hezbollah could form alliances with wealthy and powerful Latin American drug lords to launch new terrorist attacks, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Extremist group operatives have already been identified in several Latin American countries, mostly involved in fundraising and finding logistical support. But Charles Allen, chief of intelligence analysis at the Homeland Security Department, said they could use well-established smuggling routes and drug profits to bring people or even weapons of mass destruction to the U.S.
Well that just sucks. Realistically, however, I think weâre relying on a rather twisted interpretation of the drug traffickersâ agenda here. These guys are making huge profits and they donât want to rock the boat. Terrorists might pay for cover upfront, but theyâre bad for business in the long term. I doubt high-level traffickers would deliberately abate straight-up terrorists whose goal is basically to kill their customers. They bring a different kind of attention that you seriously donât want if youâre just moving a product.
Still, itâs certainly true that the massive blackmarket infrastructure has led to the development of invisible networks and services that terrorists could take advantage of. If youâre selling underground transit, you donât ask too many questions of your customers. Itâs not willful collaboration we should be worried about, so much as the reality that thereâs an industry built around bringing anyone and anything into our country.
After decades of drug war demolition tactics throughout South and Central America, the situation is worse than ever. As new threats emerge, the drug war continues to literally puncture every mechanism that might protect us.
The Amazing Gigantic Missing Heroin Stash
Hereâs another completely odd phenomenon discovered in the laboratory of drug prohibition:
Get it? Afghanistan is producing far more heroin than the entire world even uses. So where the hell did it go?
The answer is easy. Itâs in a massive underground refrigerator. Seriously, thatâs exactly where it is. These guys are storing enough heroin to survive a nuclear holocaust. If we killed every poppy plant on the planet tomorrow, they wouldnât run out for years. These heroin barons arenât the nicest people and weâre making them rich with our silly drug war. Anyone who still thinks flamethrowers and helicopter patrols are going to solve the heroin problem needs to chill for a minute and think about whatâs happening here.
It's a mystery that has got British law enforcement officials and others across the planet scratching their heads. Put bluntly, enough heroin to supply the world's demand for years has simply disappeared.
â¦
For the past three years, production has been running at almost twice the level of global demand. The numbers just don't add up. [BBC]
Get it? Afghanistan is producing far more heroin than the entire world even uses. So where the hell did it go?
The answer is easy. Itâs in a massive underground refrigerator. Seriously, thatâs exactly where it is. These guys are storing enough heroin to survive a nuclear holocaust. If we killed every poppy plant on the planet tomorrow, they wouldnât run out for years. These heroin barons arenât the nicest people and weâre making them rich with our silly drug war. Anyone who still thinks flamethrowers and helicopter patrols are going to solve the heroin problem needs to chill for a minute and think about whatâs happening here.
If the Drug War Makes Sense to You, Nothing Else Will
Terrorism blogger Douglas Farah doesnât understand why South American nations arenât more excited about cooperating with the U.S. war on drugs:
Really? I know a lot of people have trouble with this, but itâs not that complicated. Widespread "corruption, violence and social disintegration" are caused by the war on drugs. Nothing could be more obvious to those living on the front lines of the drug war battlefield. There was no problem until we showed up. They probably assume there will be no problem once we leave. I donât blame them.
So, after 30 years, on a political level there is no consensus that combatting drug trafficking is in the interest of most nations. Given the level of corruption, violence and social disintegration the criminal activities inevitably bring, such a conclusion by national leaders (backed, it seems, by the large majority of the population) is not easily understood.
Really? I know a lot of people have trouble with this, but itâs not that complicated. Widespread "corruption, violence and social disintegration" are caused by the war on drugs. Nothing could be more obvious to those living on the front lines of the drug war battlefield. There was no problem until we showed up. They probably assume there will be no problem once we leave. I donât blame them.
European Pressure: Turkey Must Fight Drug War, or Else
EDITOR'S NOTE: Kalif Mathieu is an intern at StoptheDrugWar.org. His bio is in our "staff" section.
I traveled to the city of Istanbul last week to stay for a few days with my school program of Peace and Conflict Resolution. Istanbul (and Turkey as a whole) is the perfect conduit for heroin being produced in the middle-east to reach Western European markets. Heroin and other drugs are commodities like anything else, and travel through the same general trade routes as other goods. Turkey is so strategically placed that according to Le Monde diplomatique in 1995 âAn estimated 80% of the heroin on the European market is being processed in Turkish laboratories." (La Dépêche Internationale des Drogues 1995, Nr. 48)
So you might ask, âwhatâs so special about heroin traveling through Turkey? Itâs just like any other trade between the middle-east and Europe.â The troublesome point is who controls the trafficking through the country and receives the profits of the trade. This happens to be the PKK, or Kurdistan Workerâs Party, a militant organization with a 30-year history of fighting the Turkish government to establish a separate Kurdish state. âAccording to Interpol [â¦] the PKK was orchestrating 80 % of the European drug marketâ back in 1992, and â[o]ther sources similarly indicate that the PKK controlled between 60 % to 70 %â in 1994 reported the Turkish Daily News.
The state of Turkey has been increasing its process of Westernization recently in its desire to join the EU, and this has meant adopting a Western policy on drugs. Turkey has been very successful recently in increasing its police and border control effectiveness and eliminating corruption. The Turkish Daily News gave some convincing numbers: âAccording to the deputy customs undersecretary, there was a 400 percent increase in drug-operation success in the period between 2002 and 2006, when compared to the 1999-2002 period.â
However, even though Turkey has been, in recent years, dealing more and more forcefully with both the PKK militants and the drug trade, has this actually reduced the trafficking of drugs and the profits of the PKK? In the Turkish Daily News: â[t]he annual revenue made by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has increased to 400-500 million euros, a top Turkish general said late Tuesday.â If the PKKâs revenue has increased, then it is logical to assume Turkeyâs military campaign against them may not be considered a huge success. Not only that, but â200-250 million euros of [the PKKâs] revenue comes from drugs [â¦] Gen. Ergin Saygun, deputy chief of General Staff said.â That makes drug trafficking 50% of the organizationâs income!
The Turkish state has had a history of valuing the effectiveness of force. It was born from war, and the constitution has a controversial but often-utilized article that allows the Turkish army to organize a coup to eliminate the possibility of having a religious party in power. What is the point of these so-called âhard-lineâ approaches to dealing with the nationâs problems if they are rather ineffective? Very little of course. The trouble comes from what the state could say to its citizens, to the international community, if it negotiated with the violent PKK or began to take the drug trade into the light by moving it towards legalization and either private or state control? If Turkey tried to clean up its smuggling and black market in such a way the majority of Europe, if not the greater âglobal community,â would probably condemn the entire nation of betraying humanity and literally becoming evil. The reaction of many Turkish citizens would be perhaps lighter, but of a similar nature if the state sat down to negotiations with the âterroristâ PKK. These are strong influences on the Turkish state, and severely limit its options. Therefore it seems Turkey doesnât have much of a choice but to pursue the same policy of force it has pursued for more than 30 years, whether it benefit the people or not.