WHAT ROLE SHOULD THE US PLAY IN REDUCING THE PRODUCTION OF ILLICIT DRUGS-SUCH AS COCAINE AND HEROIN-IN PLACES LIKE BOLIVIA AND AFGHANISTAN?

NONE! We would be much better off reducing the production of tobacco in the United states. That drug kills over five hundred thousand (500,000) users yearly. Cocaine and Heroin together kill less than ten thousand (10,000) users per year.

However, we could kill two birds with one stone, or eliminate two problems with one solution. We eliminate the Taliban AND the terrorists in Afghanistan by buying up all the poppies Afghan farmers grow, process it into heroin and package it in five dollar bags ($5.00) and require it to be sold in all hardware stores as a rat poison. State clearly on the packages that it is pure heroin and anyone over the age of 21 can purchase all they want.

The Afghan farmers rarely use heroin, they just produce it. They will be happy and prosperous farmers uninterested in revolution and the plants can be used to process ethanol after the poppies are harvested. We are up to the elimination of three problems with this one solution and we have barely gotten started.

The next solution will be the elimination of rats because they will eat the heroin and nothing else until they die. This will also cut down on diseases spread by the vermin and keep poor children from being bitten.

It will also cut down on drug addicts because they will copy the rats. Sad, but true.

Those people who use heroin creatively and keep eating will live out their lives in a haze, but it will be a safe one. They won't need to steal, rob or murder to provide for their habit, so the crime rate will go down. Since there will be no profit in trafficking in such a cheap product, no one will be pushing it and usage will drop to the percentage of people who can't face reality and they will find stamping out their pain to be cheap and easy.

We can do the same thing with coca leaves from South America. The South American farmers DO eat their product, but they eat it in the raw, not processed and they have done so since before the beginning of recorded history and it seems to suit their lifestyle. Package it as rat poison, five dollars ($5.00) per bag.

Our taxes will go down because the money required in our failed attempt to prohibit the use of heroin and cocaine can be used instead for medical care and education-both of which will help reduce the need for drugs. There will always be those who partake of drugs in the belief that their usage increases creativity. There are some historical anecdotes in favor of this position. Unfortunately, such usage also decreases productivity and shortens life spans, so reasoned presentation of the facts on these points, i.e. education, will help reduce the proclivity to partake.

Our taxes will go down even more because the jails will empty, the courts become unclogged, and lawyers will have to get real jobs. Most of the people in jail in the US are there as a result of a drug possession charge. Not sale, possession. We have the highest percentage of citizens incarcerated in the world, except maybe China.

Having the government provide the heroin and cocaine as rat poison also becomes income for the government.

Addictive personalities always find their way to a crutch, alcohol or drugs or whatever they think will help them survive. Why should we pay through the nose to try and stop them, when it is much cheaper and much more pleasant to let them go their way in peace?

What role should the US play in reducing the production of illicit drugs-such as cocaine and heroin-in places like Bolivia and Afghanistan? None. The US should buy it all up and sell it as rat poison.

Learn more about this author, Roselyn Lionhart.
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