David Rohde of the New York Times
describes the mess in South Asia:
When the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan visited the United States last week, they got into an ugly public spat over who was to blame for a Taliban resurgence that has killed hundreds of Afghans this year and shaken confidence in Afghanistan's new government.
There was Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, accusing Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan of failing to crack down on the Taliban. Mr. Musharraf struck back, saying Mr. Karzai was behaving like "an ostrich" and ignoring problems in his own land.
Both leaders have legitimate complaints about the conditions in their neighbor's lands. But it's also equally unfair for either one to point the finger at the other for the problems they face.
While hawking his new book recently, Musharraf talked about walking the tightrope in Pakistan between staying on America's good side and maintaining the support of a general public who increasingly sees America's policy in the greater Middle East as a threat. The situation has tied his hands to the point where he had to make a peace agreement with a region of his own country, one where many of the powerful forces behind the Afghan insurgency are based. The Taliban based in the Waziristan region first gained a foothold in Kabul in the mid-90s, originally with the support of the Pakistani government, so it's natural for Karzai to believe that the pattern is being repeated for the same reasons (to keep Afghanistan from falling under India's influence).
But it's not. These attempts are happening less to serve Pakistan and more to serve the global jihadist movement, which everyone except George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Barney knows has grown in strength significantly over the past several years. The pro-Taliban elements in the Waziristan provinces are a big part of that, and they're again leading an insurgency that threatens to engulf all of Afghanistan. Musharraf sees this same problem and blames Karzai. Why?
Jim Miklaszewski of NBC News takes a closer look:
The Afghan government continues to struggle to establish its credibility and spread its authority beyond Kabul. At the same time the U.S. recently cut developmental aid to Afghanistan by 30 percent and less than half of the $15 billion promised in international aid has been delivered.
Meanwhile, opium production in Afghanistan has exploded. A United Nations report in September revealed a bumper poppy crop produced 6,100 metric tons of opium, a 50 percent increase over the previous year.
NATO's top commander, U.S. General James Jones, warns Afghanistan is at a critical crossroads, calling it "a moment of truth."When discussing Afghanistan, we tend to hear explanations that draw parallels to our failures in Iraq, but the reason that Afghanistan has deteriorated recently has been a result of our anti-drug policy more than anything else. The coalition's approach to dealing with Afghanistan's opium farming has given the Taliban both money and support in their efforts to wage an insurgency against coalition troops.
The impact of the drug trade has become so pervasive it reaches almost all levels of Afghan society, breeding corruption within the government and creating an entire class of Afghan farmers and laborers addicted to the money generated by the drug trade.
In addition, part of the $3 billion dollars in annual drug profits is being used to finance, train and equip the Taliban in Afghanistan (an irony, since the Taliban government was quite effective until its overthrow in 2001 in curtailing the opium trade).
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stubbornly resisted pressure to get the U.S. military directly involved in fighting Afghanistan's drug war. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the lead commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, stressed that "the critical task at this stage is strengthening the government of Afghanistan, developing the economy, and helping to build Afghan civil society."Pervez Musharraf blames Hamid Karzai for this problem, as if he isn't fighting the opium farming with the same kind of fervor that the Taliban did (which is misleading since the Taliban actually grew and exported opium at the time they were also eradicating it). Opiate addiction is on the rise all around Afghanistan as the supply of heroin making its way through Pakistan, India, Iran, and other neighboring states has exploded.
The note above about Donald Rumsfeld is similarly misleading, since the United States has been the main (excuse me, only) voice pushing for aerial spraying. Karzai has been opposed to this approach, and for good reason. It drives farmers into deeper poverty because it makes it impossible to grow alternative crops. And as we've seen in Colombia, the farming just shifts to other parts of the country anyway. That hasn't stopped the criticism from Musharraf, and it hasn't stopped some of the architects of those other failed programs from weighing in:
Retired U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the Clinton administration drug czar, said crop dusters may be the only way to preserve Washington's project in Afghanistan, before drug profits undermine the country's elected government.
It's not. There's a better way. And it involves allowing Afghani farmers to contribute to the world's legal supply of opiate-based medicines. The Senlis Council, a European think tank, has become the leading voice for this approach. If the coalition forces pay the farmers for their opium yields, use the supply for legal medicines in pain management and drug treatment, they can undermine the Taliban's gravy train to some extent. Of course, there will still be a black market for opiates used recreationally that the Taliban can exploit, but until America's comes to grips with this neverending reality and deals with it in ways that work, there will always be failures like Afghanistan and good statesmen like Hamid Karzai who take the blame.
In the news this week...
Pete Guither gives some background on Dennis Hastert and drug policy. Also, he discovers a drug testing company whose claims on being able to accurately detect alcohol consumption don't quite add up.
The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing a case this week challenging the way legal immigrants are often deported for minor drug possession crimes. The Bush Administration supports the deportations, believing that it's ok for legal residents to be removed from the country for doing things that our President did when he was younger.
Kelly Hearn writes about the Bush Administration's attempts to link Hugo Chavez to drug trafficking.
Customs officials will no longer be confiscating Canadian prescription drugs at the border.
Kris Krane from Students for Sensible Drug Policy appeared on Fox News to debate one of the folks trying to sell drug testing kits to parents.
The Scripps Research Institute released a report saying that THC is more effective at treating Alzheimer's than some traditional medicines.
Whig at Cannablog writes about how cannabis works from a medical perspective (part 1 - part 2).
Sarah Mirk discovers that the Church of Scientology is printing anti-drug pamphlets.
Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals had a press release this week to encourage more use of its products for treating opiate addiction.
Scott Henson writes about a Houston judge who's eagerness to bend the rules in order to send low-level drug offenders to jail has been contributing to the jail overcrowding problem.
Louisiana state representative Michael G. Strain is concerned with Morning Glory seeds.
Radley Balko discusses relevant case law that could have a big effect on Cory Maye's fight against his manslaughter conviction that had him on death row in Mississippi.
Constance Gee, the wife of Vanderbilt University Chancellor E. Gordon Gee, has been coming under fire for her use of medical marijuana.
The state of Kentucky is considering a ban on alcohol vaporizers, which the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy says serves "no other purpose than to get you drunk."
Alabama gubernatorial candidate Loretta Nall discusses her day in court. She also noticed a drug helicopter in central Alabama flying very low over a trailer park looking for more people to haul into court. Here's Loretta's campaign schedule for October.
In Selma, AL, more black people are being rounded up and sent to jail. One resident claims the police came into her home, grabbed some baking soda, and said it was crack.
In Florida, the federal law dealing with meth put certain cold medicines behind the counter this week.
A Miami police officer was arrested for cocaine trafficking.
A second-grade teacher in Savannah, GA was one of 16 people charged with being in a cocaine distribution ring.
Ronald Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is doing pioneering research into the medical uses of psilocybin, the key ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms.
A study done in both Baltimore and Santa Monica, CA showed that there's no causal link between marijuana and depression. Pete Guither is not surprised.
Supporters of medical marijuana gathered in West Hollywood, CA to celebrate the 10th anniversary of California's Proposition 215.
Medical marijuana patient Darrell Kruse opened a new dispensary in Claremont, CA after city officials there ignored his attempts to set one up with the city's cooperation.
Riverside County, CA has banned medical marijuana dispensaries in all unincorporated areas of the county, but they will not bother legal users or dispensaries in incorporated areas.
Federal agents raided a number of medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco and Oakland. The Drug War Chronicle has some more about the raids which have been happening across the state. A dispensary in Palm Springs that was raided on Wednesday has already reopened.
Four men from San Francisco were indicted for running a very sophisticated drug growing operation that used expensive homes in the Sacramento area solely to grow marijuana.
Governor Schwartzenegger signed a bill that would allow for non-violent offenders to get off of parole earlier if they complete drug treatment. He also vetoed a bill that would have allowed California farmers to grow industrial hemp.
Officials found 11,000 marijuana plants in two raids in Toulumne County, CA.
A recent survey across California found that more teenagers smoke marijuana than smoke cigarettes.
Religious leaders from various denominations are supporting Nevada's Question 7 to regulate marijuana sales and allow for possession of up to 1 ounce. Here's a CNN report on it. A supporter of Question 7 make a short commercial here. Volunteer to help out here!
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled that an initiative to legalize marijuana in Sun Valley can proceed, despite objections by the city.
In Colorado, DEA agent Jeffrey Sweetin doesn't believe that it's his job to practice democracy.
The Denver Post ran a strong editorial in favor of Amendment 44. Initiative sponsor Mason Tvert is challenging the people who claim that marijuana is more harmful than alcohol to go 'hit-for-chug' with him.
Boulder City Councilman Edwin "Richard" Polk was busted for driving while stoned.
In Columbia, MO, a man named Ramelus Bradley was arrested after a late night traffic stop. For some reason, the Columbia Tribune first reported that 8 ounces of marijuana, cocaine, and crack ecstasy pills (?) were found after a cavity search (!). An update corrected that item to read that 8 grams of marijuana, crack, powdered cocaine, and ecstasy were found during a "routine frisk". Bradley has a 5 month old boy.
Jefferson County, MO is one of 4 Missouri counties receiving Federal funds because they are part of the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
A suburban St. Louis police officer was charged in a cocaine distribution conspiracy.
An Iowa woman was charged with child endangerment after her two teenage children tested positive for cocaine.
A retired St. Paul, MN police officer plead guilty to charges of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
The son of a LaCrosse County (WI) sheriff candidate was arrested and charged with manufacturing and selling meth.
The Chicago Tribune writes about Pete Guither and the attempts to stifle his free speech around the DEA's propaganda exhibit on drugs and terrorism at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
Police in Chicago have arrested 9 people in connection with a heroin smuggling operation through India and West Africa. This is the standard route for European heroin (originating in Afghanistan), but this is the first I've seen of a ring that brought it into the U.S. from Africa. Most heroin that comes to America tends to come from South America. Police in Peshawar, Pakistan also report that some heroin confiscated there was headed for the United States.
A father and son from Muncie, IN face charges for marijuana distribution.
Police near Cleveland broke up a cocaine distribution ring and arrested 8 people.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of the conviction of Pittsburgh doctor Bernard Rottschaefer. It has since been revealed that the witnesses who testified against Rottschaefer were lying.
An 80-year-old Pittsburgh man spent 3 days in jail for selling crack in exchange for money and sex.
A former Bridgeport, CT police officer was sentenced to 45 months in prison for selling oxycodone.
The President of the Litchfield (CT) Land Trust was arrested with another man when they were found tending to 15 to 20 marijuana plants.
David Borden writes about Maine's attempt to establish a drug dealer registry on the internet and why that's obviously a terrible way to keep kids from getting drugs. A New Mexico legislator is introducing a bill at the Federal level to do the same.
A woman in Arizona was sentenced to 18 months in jail for trying to send meth to her incarcerated mother.
Arizona lawmakers are pushing an initiative to make a special exception for meth to the state's current laws that don't allow first- or second-time drug offenders to be sent to prison.
A Honolulu police officer was sentenced to over 5 years in prison for selling a large amount of meth to an undercover informant.
Police in Winnipeg will be speaking about meth in a series of presentations at area schools.
Thousands of pounds of marijuana were found in a house in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Mexican state of Jalisco is launching a campaign to convince women not to get involved with drug traffickers.
Pete Guither has the links to all three parts of Danna Harman's series on Colombia in the Christian Science Monitor. Congress may increase funding for Plan Colombia after the elections so that even more money can be wasted down there.
A former boxing champion was charged in Dublin with attempting to smuggle drugs into Ireland on a private jet.
Officials in the UK are worried that the use of bank notes to snort cocaine is contributing to a spread of Hepatitis C. The people who contract the virus that way have a second reason to use marijuana instead.
The British Conservative Party voted in a poll saying that drugs are more dangerous than alcohol.
Serbian customs officials discovered $2.3 million worth of heroin coming into the country from Macedonia.
Ghana's police chief and other senior officials are facing some serious allegations of corruption involving a missing shipment of cocaine.
An American man will be spending 4 years in jail in Dubai for being in possession of 0.14 grams of marijuana (a paper clip weighs about 1 gram).
Afghani authorities arrested a man who was driving an oil tanker containing 30 kg of heroin from Kandahar to Kabul.
Rob Wood discusses how the Punjab region of India is another place seeing a rise in drug problems stemming from Afghanistan's growing output.
Five police officers in Malaysia have been suspended after they were accused of taking money for themselves during a heroin bust.
A man in Alice Springs, Australia received a 6 year jail sentence for attempting to selling AUS$50,000 worth of cannabis.
Two women were caught at the Sydney Airport with heroin in their shoes. They were travelling from Vietnam.
Luke Brown discusses the case of a Sydney man who blames meth for his involvement in a gang rape of a 17-year-old.
A paramedic in Melbourne, Australia believes that many people who think they are taking ecstasy (MDMA) are actually taking meth, a more dangerous amphetamine.