"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Heroin economics
The original article presented the irony of our Marines protecting opium plants in Afghanistan, while the money gained from that opium's sale goes to buy weapons used against our troops
Even if they shut down poppy growing completely in Afghanistan, they'd just increase production in Mexico, Columbia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Pakistan. So there's the argument: "If we don't do it, someone else will." Philosophers and theologians have argued about this moral stance for quite a while. It still seems strange to me that what is very, very illegal in the US is encouraged by the US Marines over there. Afghanistan has large reserves of natural gas, petroleum, natural gas liquids, gold, copper, coal, iron and other minerals. They're starting to mine these, resulting in thousands of jobs and billions in royalties. Right now, opium is about 1/3 of Afghanistan's GDP, but how much filters down to the people vs how much is exported? Considering the mineral reserves, I think Afghanistan could survive and even prosper without poppies. A medical morphine and codeine industry has been suggested to use these poppies. Of course it wouldn't be so profitable to the big shots. Maybe legal poppy growth would be more profitable to the farmers, who get hardly anything for their crop anyway. Of course, the big shots wouldn't allow this. By big shots, I mean those to whom the Taliban are selling the opium. Again about "American kids". Most of the heroin coming into the US comes from Mexico and Columbia. The Afghanistan originated heroin mostly goes to Europe. It doesn't matter. I have compassion for European kids. Before the US started guarding the poppy plants, Canada and Britain were protecting them. You mention "a few dozen American kids" dying is a good trade-off for keeping Afghanistan solvent by growing and selling what killed the kids. Would you go to a family that had a heroin related child death and wag your finger at them and give them your lecture about your humanism for the world's poor? It's hard to find US mortality data on heroin, but the best estimate is 4,000 per year. Mostly middle aged white men. About the same number of deaths occur from methadone use, which started as heroin use. There is also the wider social impact of heroin on families and neighborhoods. Read your sociology textbook. Anyway, 8,000 deaths is more than "a few dozen American kids" dead. Do I hear Bob Dylan singing, "Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?" More about heroin. Illegal drugs are a $500 billion per year business. That's a big chunk of change, in fact more than most corporations gross per year. I don't believe those in charge are weird but colorful, isolated nutcases, like one sees in movies. I think they're very well connected businessmen. In fact, it was the British royalty and British aristocracy that started the poppy industry in Southeast Asia with the Opium War and all. And where does the $500 billion go? Movies and media would have us believe that the $500 billion is stuffed into cashboxes and hidden under floorboards or whatever. Of course, it's laundered and banked and loaned out to legitimate businesses and people. Which brings my final word on the matter. If the illegal drug business stopped completely, I think the world economy would collapse. Capitalism needs to be constantly growing, and this requires more and more money. Where does this money come from? At first, the surplus value (profits over workers wages and costs) was enough for capitalism to reinvest in its growth. When this wasn't enough, they created paper securities, like insurance policies, stock and bonds. This lasted until about after WWII. Then they needed a still larger percentage of the worker's take home pay. Drugs filled the bill nicely. So I think the Marines are protecting the poppies not only to protect Afghanistan's economy, but for other reasons. To make sure the Taliban enemy has enough money to keep fighting so the war can continue indefinitely, to protect the world economy from collapsing, and to keep rolling in the mega-astonishing profits for the fat cats. And I bet those fat cats have very recognizable names.
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