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xxdr_zombiexx

Is Your Bong Breeding Terrorists?
Nick Gillespie | September 29, 2004 | Reason Online

The DEA brings reefer madness to the Big Apple

Two cheers for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), whose latest public relations effort usefully reminds us that propaganda is not simply intellectually dishonest. It's also morally repulsive.

Even critical news accounts of the DEA's traveling exhibit, "Target America: Drug Traffickers, Terrorists, and You" don't quite convey the truly repugnant nature of this taxpayer- and government-contractor-funded display of drug war hysteria. Originally created in 2002, the exhibit debuted in a newly expanded version on September 14 in the lobby of One Times Square—the famous triangular building in arguably the busiest intersection in America—and there it will stay until January 2005, courtesy of the folks at the DEA, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the biometric technology maker CrossMatch, and many others.

Target America is intended to underscore how "narco-terrorism is only one of the many costs and consequences to society of illegal drug abuse." To that end, the exhibit features a mangled 1994 Thunderbird that reportedly blew up during a methamphetamine run. Titled "What Remains," the installation features pictures of children and spouses and several tricycles strewn around for effect. Completing the grim scene is an endless TV loop that features punk rock icon Henry Rollins solemnly reminding anyone passing by that meth kills.

Other installations include "short histories" of the cocaine and opium trade. Whatever the creators intended, these brief accounts do little more than prove the uselessness of trying to ban intoxicants that people have wanted to use throughout recorded history. The history of cocaine—which notes that people have used it for over 4,000 years!—fairly screams that coke has always been it. Similarly, the history of opium traces that drug's origins back to 3,400 B.C. The unintended message to visitors: You might as well try to keep the sun from rising as try to keep people from these things. Far from documenting the need for such eradication efforts, the histories reveal them to be Sisyphean tasks—and not particularly heroic ones at that.

In the end, the exhibit's reason for being is to equate casual drug use with "narco-terrorism"—and it's that equation which sets a new standard in government mendacity. (Well, perhaps not exactly new: This message was pioneered by a post-9/11 series of television ads produced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy that rightly elicited widespread derision.) The idea here is that terrorist groups sometimes traffic in illegal drugs to fund their deadly activities; if you use illegal drugs, then you are complicit in terrorist actions.

Like any good propaganda claim, it's not so much flat-out wrong as it is woefully—and purposefully—incomplete and misdirected. Some terrorist groups have indeed trafficked in illegal drugs because of the huge, black market profits involved and the lack of legal oversight. Similarly, drug traffickers (especially in Latin America) have committed acts of terrorism to protect their trade. Needless to say, the one clear solution to such problems is nowhere discussed in "Target America." If the drug trade were legalized, black market profits—and violence—would disappear. When is the last time terrorists used, say, the tobacco trade to finance their operations?

Yet just a few miles uptown from the site of the demolished World Trade Center, "Target America" links the drug trade with the 9/11 attacks in a way that is simultaneously vague, evasive, and unmistakable. Its official account of drug-related terrorism includes such acts as the 1975 bombing of a Wall Street bar by Puerto Rican separatists and the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979—events that, however horrific, had nothing to do with drug trade. Indeed, "Target America" explicitly acknowledges that drug money is not the only source for terrorism funding—even as all of its images strive to create the impression that a Midwestern meth kitchen is somehow a branch office of al Qaeda.

The focal point of "Target America" is an evocative hunk of wreckage from Ground Zero—of twisted metal, concrete, and wire—that features an endless tape loop of news broadcasts about the 9/11 attacks. Nearby displays feature intercut photos of the attacks, of Bin Laden, of meth labs, of drug users. The intended messages are unmistakable:If you've smoked a joint, then you are implicated in one of the most horrific mass murders in world history. If you are against the drug war, then you are for the terrorists.

As Drug Policy Alliance head Ethan Nadelman has asked rhetorically, "With this exhibit, is the DEA saying that Governor George Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, and hundreds of thousands of other New Yorkers who have used illegal drugs are responsible for [9/11] and other acts of terrorism?"

The short answer is a barely qualified yes. "While not always involving the same groups, drugs and terror frequently flourish in the same environments," reads part of the exhibit's text. "It is no small wonder...that opium production and terrorism flourishes in Afghanistan, just as coca production and terrorism flourish in other countries such as Colombia."

But you could just as easily point out that it is no small wonder that drug prohibition and terrorism—and all other sorts of criminal behavior—flourish in the same environments.

The brightest ray of hope regarding "Target America"? When I spent 30 minutes or so checking out the exhibit on a recent weekday morning, I was the only visitor. The rest of New York was far too busy to bother with such a display. And, one assumes, far too smart to buy its message.

Nick Gillespie is editor-in-chief of Reason and the editor of Choice: The Best of Reason.

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Alien Space Signal

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

Fear became the ultimate tool of this government - V.

 

Unregistered420

would people be buying their herb if everyone was growing it in their back yard, and had huge buds just laying around all over the place?

i don't think so.


do they think people are too retarded to realize that prohibition forces people onto the plack market?

and if drugs were legal, and not a bad thing, the pharmaceutical companies would be making mass ammounts of $$ making safer alternatives to crack herion and speed(one molecule from ritalin) and other things for people to be able to responsibly use in safer ways (sprays, patches).

apparently this is all too complicated for them.

PotShot

That is good to see, I was wondering if anybody was even checking this thing out. I wonder how long before the government realizes that the populace is not falling for their crap anymore(hopefully *smirk*).

Of all the words written about this "narco-terrorism" nonsense, I think this paragragh sums up the situtation nice and neatly. That is, the idea "Remove the Black Market, Legalize Drugs." I will continue to repeat that untill drugs are legalized, or I am convinced of a different path(somehow).

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xxdr_zombiexx

FBI: Cigarette-Smugglers Funded Terrorism

Terrorists have already used cigarette smuggling to finance terra... Cigarette taxation has gotten excessive to the point of being prohibition and the dynamics of prohibition surfaced.

Google Search: Terrorist + cigarette smuggling

Plainsman1963

Terrorism and Copyright infringement.

Of course, if we just legalized copyright infringement and theft of intellectual property that would stop, right?

While I agree that a lot of the problems dealing with criminality and drugs can be eliminated by legalizing them, I think it would be foolhardy to think that just because something is legalized, all problems will disappear.

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"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe

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solutions

Pretty ironic how Afghanistans opium production has exploded since the US led invasion. It's no small wonder....

Interesting to see the amount of "special interest" sponsoring Target America (what's in a name..) for instance Bensinger, DuPont & Associates:

"BDA, a leading authority on promoting a drug free workplace, has special expertise with the very real problems of drug and alcohol abuse. We provide consultation on all phases of policy and program development, implementation and administration."

There's Crossmatch Technologies:

"Cross Match provides Commercial, Federal, Aviation, Law Enforcement, Nonprofit and Global organizations with biometrics identification products that protect people, buildings, equipment and computers against crime and terrorism.

Cross Match is quickly becoming the biometrics provider of choice in the US and overseas. Our high quality and virtually indestructible digital fingerprint and palm print capture devices are being used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the US Bureau of Prisons, US Marshals, the US Army, 115 airports, Merrill Lynch, Federal Express, the Singapore government, and many law enforcement agencies around the world."

But my favorite has to be Mallinckrodt, Inc:

"Our Generic Pharmaceuticals business possesses the unique capability to manufacture many of our prescription pharmaceuticals from active ingredient to finished product. Controlling all facets of pharmaceutical production means unmatched quality, secure supply, and competitive pricing for our customers and ultimately, for the patient.

We are one of a select few companies that are able to produce Schedule II through IV controlled substances. Our commitment to pain management products is reflected in our vast line of generic analgesics that includes medications for mild to severe pain.

Drug addiction (including alcohol) is the single largest public health problem in the U.S. The combined economic impact is estimated in the billions. Over the years, a system of regulatory agencies, medical organizations, treatment clinics, and patient advocacy groups has evolved to successfully return millions of opioid-addicted persons to productive lives through the application of methadone therapy.

Mallinckrodt is a leading supplier of therapeutic products for treating opioid addiction. From the manufacture of raw material to production of the final dosage form, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Addiction Treatment business serves the need for this important therapeutic modality. Our Methadose® brand of methadone hydrochloride is available in liquid, tablet and powder forms to meet all prescribing needs. Our Depade® brand of naltrexone hydrochloride tablets, USP is available in a 50mg strength as well as a new 25mg and 100mg strength.

Mallinckrodt's commitment to the field of addiction medicine and therapy is evidenced by our sponsorship and support of leading scientific, medical, and social service organizations and publications."

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3 monkeys sitting under a coconut tree
discussing things as they are set to be
Said one to the other, now listen you two
there's a strange rumor that can't be true
they say man was descended from our noble race
but the very idea is a big disgrace
no monkey ever deserted his wife
or her baby to ruin their lives.
Damian Marley - Educated Fools

Lerkess

Next time i go to new york im going to check this place out just for ****s and giggles (unless it costs more then 5$). I need to see this propaganda museaum for my self.

smoking_joe_lee

Since Osama bin Laden used profits from the family construction company it must mean that if anyone hires a construction company they are supporting INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM!!!

Puffer

The Target America text that reads, "It is no small wonder...that opium production and terrorism flourishes in Afghanistan, just as coca production and terrorism flourish in other countries such as Colombia," should be amended to include, “because the CIA needs the clandestine profits derived therefrom to fund covert operations throughout the world.”

Anyone who wants to attribute blame for terrorism should start with the CIA and work their way down. The CIA has armed, trained, funded or otherwise supported various groups in third-world countries around the globe, from Laotian and Cambodian warlords to South American contras. Many of these covert operations, or some aspects of them, come back to haunt us.

The real narco-terrorists are the anti-(some)drug zealots who created the conditions needed to support a drug war, and who then brought that war home to the American people. If the DEA is really serious about ending drug trafficking (and thus bring about an end to the drug war), they’ll put muzzles on their spokespeople, put a short leash with a choke chain on the CIA, and let saner, more enlightened people devise a workable plan

In the same way that alcohol prohibition created black markets that made bootlegging profitable for 13 years, so, too, has marijuana prohibition created black markets that have made illicit trade in marijuana so profitable for the past 67 years. You’d think that 80 years of prohibition would be long enough for even the densest people to realize that prohibition has never worked, and that it never will.

But, noooo! Our fearsome-but-not-wise leaders in Washington persist. Like mindless Energizer bunnies (and hapless students, employees and athletes all around the country), they just keep on going, and going . . ..

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Just say "know" to marijuana!