[fsloth]

I have no idea if gangsters partake in lobbying but I find it hard to believe it would be the main cause for the continuing policies. Some hold the view that the war on drugs is mainly ideological. Chomsky has quite a critical view of the matter. E.g.

"So there are two possibilities: Either those conducting the Drug War are lunatics, or they have another purpose."

http://hightimes.com/read/high-times-interview-noam-chomsky

[Synaesthesia]

What's interesting is that the CIA has been proven to be involved in the drug trade, and they need untraceable money for covert operations quite frequently. Also this trade is so lucrative, that massive banks are quite involved in it too.

What's more, large corporations in the US are py directly involve in selling dangerous narcotics around the world, it's called to tobacco and it's the most lethal drug sold in the world.

It's interesting, Chomsky points out that we in the US feel entitled to send helicopters to spray coca crops and troops into Colombia to burn coca crops etc. Well hard drugs kill not even 1% of the amount of people tobacco kills, so what if China were to send helicopters and troops to destroy tobacco plantations in Virginia? Would that be acceptable?

[mindslight]

You know the cops, they got a network for the toxic rock!

Nearly a hundred comments and this seems to be the only reference to this major facet of the drug "war". It's amazing how short-term and steered "our" attention span is.

And of course now we've got a new instance of the familiar pattern - a Heroin epidemic a decade after beginning colonization of Afghanistan...

[lm______]

And it happens at all levels of dealing too, not just the CIA flying in bricks... I know people who have been robbed by the cops for drugs.

One friend got off with only a warning for having 10 ounces of high-grade weed, which were then "confiscated". Another, who has been selling cocaine since his mid-teens, begrudgingly gives out 8-balls to a few cops that recognize his cars and pull him over at any opportunity.

[user_0001]

Whilst US made tobacco certainly does kill many Chinese, the vast majority of it is Chinese tobacco. The cheap <50c a packet type

[talmand]

In those cases, a government destroying drug crops is not about saving lives, it's about money. Illegal drug cartels do not pay taxes, tobacco plantations in Virginia do.

[ethbro]

This sounds like another argument for marijuana plantations in Virginia.

[talmand]

That concept has already started in the US. One of the reasons? Tax revenue.

[kawa]

Politics works on a combination of public opinion and donations to candidates and parties. If you have a lot of money, it's quite easy to move things a bit in the direction you want. Also here, you're doing it for a "good cause", because we all know that drugs are bad and everybody should think of the children, etc...

So of course many people don't suspect bad intentions here, maybe even many politicians or organizations which are on the receiving end of a donation, which originated from drug money.

Of course there are some other reasons too, but considering the amount of stupidity which is necessary to really believe that the "war on drugs" can be won, it's quite unlikely that there isn't lots of active lobbying involved to let the war continue as long as possible.

In the end, it's just a very profitable business and the people involved aren't stupid and have lots of money at their disposal. So why shouldn't they do it?

[Consultant32452]

I don't know about the drug cartels but the prison industry definitely lobbies.

[worik]

I'll go with "lunatics"