in memory of bill hicks...

i was reading yesterday about the destruction of opium poppy crops in afghanistan, where the justification is that it's the primary source of funding for the taliban.

i just don't know. i'm sure that instead of wiping them out, the americans could benefit from yet another natural resource and fund themselves instead. they'd probably do that if the narcotics agency didn't see it as a threat to society.

the truth is, all cultures and societies throughout the ages have used various forms of narcotics, and it seems kind of ridiculous to presume that our generation will be the one to put a stop to it. or should be the one, as some - if not all - of the best works (art, music and literature being the three things that come to mind first) we've produced were inspired by these "enemies of the state".

we have no way to predict what would happen if drugs suddenly ceased to be available on mass - although a hell of a lot of people with massive withdrawal symptoms would be an interesting experiment in and of itself. and if we're wiping out all the "bad" drugs, and we're on our way to ridding ourselves of cigarettes, is alcohol next on the agenda?

i'm going to repeat a concept from a bunch of much smarter people than myself: all drugs need to be controlled, and the best way to do that from a government perspective is to a) legalize and b) sell in specific places (bring back the opium den) and c) demand a minimum age and level of financial security^*.

you want a real war on drugs? undercut all the dealers and make them worthless. increase your GNP and GDP by producing and exporting.
everyone wins.
drug safety increases, there will be less poverty due to drug habits, and we'll have solved a whole bunch of problems simultaneously and we can stop squandering resources in wasting resources.

sure, this won't solve all the problems. there'll always be homeless glue-sniffers (ha! another legal drug), but a solution that can blanket the majority is better than a non-existent "perfect" one. we're humans, we don't need perfection any way.

and there certainly isn't any utopia that we're capable of creating. we're just a troop of dancing monkeys.

^* if you demand a basic background check from each user to verify that they're not financing their habit with theft or placing themselves below the poverty line then we're hitting a few birds with one stone.
in addition, drugs would suddenly become an incentive for people to make themselves economically viable.