From: Travis Date: Thu, Dec 18, 2008 Subject: A Scourge Withers
A Scourge Withers December 16, 2008 INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=314322455648854 *War On Drugs:* Something is working in the war on drugs. Prices of cocaine have skyrocketed, purity has fallen, and supply is drying up. Colombia's efforts, now joined by Mexico's, are making a big difference. The news is nearly all bad for global drug traffickers these days. From the jungles of southern Colombia to the dusty border towns of northern Mexico, it's bleak for drug lords. Colombia's FARC narcotraffickers are against the wall, according to Colombia's Semana newspaper. Top drug kingpin Diego Montoya was finally extradited to Miami this week to face justice. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration Monday announced that massive U.S. and Colombian busts of cocaine shipments off the Pacific coast are taking cocaine off the streets here. Drug Czar John Walters noted that one Coast Guard seizure in March took a month's supply of cocaine off the market. But Mexico's entry to the drug war, begun in December 2006 under President Felipe Calderon, has been the most decisive. For years, the U.S. and Colombia battled the traffickers alone, while the traffickers easily escaped through the Caribbean to U.S. markets. Mexico's entry into the drug war has made a difference. They still haven't won it, of course. But they've had a major impact: Cocaine prices have risen 89% over 21 months. Purity is down to 46% from 67%, signaling drug-supply shortages. "There is simply no denying that the government has disrupted the cartels' operations in meaningful ways," according to Stratfor, a private forecaster. It hasn't come cheaply. Mexico has spent $7 billion of its own resources to fight the vicious traffickers, who've left at least 8,000 people dead. Among them, 500 Mexican military and police officers have lost their lives since December 2006. It has not been in vain. "Across the United States, Mexico and Colombia and the transit zones in between, we are crippling the world's leading drug networks," a DEA spokeswoman told AFP. Whether or not you favor the idea of a war on drugs, less cocaine in schoolyards or anywhere is always a good thing. There's no need to help addicts if there's nothing to get addicted to — and nobody's life is diminished by a lack of exposure to drugs. The three lessons of this are, one, a drug war can be won. Two, Mexico and Colombia are no longer merely sources of the drug problem but are actively helping to stamp it out, thereby raising our quality of life. For this, they should be thanked with more drug aid for Mexico and a free-trade treaty for Colombia. And three, only when all sides work together does it become possible to end a scourge no one ever thought it possible to end. 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