The confiscation of a shipment of heroin will not affect the lives or health of any of the addicts at the other end, but just one cured person means a changed life. Burning a stash is nothing but a symbolic measure that costs millions of dollars. Each military aircraft flight costs tens of thousands. Enough to treat every single addict in the US at the very least. The shift of focus needs to be from domestic to global concerns.
Drugs are no longer a moral issue, but an economic one and economics are irreversibly global.
Some reappraisal of what is meant by illegal narcotics, and how governments position themselves around them, cannot be avoided. Unless measures are taken to regulate this entity and harness the power and money that drives it, the political landscape of the next millennium will be increasingly disturbed. To have the state as dealer may seem a far-fetched scenario, but unless this position is adapted in part for social or medical reasons, it will have to be adopted in full for political ones. It may soon be the only way a government can guarantee its authority. All rights reserved.