p thoughts and notices

Albert Einstein allegedly defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Not many people would expect the current crop of drug warriors to match the intellectual prowess of Mr. Einstein. Still, it is somewhat sad to note that mindless repetition of failed policies seems to be the only answer to the so-called drug problem that civil servants are able to propose.

Two new reports issued by leading drug war agencies confirm yet again that change does not come easy to the empowered bureaucratic mind.

As per a yet-to be released report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the global drug trade is booming, fuelled by the demand from the more than 200 million people worldwide who used illegal narcotics last year. Antonio da Costa, director of the UNODC, said global demand reduction measures in recent years had been lackluster and uninspiring. In 2001 the office estimated that around 180 million people used drugs in the world. It now estimates that the number of users has increased more than 10 per cent, to about 3.5 per cent of the total global population.

At the same time, the US State Department, in a recent report,
effectively shows that demand for drugs has increased in more than three quarters of some 150 countries surveyed, but does note with satisfaction that demand has stabilized (whatever that means) in North America.

So, after decades of prohibition, the demand is still growing. What is there left to do for a professional drug warrior? Let’s see what John Walters, the US drug czar has to say (more or less): “I did not see [the government leaders of] a single nation that I visited believing that drug use is okay. . Well, maybe that says as much about the leaders than it does about their employees. Paraphernalia does wonder if Mr. Walters was including the Taliban, previously funded by the DEA to fight opium, in his somewhat less than scientific survey.

This is where we have to go back to everyone’s favorite mad scientist. Mr. Einstein also said that two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and that he was not sure about the universe. Paraphernalia is not too sure about the universe neither, but is increasingly so about drug warriors?