Why do people keep talking about how drugs fund terrorism?
826634
It is assumed that terrorist organizations get funded by running or by being partnered with drug organizations.  I believe it is also assumed that illicit drugs and guns go together (sell drugs, get money, buy guns?).  I don't have a direct answer for you, but rather food for further thought...\n\nNow, I don't know that I've ever seen a connection actually made, but you can hypothesize that a kingpin in America sells cocaine from South America to the street, then he takes the money and buys black market assault weapons here; THEN, he turns around and sells it to terrorists at a bigger profit.\n\nSo, where do the terrorists get the money to buy the guns in the first place, you may ask?  That's where the second part of your question comes into play.  America is only one market amongst many in the world.  Just because we don't have a lot of opium here doesn't mean it isn't prevalent elsewhere.  Perhaps they sell it somewhere else to get the money to buy our guns?\n\nI'm sure the situation is very complex, and perhaps I have the completely wrong answer, but it's a thought.  Some interesting reading can be found in the link below, but take it with a grain of salt until you find corroboration:\n\nhttp://www.pa-chouvy.org/Chouvy-ChinaEurasiaForumQuarterly-2006-AfghanistanOpiumPerspective.html
592648
Simple...Its like the drug addict blaming the people he's stealing money from for his habit!! Billions and billions of dollars are going to these very countries and yet they blame the US for its so called "policies" that cause their problems. Have you ever heard of a single country that "hates" us, refuse foreign aid. I think the reason that they hate us is that we have it and they don't! You know like democrats.
54458
Its not just about money, some just want the status quo to continue, others want to see change happen for safety reasons.  Overall, people are just scared no matter what and war usually makes people think about their own mortality and how precious life can be.  Then there are those that believe in standing up and supporting the country that gave them freedoms that otherwise they wouldn't enjoy elsewhere.  I was anti-war while in high school but I ended up joining the Army and spent the best 5.5 years in my life.  I would do it again if I could.  But I learned also that those that have been to war, don't want it to happen again but they realize that sometimes war is the only answer, talking doesn't always solve it.
588514
Because we have become a world of entitlements.  Every nation has a price tag for their "friendship".  Those that don't can be found on the nations "Countries that Support Terror" list.
718227
Look at the poll numbers...Not everyone does...The numbers decline each and every day...Look at how many liberties have been taken away from us all in the name of fighting terrorism...People buy anything hook, line and sinker, if it is packaged right...
1178799
its weird how people who don't have the faintest idea on what is currently going on in the world are the first to have some political or personal comment on the last headline. right now on yahoo there is a headline on "tainted heroin". who gives a shit if some junky gets a bad dose? there are more problems in africa that we could ever know, go to cnn.com and type in africa and read some of those stories. terrorism is everywhere, but we are only interested with what directly effects us. we as americans are so ignorant to the rest of the worlds SERIOUS problems but somehow we need to warn heroin users about whats going on in the street, are you kidding me? the reason people are enraged about what happened to those guys is the fact that they could be related to any single one of us, a neighbor, somebodys student, their son. i am angry because i am a 23 year old member of the u.s. armed forces and it could have been me. and you people who think about the innocent civilians have a point to a certain extent. but roadside bombs dont make themselves and the sooner you realize that we are fighting iraq as a whole you will be better off. and whatever you do, dont say retailiate against someone who is spreading factual info. those rebels are animals. from the political view this is a war for oil, but the kid on the other side praying he will make it home could care less about gas prices right now.
64714
The goverment? they supply the drugs?
807247
The war on drugs has done nothing except create the black market for drugs, imprisoned many people that have not done any harm to any one and wasted billions and billions of tax dollars.\n\nThis black market is extremely profitable and as such enables criminals to buy assault weapons that they use to "defend" their market zone from competitors. This is where drive by shootings come in and where the little kids are getting shot in the crossfire.\n\nFor the police it is an excuse to violate the rights of anyone they suspect of possession or sale of drugs. If they turn out to be wrong, they just plant some drugs on you that they seized from their last bust.\n\nIf you want to reduce gang violence in the long run, legalize drugs, it eliminates the income source for them to finance their weapons supplies.\n\nIf you want to eliminate 30-40 billion dollars per year out of the budget, legalize drugs and dissolve the DEA, eliminate the need for our troops to be conducting operations in Columbia and elsewhere.\n\nIt cost the taxpayers a minimum of $30,000 per year to keep someone convicted of nothing more than possession or sale of a controlled substance locked up in prison. These people have not committed a violent offense and have harmed no one.\n\nEnd the insanity of drug prohibition.
1123715
Everything but the drugs (I hope) may be true, but the military doesn't start wars in the middle of our streets, they save it for poor unfortunate other countries.  And they don't fight over drug selling territories (something illegal), they fight over oil rights (something mostly legal).\n\nOtherwise, you make an interesting point.  Make sure you vote out the thugs in office next november (another difference, since we don't get a vote in who runs the gangs)!
929635
well a cop once told me they needed drug laws so they can hasve reasonable excuse to bust in \nseems like with terror legislation nowwe can afford to relax on those choosing to self medicate with a plant the war has made equal to the price of gold ,a weed that costs nothing to grow yourself\na politition told me once that paper money is made from hemp fibre ,so the law  is so people cant make thier own money ,i just had to laugh but he was serious ,but we have plastic money and they dont make that plastic from hermp but petrol ,time to ban petro chemical? yea right\na lawyer once told me 20 out of 12 plead guilty and apparently dopers keep the prison ers quiete so that wioont change ,we have legal aid here the average volenteer lawyer on duty makes 300 ,per guilty plea on a good day of comunity service he makes 6000 ,the govt makes 18,000 ,so what those 2/3 rds of lawyers going to do for money ,lawyers wont help ,drug laws all they know ,\ndrug law works by precident ,ie a higher court ruled it thus its now law ,the preceedents have been made on all grounds of apeal a long time ago ,that deems a plant a drug ,despite it clearly beingf a compound of chemicals 1600 plus a single drug thc ,\nthe precedent has deemed a plant ,ie legally a fungable despite clearly being whilst attatched to the ground thus part of the land ie a fixture , thus only allowed to be made a fungable by the tennents permission\nthe farce goes on and on the injustice rolls on we had a drug war to demonise drug use brought aboput because petro chemical users wanted to bankrupt and take over the hemp fibre and oil marketts ,it used the fbi and hoover ,via the hurst chain to make dupoint brothers rich enough to make the nuclear bomd ,to allow the murder of our planit ans eventuall sponser and paymasyer of those oil rich shieks who buy our weopons of mutual destraction\nso good luck ,it will never happen.
942870
You are more likely to be a victim of crime than terrorism. This just shows you where their priorities lie. Scaremongering rather than solving.
872311
Because its not your money.  They believe the money belongs to whoever, "needs it", and not to the person that earned it.  They only way they can make sure it is distributed to their supporters to to first take it away from the people that actually earned it.
607571
Most illegal drugs are cultivated by various communist or terrorist groups using slave labor.  Anyone who refuses is murdered.  Actually, murder, torture, rape etc. are routinely used to keep the slaves intimidated so they don't even think of causing trouble.  In places like North Korea and Cuba, its the government doing this to its people.  In places like Mexico and Columbia, various criminals do this while the local governments and police are powerless to stop them.  The drug money supplied by rich jackasses who do drugs, in the US and europe simply makes them too powerful to stop.
897179
No, If somebody wants to get high they will find a way. Whether it is on OTC, prescription, or illegal drugs, they will find a way. \n\nThere is no need to to not inform people who might benefit, in order to keep people who might misuse information from knowing.
1182964
Terrorism exists as a cheap and pretty reliable political instrument. It is very easy to get started: in every society there are desperate people who, if worked well with and encouraged enough, may constitute a striking force which can be used by security service of a country as a pressure tool towrds the object country. There is a sophisticated switch on/off mechanism. This is classic, if You want a state-sponsored terrorism.\nThere is another one which is totally unmanageable. It is a new wave we have today. How it works? Issue a fatwa in Internet and proclaim, for instance that killing Americans may bring a direct way to paradise - Paradise NOW! People in remoted areas get inspired and prepare an attack without relying on anyone - what they need is some technical, religious and maybe financial aid. That's it - a hotel is blown up into pieces by a European looking guy without any beard or turban.\nWhy this exists? It is a way of self-expression for those who are committed and ambidextrous tool for power-interested groups/governments.
703206
And prescritpion drugs aren't harmful? That's why the drug makers have to announce all side effects of a new drug. Putting anything in your body that was not there in the first place is harmful. But it's not about that.... It's about money!! The government is making billions off of lobbyists, kickbacks and exorbitant costs to consumers. The drug war is a profit machine.
118009
That is a great question - you hit the nail totally on the head at the absolute ridiculousness of the supposed "war on drugs". \n\nWhy are we telling people not to take "illegal" drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, etc., when "legal" drugs such as prozac, seroxat and zoloft are used in pretty much exactly the same way.\n\nIt comes down to money and control. Pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars from psychiatric drugs and GPs seem to hand them out to people like candy. And what do these drugs actually do? They certainly do not cure anyone of anything. Mental illnesses are not physical diseases. Taking prozac for "depression" is not like taking insulin for diabetes. Psychiatry is total junkscience. All these drugs do is simply change the normal chemistry of the brain to create a false psychological state. Long-term use, like any other drug, can be seriously harmful, both physically and mentally, and yet many people swear by them as some sort of modern day wonder. These same people, i'm guessing, at the same time, are probably telling their kids about the dangers of smoking weed or snorting coke...! It's totally crazy.\n\nAll psychoactive drugs are harmful, whether "legal" or "illegal". Instead of fussing about the legality and costs of recreational drugs, or being blinded by the giant pharmaceutical companies' propaganda regarding "psychiatric medications", governments should look into what is missing in society for people to turn to mind-affecting drugs in the first place.\n\nMike\n\n--\nDecoding Psychiatric Propaganda\nhttp://groups.msn.com/psychbusters\n\n\n--------------\nNOTE ADDED: 03 Feb 2006\nFairyNanook, Of course... anyone who has even the slightest criticism of Psychiatry must be a Scientologist! LOL! Do me a favour! And as for your claim that "depression is a physical disease, just like every other disease out there" I would simply say this: PROVE IT! Provide me with some SCIENTIFIC PROOF! No one has been able to so far, including the NIMH, NAMI or the American Psychiatric Association. Only last July did the president of the APA, Dr. Steven Sharfstein admit that "We do not have a clean-cut lab test". Check the DSM IV and it even says it in there. There is no evidence that ANY mental illness is a physical disease. If you have been told differently then know this: YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO. Check http://groups.msn.com/psychbusters for more info.