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The Underground Empire Strikes Back
| Article
# : |
11520 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1986 |
2,194 Words |
| Author
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March Bell
March Bell is legislative counsel for the National Freedom
Institute. He formerly served as counsel to the Senate
Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism. |
We are losing the war on drugs and losing badly, not just in our neighborhoods, school yards, and workplaces, but at the foreign policy and national security level.
Explanations and solutions for the drug problem range from the Reverend Jesse Jackson's "say no" campaign to the call for stiff penalties for users. President Reagan, acting on the theory that "big is better," wants the U.S. military involved. Meanwhile, countries of origin insist they are doing all they can to curb production and that if U.S. demand were lessened, the narcotics business would shrink accordingly.
James Mills, author of The Underground Empire (Doubleday, 1986), offers a new and plausible answer. Mills believes that narcotics organizations have formed secret alliances for mutual benefit with national governments. The power, wealth, and position of government officials place them well beyond the reach of traditional buy-bust-and-prosecute law enforcement.
Mills argues that the rarified air of international diplomacy makes U.S. relationships with foreign government officials the sole domain of the Department of State. Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) simply do not bust vice presidents of foreign countries.
Mills' views were formed over a five-year period during which he personally shadowed a little known anti-narcotics unit called Centac.
Evidence emerges
The
... (1998 of 14216 Characters)
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