War on Drug Supply vs. Education and Treatment on Demand

Where are the dollars for treatment and education for drug and alcohol abuse?  There is unlimited financial recourse for guns, special elite hunter-killer teams, to comb the countryside’s of various foreign countries, and payoffs to corrupt government officials.  There are multi-million dollar contracts with DuPont, and Monsanto chemical companies, among others, to continue producing herbicides, which are illegal to use in the United States, to spray on foreign countries.  This is done with only tacit approval by the foreign governments involved, after being coerced by withholding loans and subsidies already promised.

The United States average citizen wonders why we are so disliked around the world.  Why do these countries want to bite the hand that feeds them?  The foreign counties involved in the war on drugs, which the US made become involved, are violated and roughly treated as a whole population, because these countries have a few bad apples.  The US approach abroad is it is better to cut the whole apple tree down, if so much as a single worm is found.  Collateral damage, a politically correct term developed here in the USA to make our atrocities more palatable during dinner hour news broadcasts, in the United States, does not lessen the horrendous acts of population poisoning, intimidation, and terror, our government is reigning down on drug producing countries.

It is wrong to attack on foreign soil without a declared war authorized by Congress.  Even if war was authorized, our abysmal treatment of innocent populations within these countries is shameful.  How much does it cost to send Americas best-trained soldiers, top of the line electronic surveillance equipment, AWACS aircraft, as well as Space satellite photography capability, and all the support elements, to utilize effectively these assets?

The answer is, a hell of a lot more money than it would cost to treat and educate about, and against drug use.  It would cost less money to let the entire non-violent drug and alcohol offenders who wanted an opportunity to get out of jail and go into government sponsored long term treatment recovery programs, have an opportunity at recovery.  Attacking the drug problem from the demand side of the equation, because attacking from the supply side, has always been and will always be an abysmal failure.

The insurance companies have drastically cut benefits for drug and alcohol treatment.  Their excuse is because the insurance company can see no significant advantage in longer more costly treatment.  The facts are there is a high relapse rate with treatment centers.  This is a disease of addiction and not a boil to be lanced off someone’s butt.  This is a mental disease, and by its very nature often additional treatment for some people is required.  With the proper funding, all the knowledge presently collected and used to deny claims for long-term drug treatment, could be used and funded to make treatment better.  The billions of dollars left over from stopping the current atrocities our DEA is doing around the world, could be used to bring drug awareness into schools, again with the idea of winning against the scourge of drugs on our communities through a lower demand.

Drugs are not ever going to disappear from society, or not be abused.  An effective campaign can reduce the popularity, and treat those with the disease of addiction.