The 50 Year War That We Lost

Reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and oh, yeah, physical education. These are the things that we raise our kids telling them to focus on in between bouts of video games, movies, television, and our inability to figure out a way to have the energy to spend any real time with them. We depend on luck to raise our kids, luck that they'll do good in school, luck that they'll end up with a great teacher, and luck that we can help provide them with a good education as long as they had the goals in front of them. From the 1950s to today, raising children has become a much more complicated and I dare say, painstaking task, for those that want to keep their kids on a straight and narrow path. Enter in the years of the D.A.R.E. Program, and the colossal failure in the efforts to curb drug use in America.

With all of the distractions and vices that are available to help children run afoul and the increase in single-parent households over the years, it's a miracle that any of the little monsters grow up to be more than hooligans, scoundrels, and rejects of modern society. That said, there are things that have never, nor will they ever, make sense about the country within which we live. Last year, when Donald Trump was running for re-election, he continued on with his "Make America Great Tour" in the same grandiose fashion he ran his first campaign. However, there are many things about America that weren't great, not from the beginning. Right now, I'm going to get into one of those.

Remember that guy? If you don't then perhaps you're too young to read this article but I'll encourage you to continue. That's former President Ronald Reagan. He was President from the beginning of 1981 to 1989 when he was replaced by the first Bush. That's how far this really goes back, at least in my mind. See, under President Reagans' term, the words "Just Say No" became the mantra for the war on illegal drugs. That was in the early eighties. Let's look at where that war led us, and if you're thinking it was like any other war, that it led us nowhere, you're right. The first great enemy in the war on drugs was without a doubt, Pablo Escobar.

At the peak of his era, the leader of the Medellín cartel dominated the world's cocaine trade, earning nearly $420 million dollars a week and securing its' leader a spot as one of the wealthiest men in the world. At one point Escobar was reportedly worth more than $25 billion dollars. He always had ample money to spend, which he did as he supported his lavish lifestyle. Escobar had it all-private planes, luxurious homes, and over-the-top parties. He had so much money that in the late 80s, before his downfall, he offered to pay off his country's debt of $10 billion dollars if he would be exempt from any extradition treaties with other nations, specifically the U.S.

Escobar was so powerful that in 1991 he offered to turn himself over to the authorities in Columbia on the condition that he was allowed to build his own prison. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, Columbian officials agreed to his conditions and Escobar built a rather nice prison for himself to be detained. The result, the La Catedral, not only had a nightclub, a sauna, a waterfall, and a soccer field, but it also had telephones, computers, and fax machines. It wasn't until after Escobar tortured and killed two cartel members that were also there, detained or visiting, that officials decided to move him to a less personalized prison. Escobar escaped before he was captured and then was killed in December of 1993, although some believed he took his own life rather than being captured.

By the end of the 1980s, the first decade of the American "War on Drugs" Pablo Escobar and the cartel supplied 80% of the world's cocaine. He was in charge of an operation, an empire, that smuggled approximately 15 tons of cocaine into the United States, per day. According to journalist Ioan Grillo, under Pablo Escobar's leadership, the cartel smuggled most of its cocaine straight over the Florida coast. "It was a nine-hundred-mile run from the north coast of Columbia and was simply wide-open," Grillo wrote.

The most shameful thing about the Pablo Escobar story might well be the press coverage of the man. Escobar made the Forbes magazine list of international billionaires for seven years in a row. From 1987 on it was being publicized by even respected magazines, that Escobar was a huge financial success, even giving him the distinction of making it into the top ten when he took the number 7 spot in 1989.

Even before Reagan's era, in 1971 President Richard Nixon declared drugs to be "public enemy number one" and began the "war on drugs" that still continues. If you're like me, and you're a numbers guy, then the war on drugs will go down in history as the longest war in America, as we are in our 50th year. As I'm writing this in June of 2021 I realize what a failure this so-called war has been, as it started before I was born.

Will Oregon be the first domino? On November 3rd, 2020 Orgon became the first state in the United States to officially decriminalize the possession of all drugs. It was all done under measure 110, which was a ballot initiative that passed with 58% of the vote and funded by the Drug Policy Alliance. Since its passing, possession of drugs is called a "civil violation" which is akin to a traffic violation as the only penalty is a $100 fine with no possibility of jail time. A person that is written a citation for a violation of measure 101 can avoid the fine by participating in a health assessment.

In the fifty years since the start of the "War on Drugs," we have gone from a country that wanted to put an end to illegal narcotics and the criminal enterprises that they support, to a country that is seeing the decriminalization of drugs, effectively making them legal. What does this say to our children? What does this do for our children's future?

"I think it sends a really bad message to them and influences their perception of the risks."

Defense Attorney

James O'Rourke, October 2020

States that legalized marijuana, however, haven't seen adolescent use rising with any significance. Marijuana use in some states declined amongst younger teens, but not college-aged Americans. This is possibly due to legal, regulated marijuana being more difficult to acquire than buying it from the street dealers or "black market."

We've gone from hating drugs and all they stood for, as public perception changed, to tolerating illegal drug use, even condoning it in current times and in some jurisdictions. In 2019, Denver became the first state to decriminalize Spilocybin or "Shrooms".

As the press, periodicals, and the daily news have shown us for fifty years, crime pays. There's little way to say it other than just admit to being a part of the problem. One of my favorite movies of all time makes the lifestyle look appealing and who doesn't love, a come from nothing, rags to riches story? From as early as I can remember, movies and television shows glamorized the life of drug kings by showing their riches, excitement, beautiful clothes, nice cars, and attractive people. My favorite show when I was in high school was about two on the ragged edge, narcotics detectives, and the lifestyles they lived. Always, they were always surrounded, by beautiful people, fast cars, exciting nightlife, and money. One of my favorite actors of all time really played the role well as the up-and-coming drug lord, Nino Brown. I don't care what anyone thinks of the movie, but I wouldn't want my grandkids watching it until they are adults.

With all of the power of the United States government, have you ever wondered how they could lose a drug war against the likes of Pablo Escobar or El Chapo Guzman? Escobar was not an educated man when he entered the criminal underworld of drug trafficking. Guzman didn't attend an ivy league college. These are two men who were willing to do whatever it took to be a success, unfortunately as criminals. After a lifetime in Law Enforcement, seeing deals get made, talking to members of the different generations going back to the sixties opium trade out of the Asian or Golden Triangle, the government has never tried to actually win the war. At best they held the war at bay.

Why has it continued on in the public, changing from an ugly part of society to one that has become so accepted the past ten years? There are a lot of reasons why. The simplest one, the simplest answer, is that as long as America is a nation of drug users, there will always be drug suppliers.

[Testifying in court] I'm not guilty. You're the one that's guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You're the one who's guilty. I mean, c'mon, let's kick the ballistics here: Ain't no Uzi's made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way.

Wesley Snipes as Nino Brown

New Jack City

Even if we stop glamorizing it, we were to be able to slow down the influx of narcotics through closing the borders and grander enforcement, with budgets in the billions, cartels wouldn't be stopped. That is of course if they really wanted to stop them, which remains a subject of debate amongst scholars, politicians, researchers, and conspiracy buffs. However, graphs and statistics tell a different story than you'll ever hear from politicians.

At the end of the day, maybe it was Glen Frey that said it best. If you don't remember the song, hit play below.

"It's the lure of easy money, it's got a very strong appeal"

Glen Frey-Smugglers Blues

The song describes it best, and if you pay attention to the words, there's a lot he's saying that makes sense. From Oliver North and the Iran-Contra scandal to Afghani Heroin starting a resurgence in the US by December of 2001, just six weeks after sending in forces to Afghanistan, this has always been a questionable war because the lure of easy money has a very strong appeal, even if you're office is shaped like an oval.

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