An Unwinnable War !

Hollywood made a lot of very successful movies based on the days when America was wracked in gangster warfare over prohibition.  Gangsters like Al Capone were as famous to the public as stars like Clark Gable and probably drew more newspaper headlines.  It was also an era that delivered a compelling message that we ignore today.

The American government was induced to ban booze on the grounds that citizens would have a better life without it.  The problem was that most of the public disagreed and this ushered in suppliers who made a mint of money running illicit alcohol which citizens were eager to buy.   The government ramped up police and law and order agencies in an unwinnable battle that eventually saw a law change and prohibition reversed.

Australia - along with the rest of the world - has got itself into a similar unwinnable war on drugs.
Just as in the American prohibition era, there seemed to be a " speakeasy " on every block where knowing citizens could buy a drink.   Finding a " dealer " who sells drugs is equally easy in any Australian suburb.

Law and order crows and makes headlines when it achieves a big drug bust, but that rarely even dents the supply available on the streets.   What is claimed to be the street value of the drugs seized bears no relation to its cost at its source and those seizures are a mild irritant to the peopled who are making astonishing profits from the shipments that evade the authorities.

It seems that the police got lucky this week when they pulled up a young man with a backpack and decided to check his Smartphone.   Curiously, that phone contained many pictures of five dollar notes - and when they looked into his backpack they found it contained $500,000 in cash.

This young man was a courier engaged in the " laundering " of  about  sixteen million of drug profits.  The money would be transferred to various operators in half million dollar lots for them to filter through a legitimate business operation.  To get the correct identification settled the receiver would hand over a five dollar note and its identification number would correspond with that on the courier's phone.

The Australian drug supply is a well coordinated and professional business.   We have " crime families " of great ostentation living the good life and seemingly immune from prosecution.  Those that get busted are usually from the lower ranks and they accept prison time as a necessary outcome in their profession.  They are usually well rewarded, and quickly return to their trade on release.

The big question is how long we intend to continue this charade of declaring most drugs illegal.  A small number of people die of overdose - just as people die because of over consumption of alcohol - but the vast majority of social drug users simply experience the euphoria they seek with no lasting effects.

There is also the lure of the " forbidden fruit " syndrome attracting drug users.  Perhaps a good time to be realistic and relax that prohibition on mild drugs like marijuana.  Continuing an unwinnable war endlessly - makes little sense !