Drug users are terrorists?

I’m inspired to write this post after reading this. The author acknowledges two solutions to breaking the connection between opium and terrorism: “decriminalization of drugs or much more aggressive policing”. Equating drug users with terrorism is nothing new. The Bush administration ran ads during the Superbowl equating marijuana smokers to terrorists. Goodness! I better put down my beer bong and my crack pipe* and stop supporting the filthy terrorists. I mean, this couldn’t be a gross oversimplification of a complex issue, could it? Maybe we should run commercials equating drug prohibition with terrorism. Sales of alcohol and tobacco don’t support terrorism, since terrorists could never provide a cheaper product than the legal market. It just goes to show how deeply the drug prohibition mentality is entrenched in society when a thread about the connection between opium and the Taliban debates the "morality” of legalizing drugs. What does morality have to do with it? I thought we were talking about taking profit away from terrorists. Are we so committed to a failed ideology that we can’t even have an honest debate about this issue without talking about morality? I don’t agree with the morality of Catholicism (or any other religion) but I sure would never suggest making the practice of worshipping illegal. If you really believe that the law has any impact on the habits of drug users, you are sorely mistaken. It’s not as though there are thousands of people waiting for the day when they can start a dangerous drug addiction as soon as they get government permission. Rates of drug use seem unaffected by our laws. Instead of wasting more money on a failed policy we need to talk seriously about hitting terrorists where it really hurts – in the pocket book. “Much more aggressive policing” is just more of the same failed and wasteful policy that has had no impact on use rates. Unfortunately, none of the federal political parties in this country has had the courage to tackle this divisive and controversial issue. Salon ran an excellent piece about the Superbowl ads. Read it here. They assert (quite convincingly) that all consumers of gasoline are aiding and abetting terrorism. Salon rules! * I stole that bit from Futurama. I watch entirely too much television. *This is what a filthy terrorist looks like.