Guess who is winning the war on drugs?

Muggings, theft, robbery, larceny, homicide, slayings, shootings, torture, foul play, felony, contract killing, knifings, kidnapping, massacre, lynching, strangulation, suffocation, drownings, political corruption, insanity, depression, suicide, amorality, arson, prostitution, and yes, the enemy of the world, terrorism, thanks to the almighty dollar.

Terrorism, you say? Uh huh. Where do you think organizations such as FARC, Hezbollah, and al Qaida get a significant amount of money to buy weapons, pay travel expenses, and support their families?

Three guesses, and the first two don't count. Correctomundo -- drug trafficking!

The USA is making a valiant, noble, but virtually futile attempt to resolve this social disease that threatens the very fiber of life in America.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has over 11,000 employees dedicated to the destruction of drug rings and drug cartels.

Customs and Border Patrol, with approximately 40,000 employees, have the awesome responsibility of inspecting millions of tons of cargo and millions of foreigners entering our country by land, sea, and air.

The FBI and Interpol, the worldwide police organization, try their best to aid in the drug war effort.

Congress has budgeted $2.15 billion to fund the War on Drugs during 2005.

Two point fifteen billions dollars, against $400 to $500 billion in illicit drug sales in the USA and around the world.

Statistics gathered in 1999, six years ago, indicate that 15 million Americans used illicit drugs. Forty-one percent of high school seniors and 18 percent of eighth graders have used illicit drugs.

Use of cigarettes and marijuana and consumption of alcohol among high school students is rampant.

Recently, I came across a well-intended e-mail sent by a respected Laredoan warning acquaintances and friends to be aware of the eminent danger of car jackings and purported discreet homicides allegedly committed by persons somehow connected to drug trafficking.

The car jackings have actually been the “talk of the town,” confirmed by conversations at coffee klatsches and private parties. However, the discreet homicides are so hush-hush that none have been reported to the police.

I conducted an obviously amateur investigation by making phone calls to our local daily newspaper and the police force offices, but was not able to come up with any evidence of a crime spree.

My conclusion was and is that in spite of the seeming validity of a car jacking or two, the real crime spree in Nuevo Laredo is beginning to create paranoia with the affluent citizenry of Laredo .

In conclusion: What is the solution to this horrendous problem?

Set up clinics devoted to dispensing drugs to addicts, continue a stepped-up campaign of drug use prevention. Yes -- a step by step program of legalizing the use of drugs, thereby reducing the price of drugs and increasing the availability of these mind-bending drugs on a controlled basis.

If we don't initiate this type of legalization of drugs, we will never win the War on Drugs.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

P.S. Check out www.warondrugs.com to get loads of information on drug trafficking, prevention programs, research on the subject, and how to keep informed on this pitiful ongoing event.