i just realized i made a few critical typo's earlier. i meant to say Contras in the '80s not Congras in '96 (it was late, what can i say?). sorry about that.

no worries, man.

the irony of this is, of course, that the World Bank and IMF are the ones who go into poor countries and force them to privatize their natural resources (like the Bechtel corporation did in Bolivia in '99) to pay for the debts of the corrupt governments (many of which are in place because of military coups that the US is responsible for either allowing or initiating - see WHINSEC). the people are then forced to turn to alternative means of employment and many turn to the manufacturing of drugs as a way of sustaining their lifestyle in a failing national economy. the CIA then allows the corrupt governments or drug lords to ship their product to the US, and into the lucrative North American market (like they did in '96 to raise money for the anti-government Congras troops in Nicaragua) in exchange for either military favours, money, or valuable resources. meanwhile, the war on drugs back home allows police to crack down even harder on poor, predominantly African American citizens in drug-flooded communities, drastically increase sentences for victimless drug-related crimes, keep the prison system filled to the brim with inmates - the US has the largest prison population in the world, with over 2 million inmates - and the streets clean of the poor, drug-addicted minorities, all the while creating more consumer-friendly cities. who could disagree with that? smalltime (relatively) smugglers like Sam Brown are just symptoms of a fundamentally flawed system. fade86's comment was entirely relevant. the corporations and banks are just as much a part of this mess as the people on the street. if you are concerned with the drug problem in North America, do some reading up on the matter. it is alarming how much of it is controlled, either directly or through negligence, by the very people fighting it.