“but because of economic necessity.”
This is, of course, the same argument used for the opium production in Afghanistan. Would it make more sense to spend the drug war money on economic development in these areas?
“Would it make more sense to spend the drug war money on economic development in these areas?”
Do you really think that would stop dirt poor farmers or even not so poor farmers from growing a crop that brings them 500% more money than traditional crops? I suspect that if we invested money in economic development in these areas most of that money would go to only a few people and the rest would be in the same boat they were in before and they’d be doing the same things to make a buck. Maybe I’m just a pessimist, but I don’t think throwing money at these people will help. They’ll take that money and make even more supplying the huge demand for illegal drugs. I think if we went in and bought all the opium currently being produced in Afghanistan they’d just double production and make twice as much money. Or rather a few people would make a killing and the rest would just eke out pretty much the same as they were before. And we don’t really need to worry about Paraguay anyway. They’re producing mostly for the South American market. We could let South American countries invest in economic development for Paraguay and see where that gets them.