Propaganda Subverts Culpability

To the Editors:

When we approach issues that reach as far and permeate as deeply as terrorism, drugs, foreign intervention and propaganda, it is essential that we explore them as fully as possible. Otherwise, we risk ignoring crucial elements that must be acknowledged if we are to decisively alter these policies’ impact on society.
Thus, the problem with Noah Heller’s Feb. 22 letter to the Review is the failure to recognize the consequences of the government’s decision to broadcast ads equating the purchase of illegal drugs with the support of terrorism.
Heller argues that “the problem can only be dealt with if individuals begin to take personal reasonability for their actions. That is exactly what the new ad campaign is trying to do.”
On the contrary, that is the very last intention of this campaign. Instead, it is yet another saddening example of members of the Bush junta attempting to divert attention from their own complicity in the ever increasing trampling of human rights across the globe. Right now peace, justice, freedom and democracy are being pillaged in our names in the interest of a sense of security and safety that is neither secure nor safe.
Yes, we must redouble our efforts to prevent drug use. We must recognize the reality that drug addiction does exist and promote viable alternatives, and we must do so while simultaneously removing the stigma currently associated with drug use. It is essential that we implement a restructuring of our society that prioritizes education, a worker-friendly economy, civil rights and adequate recreational opportunities so that drugs will not have the same allure. In the meantime, decriminalization is essential so that genuine treatment can be pursued openly and proudly.
However, the current ad campaign threatens this possibility, and consequently threatens the possibility for individuals to take responsibility for their drug use. Meanwhile, it further distorts our government’s own role in supporting the violence associated with the drug trade. In just one well-documented example, we could look at the CIA’s introduction of crack cocaine into California. In that case, this extremely addictive drug was sold to support the Contras in Nicaragua. Without delving into the disparity in sentencing laws between crack and powder cocaine, or the further complexities of the Iran-Contra scandal, we can recognize how deploring such actions are. It would be naïve to assume that similar activities are not currently underway.
Furthermore, we must question who and what really is to blame for the sort of violence that has “destroyed Bogota.” We can draw on one of the classic examples used by drug-law reform advocates to support decriminalization of drug use: Prohibition.
As we know from that case, it was the criminalization of alcohol consumption and the lack of a regulatory apparatus for its distribution that allowed violent mobsters such as Al Capone to terrorize Chicago and other cities. While other factors were involved, as are currently involved in Colombia, the profits derived from alcohol smuggling were central to these gangs’ operations, just as cocaine and heroin profits are essential for the operation of modern-day syndicates. However, it was not the demand for alcohol that spawned these profits, but rather the lack of price controls or any regulation beyond the token police or FBI raid.
Regardless of the reality that Plan Colombia is not really about drugs, we can see a similar effect here. Certainly, legislation and lobbying are two of many effective tools for activists to oppose a policy as undemocratic as Plan Colombia, but they are limited by the pressures legislators face. Moreover, the effectiveness of any legislation is severely hampered by these ads given the present political atmosphere — especially during an election year — wherein it could be extremely risky to oppose legislation that our propaganda machine is selling as a tool to fight terrorism.
As Göebbels’ ghost creeps into our airwaves we must demand truth, we must demand accountability and we must demand justice.

–Bill Lascher
College senior