The War on Prosperity
For a great example of what the War on Drugs does to developing economies, check out this Reuters report on the Swaziland front in the war.
Police in impoverished Swaziland say that despite dousing acres of towering plants with deadly insecticide, they are losing the war on marijuana to dirt-poor peasants bent on protecting their most lucrative crop.
No official word on whether some of those peasants might be slightly better off than "dirt-poor" if they could take their goods directly to market without having to deal with cartel overlords looking for a cut or police doing their damndest to destroy the crops.
This month in Reason, Toby Muse detailed the futility of the Colombian drug war. In January 2002, Michael Lynch interviewed three former professional drug warriors who soured on the project through first-hand experience.
By the way, I'm Dan Koffler and I'm the Burton Gray memorial intern at Reason this summer. In the fall, I'll be a senior in college; my major is philosophy. I also have a personal blog, which you can peruse here if you're so inclined.
