I would start carefully looking in the findings of this subcomittee. A 1989 Senate Foreign Relations Committee looked in to the issue of the CIA involvement with cocain trafficking. Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of that sub-Committee, had this to say ... "There is no question in my mind that people affiliated with, or on the payroll of the CIA were involved in drug trafficking while involved in support of the Contras, but it is also important to note that we never found any evidence to suggest that these traffickers ever targeted any one geographic area or population group." Alfred W. McCoy a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (He earned his B.A. from Columbia College and his Ph.D in Southeastern Asian history from Yale University.) has also researched this issue extensively. Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and English Professor at the University of California, Berkeley has also written papers on the same research. There are several congressmen who have called for hearings into this matter, but don't expect there to be any 'proof' found in any mainstream fashion. Just drop the matter. It is crazy to think the CIA would have any involvement in drugs. You are better off knowing nothing about this. Just like I don't know anything.
I thought the CIA bit was pretty common knowledge. And to anyone who doubts that the government is capable of doing any of these things, I suggest you read about Operation Northwoods.
I will look for the actual source, but the last UN numbers that I saw showed global sales in the neighborhood of $400 billion, which is more than the entire licit pharmaceutical industry and was only slightly behind the oil industry. I am sure oil has bigger numbers these days with ~$100 per barrel oil, but drugs are a significant industry and 10% of global trade does not sound that far out.
The value of the illicit drug market is extremely difficult to estimate. The few serious attempts which have been made have resulted in widely varying figures. In the first excerpt above, from the Miami Herald, the figure of $400 billion was given. That estimate can be found in a United Nations publication issued in 1998, "Economic and Social Consequences of Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking," and was until early in 2005 cited in Drug War Facts. According to the UN in 1998: "With estimates of $100 billion to $110 billion for heroin, $110 billion to $130 billion for cocaine, $75 billion for cannabis and $60 billion for synthetic drugs, the probable global figure for the total illicit drug industry would be approximately $360 billion. Given the conservative bias in some of the estimates for individual substances, a turnover of around $400 billion per annum is considered realistic. This figure can be compared to estimates of more than $500 billion which are based solely on the average of minimum and maximum prices in the United States." Source: United Nations Drug Control Program, "Economic and Social Consequences of Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking," Technical Series No. 6, 1998, p. 55
lol - you are clueless. just keep lol'ing though - that seems to be all you naysayers are capable of. its all good. go back to bed.
how about oliver north? - in his involvement w/ the contras he was directly tied to cocaine trafficking - in addition to the illegal weapons smuggling. i remember hearing in the 80's about how it was the cia who was bringing crack to the inner-cities and even as a 10 year old kid i recognized that my government was very capable of such things. i guess ive always been a cynic (or a realist). http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm An August, 1996, series in the San Jose Mercury News by reporter Gary Webb linked the origins of crack cocaine in California to the contras, a guerrilla force backed by the Reagan administration that attacked Nicaragua's Sandinista government during the 1980s. Webb's series, "The Dark Alliance," has been the subject of intense media debate, and has focused attention on a foreign policy drug scandal that leaves many questions unanswered. This electronic briefing book is compiled from declassified documents obtained by the National Security Archive, including the notebooks kept by NSC aide and Iran-contra figure Oliver North, electronic mail messages written by high-ranking Reagan administration officials, memos detailing the contra war effort, and FBI and DEA reports. The documents demonstrate official knowledge of drug operations, and collaboration with and protection of known drug traffickers. Court and hearing transcripts are also included. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/ The Kerry subcommittee did not report that U.S. government officials ran drugs, but rather, that Mr. North, then on the National Security Council staff at the White House, and other senior officials created a privatized contra network that attracted drug traffickers looking for cover for their operations, then turned a blind eye to repeated reports of drug smuggling related to the contras, and actively worked with known drug smugglers such as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to assist the contras. The report cited former Drug Enforcement Administration head John Lawn testifying that Mr. North himself had prematurely leaked a DEA undercover operation, jeopardizing agents' lives, for political advantage in an upcoming Congressional vote on aid to the contras (p.121). Among the documents posted today are: * Mr. North's diary entries, from the reporter's notebooks he kept in those years, noting multiple reports of drug smuggling among the contras. A Washington Post investigation published on 22 October 1994 found no evidence he had relayed these reports to the DEA or other law enforcement authorities. * Memos from North aide Robert Owen to Mr. North recounting drug-running "indiscretions" among the contras, warning that a known drug-smuggling airplane was delivering taxpayer-funded "humanitarian aid" overseen by Mr. North. * Mr. North's White House e-mails recounting his efforts to spring from prison a Honduran general who could "spill the beans" on the secret contra war, even though the Justice Department termed the Honduran a "narcoterrorist" for his involvement in cocaine smuggling and an assassination plot. * Mr. North's White House e-mails and diary entries on his personal meeting on 22 September 1986 with Noriega, following up Noriega's offer to "take care of" the Sandinista leadership if the White House would help "clean up his image."
not only is this pausible, i'd say this is almost a foregone certainty. there is way, way, way too much money in the drug trafficking business to be so blind as to to think governments and corporations wouldn't be knee-deep in it.
and this is the exact same CIA who openly experimented on US civilians with LSD... i be tempted to say that one would have to be naive, bordering on ignorant, not to see the connection.
On the subject of the government being involved in shady activity: FBI apparently hiding document that may reveal the trade of nuclear secrets by high-ranking government officials. Which is a follow-up to continuing drama of Sibel Edmonds . Cliff Notes version: Perhaps I should resurrect the "Plame" thread and let the debate continue...
