Welcome to the U.S.A.

In the four weeks since I have been tracking my blog’s readership, I have received visitors from ten nations outside of the United States of America. I would like to welcome those readers to my HUD house and give a brief explanation of what this blog is about, as well as how my situation might connect to people in other areas of the world.

I’ll begin my introduction by stating the obvious. No single person’s experiences should be automatically taken to be reflective of an entire nation. Through reading my blog you will perceive certain messages about illegal drug trafficking, police actions, racial relations, the role of the news media, domestic politics, international politics, and much more. If you try to extrapolate my own personal views into a general understanding of my entire country, without further investigation, then your understanding will surely be very limited and flawed.

But my claims should be investigated by persons both from within this nation as well as by persons from other areas of the world. I have not yet delved much into the political sphere, and I have not even touched on the topic of international relations. Although I do have some strong opinions on these matters, I realize that this alone is not enough to form an accurate assessment. I need to further research some issues myself before I fully opine on such matters, but I can generalize my thoughts at this point.

The United States of America is addicted to drugs. While not everyone has had the opportunity to experience this addiction in such a personal manner as I have, all they need to do is look at our own government’s statistics on the matter to be convinced. American citizens consume large amounts of narcotics and this is an activity that they freely choose to engage in, rather than having it forced upon them by others. While the drug suppliers from other areas of the world might be a part of the problem, the main focus should rightfully be placed upon those who demand the drug.

Of course, one can not claim that the American drug dealers and users are allowed to act with impunity. Our large prison population belies this. But our treatment of them should be compared to our actions against the international drug suppliers. We have an active military presence in other countries that often employs lethal force against those who feed our habit, while those who are truly responsible for the situation are given a relative slap on the wrist. I believe that it is very unscrupulous for people to hold others to a higher standard than they hold themselves to. And when this becomes an integral part of a nation’s foreign policy, I believe it is dangerous for the one employing it.

My country, the United States of America, is proclaiming through it’s actions that while we will fine or imprison our own citizens for taking part in illegal drug activities, we will murder foreign citizens for the same reason. Many other nations employ corporal and capital punishment against even their own citizens for being associated with illegal drugs, and our own government and society berates them for their barbaric behavior. The reality is that we only consider such actions to be barbaric when employed against ourselves, not against others.

I can not fathom that any intelligent person does not recognize the hypocrisy of this country blaming others for a self-induced problem and for punishing them far more severely than we punish ourselves. This problem is huge, and I do believe that some liberalization of our drug laws would be helpful. Those who are intent on harming themselves probably can’t be stopped, but we could do more to lessen the harm that comes to innocent victims as a result of their actions. Instead of trying to manage the situation in a realistic manner, we have chosen to base our policy upon naive concepts about personal responsibility and individual rights.

We have taken what should be a minor problem for a few individuals who choose to harm themselves and turned it into a criminal enterprise that often has violent or deadly consequences for innocent victims. Yet the foolish ones are still harming themselves. One could easily look at the actions of those who control our national drug control policy and seriously wonder if they are not high themselves. And yet we blame the world for our problem. Perhaps a little historical reference is needed here.

During the mid-nineteenth century China outlawed the importation of opium into their country. At the time, native traffickers of Opium were put to death. Great Britain refused to comply with this law, so the Chinese government seized and destroyed the Opium that was found on several British merchant ships. The British response to this action was to make war on China based upon the premise that they had destroyed private property. The French joined with Britain in the noble cause of being allowed to continue delivering drugs into China.

While the United States did not usually participate in these aggressive actions, we had warships just off the coast observing some of the battles and in at least one battle we provided cover for a fleeing British fleet. And of course we were more than willing to share in the spoils of China’s defeat once her sovereignty had been stripped away. Based upon my historical understanding, I think it is safe to say that our trepidation was based more upon the fact that we were still a young nation who was unsure of it’s place among the other powerful countries rather than any moral considerations about the plight of China. Our nation literally stood by and watched as another nation was being force fed opium.

As the saying goes, “You’ve come a long way baby.” Today, we are murdering people in other nations for engaging in the same enterprise that we once supported strongly enough to destroy a nation over. So if you are a foreign visitor to this blog, welcome to the America's "War on Drugs," and welcome to my HUD house.