Drug War Capitalism, Drug War Politics

 

Drug War Capitalism, Drug War Politics

Peter Schultz

 

                  From the book by Dawn Paley, Drug War Capitalism. Quoting Canadian sociologist, Jasmin Hristov:

 

                  “The efforts of the elite to eliminate any challenges to the status quo have found expression in various politicoeconomic models throughout history. The features common to all of them have been the highly unequal socioeconomic structure consisting of armed force, repressive laws, and anti-subversive ideology, packaged under different names – the War on Communism, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror.” [32-33]

 

                  The war on drugs in Mexico, for example, isn’t actually about drugs. But by means of that war “The US has been able to, through drug trafficking, and the excuse of trying to control narcotrafico, [pour] hundreds of millions, now billions of dollars into Mexican security, and Mexican armed forces, and it is changing the whole nature of Mexican society. Mexican society is becoming militarized. And, again, it’s being done in the name of combating drug trafficking but … part of the face of this global capitalism increasingly [serves] the function of social control when the inequalities and misery become just so intense that there’s no other way but through military and coercive controls to maintain social control.” [33-34]

 

                  The “war on drugs” disguises a vast program of social and political control so when the misery index becomes unbearable, social and political control can be maintained via militarization and capitalism. In other words “the war on drugs” needs to be contextualized in terms of the “US [and its] transnational interests,” including “the territorial and social expansion of capitalism.” [30]