Extortion: Tariff Style

 

If we didn’t know before, it’s now clear why DT loves the word “tariff” so much. It’s to him what an assault rifle is to an extortionist. Unless Canada stops the money-laundering and other criminal activities affecting the fentanyl problem in the USA, he will hurt us ... hard! Already, Canada is running scared, as most of us would be with a gun to our heads. A few more helicopters patrolling the border, a few more customs officers won’t make any difference; it’s not an 8,891 km, leaky border that’s the problem.

Like any commodity, the supply of drugs responds to demand. Add to it the fact that the production and consumption of drugs like fentanyl is illegal, and you have the current out-of-control, deadly situation. Certainly, the policing that resulted in the closure of an “illegal drug super-lab" at Falkland, B.C. recently means that $500,000,000 worth of drugs may have been taken off the market. But it doesn’t reduce demand, it simply reduces supply, therefor, higher price and little else.

The Trump extortion solution is ludicrous; here’s mine:

1.       Existing drug manufacturers are licensed to produce all the addictive drugs currently in demand.

2.       They are available in all pharmacies to anyone over 18-years of age; others require a doctor’s prescription or parental consent.

3.       They are reasonably priced in accordance with the costs of manufacturing and distribution.

4.       The hazards of addictive drugs are a critical part of the school curriculum through middle and high school years.

5.       Steps are taken to detect signs of impending addiction early, and referrals to trained social workers becomes a “job” responsibility in applicable environments.

What do you think? Whatever strategies are chosen, their general direction should be negotiated inside the US/Canada/Mexico trade agreement to be complementary in all three countries. Waging “Wars on Drugs” through the production and distribution arms has failed miserably. Whatever the plan, its primary goal when it succeeds will tend toward eliminating demand first, supported by supply policing.

The obvious cautions given by many to the idea of legalizing drug use must be considered. Did legalizing Cannabis use in Canada open the floodgates to demand? Did it reduce crime? Is the present illegal pushing of drugs actually creating the problem we see? Many suffer obesity and bad teeth thanks to sweets and junk food; shouldn’t the restrictions applied to alcohol and drug use be applied here in the interest of preventing self-harm? Does the help we offer for overdose casualties and for debilitating addiction actually serve to postpone the seeking of help? Is there really an addiction-prone personality type, and is addiction predictable—and in the case of harmful drugs—preventable?

I’m not qualified to answer any of these questions definitively, but if prevention by tackling the problem at the demand level were to become the focus, I’d be all for it.      

The administration taking over in Washington in January is showing all the signs of governing by decree, and with Elon Musk’s wealth now available to grease the wheels of power, the prospects for democracy seem bleak. Canada, too, has a drug and drug cartels problem ... admitted.  Bowing to the tariff threats of the Trump regime, though, should not be our way of tackling our rehabilitation to drug-use normalcy.

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424849/ is useful in understanding the anatomy of drug addiction.)