War! Huh! What is it good for?

[bjorn_skurj]

Lebanon war puts damper on Israeli pot smokers

Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:26 PM ET

 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's recent war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas has sent cannabis prices sky high in the Jewish state. Boosted security on the Lebanon frontier brought a drastic reduction in drug smuggling, with the cost of cannabis in Israel up eight-fold, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.

 

Smoking and selling cannabis are illegal in Israel. Trafficking from Egypt has also been curbed by Israeli patrols aimed at preventing Palestinians from smuggling in arms.

[MrRain422]

I don't like killing and destruction or anything, but this war has gone too far.

[anodyne]

looks like a war on drugs won't work, but drugs might get killed as collateral damage. of course, lots of pot has fallen victim to friendly fire.

[bjorn_skurj]

of course, lots of pot has fallen victim to friendly fire.

Outstanding! Get you a case of beer for that one.

[gogo]

Drugs warning issued by Alderdice

IMC member tells of 'negative peace dividend'

 

By Sean O'Driscoll

Belfast Telegraph

 

27 October 2006

The breakdown of paramilitary groups has led to a dramatic increase in the sale of hard drugs, International Monitoring Commission member Lord Alderdice has warned.

 

Speaking in New York where IMC members were involved in a series of meetings, Lord Alderdice, former leader of the Alliance Party, said there was a "negative peace dividend" in Northern Ireland as former paramilitaries move into drugs.

 

"For a long time during the Troubles, we had relatively low levels or hardcore drugs in Northern Ireland.

 

"It was at the point when the paramilitaries began to move away from the campaigns and into other kinds of things that you got them involved, and the drug problems increased very substantially," he said.

 

He said that the IRA had always been very tough on drug users, partially because they were more susceptible to police pressure and that social control was breaking down.

 

He said drug dealers were also moving into Northern Ireland due to the improved economy.

 

Fellow IMC member John Grieve said that the stepping down of the IRA's General Headquarters staff, described in the latest IMC report, was paradoxically making it more difficult for the organisation to go away.

 

"There is a contradiction there. You need the structure to oversee the dismantling of the IRA, but if you keep the structure in place, people are going to say: "Oh look, they are still around," he said.

 

Asked about paramilitary involvement in racketeering, he agreed with the Organised Crime Task Force's assessment that there were about 70 to 80 criminal gangs operating in Northern Ireland, two thirds of which had paramilitary connections.

 

He warned that people were "bandying around" figures about the huge levels of racketeering profits in Northern Ireland and that he had seen figures for the whole of Britain that suggested that fraud generated from organised crime was costing half a billion pounds a month.

 

He said that such figures should be viewed cautiously.

 

Both he and fellow IMC leader Dick Kerr said that the IRA leadership was clearly warning members that they did not have official sanction to continue involvement in racketeering.