The U.S. could not only eliminate the Colombia coca crop but also improve the lives of the impoverished farmers who grow coca for the Cartels by buying the entire coca crop and burning it. This could cost less than $600 million.

We have systems that are dependent on the consequences of our drug problem and they have not desire to change anything because disfunction is more profitable. Ask the criminal attorneys. Ask those who are building for profit prisons. We don't need more prisons we need more prevention, we don't need more DEA we need more treatment. And most important we need to change the social norm that suggests the good life only through alcohol and other drug use.

And the failure of this 'plan' comes as a surprise? And we're going to reduce the funds we're giving to a corrupt, crime ladden government? Why on earth would we do that? How about eliminating it in its entirety?

I'm not sure buying up the entire coca crop and burning it would work. Since the cartels would have a big incentive to retain at least some of the crop (and thereby keep themselves in business) they would probably just offer farmers higher prices to divert some of the crop (and/or they would threaten the farmers). At best, the government would find itself in a bidding war against the cartels. As for giving up on the DEA and instead funding more treatment, that might make an uphill battle even more difficult. Isn't it better to prevent addiction in the first place rather than to deal with it after the fact? I also don't entirely buy the argument that we can't win against drugs as long as some legitimate businesses (like lawyers and prisons) profit from it. When automobiles replaced the horse and buggy, why was there no massive unemployment among makers of buggies and horse breeders? I think that these modern-day industries can evolve and find other avenues of profit. I agree that it would be ideal if social norms could change to the point where only a small number of people continued to pursue the "good life" through chemical intoxication - legal or otherwise.

Among other factors, the "War on Drugs" is a huge money-maker for far too many individuals concerned. The Attorney General and the Drug Czar have good paying jobs that supports $20 billion per year that legislators want to come to their state. The criminal justice system in total (including defense attorneys)represents a huge portion of our country's Gross Domestic Product. My current estimate is somewhere close to $800 billion for all alcohol and other chemical misuse problems each year. If you think you are escaping paying, think again. Divide our total population into $800 billion per year and see if that would not buy a lot of groceries and gas. It is a dangerous money monster that is about to be demolished by science. What happens to our national economy and the world economy when the neuroscientists and geneticists around the world find the neuropharmacological and genetic cures for addiction? $800 billion per year will drop to almost nothing in three to five years. We need CHANGE, President Elect Obama! We need it NOW!