As of late, the spotlight has been on where terrorist groups get their funding in an effort to hit them where it hurts most – their pocketbooks.

One of the top sources of funding of the Taliban (and quite possible al Qaeda) has been poppy production – Afghanistan is one of the world’s largest producers.

It should come as no surprise that the Taliban has a direct connection to the drug trade. After all, take one impoverished nation torn by years of civil war, add a suitable environment for producing poppies (a key ingredient in producing heroin) and a limited realm of suppliers and you’ve got a cartel suitable for funding any illegitimate government or terrorist faction.

The link between terrorist organizations and the drug trade has existed for years. Every two-bit insurrection group from the FARC paramilitary death squads of Columbia to the KLA (remember them?) sees some cut of the drug trade, namely because it’s profitable and requires few barriers to enter (save a lack of moral scruples).

A perfect example of this principle in America would be Prohibition. When the federal government outlawed the distribution and consumption of alcohol, guess who happily stepped in to fill the void created by unchanged demand?

That’s right, it was our friends, the Mafia.

By limiting production and distribution to groups with no concern for the law while leaving demand fixed, it necessarily creates a void which will be filled by criminal elements at exorbitant cost. Thus, continuing our insane “War on Drugs” proves to be self-defeating and waged on false premises.

The irony here is some of the staunchest defenders of the free-market system are in fact the Drug War’s leading proponents, despite the contortions of logic that this requires.

For instance, take a look at the drug trade under a free-market lens. On the demand side, given the fact that heroin addicts have existed since the advent of heroin and drug-prevention-via-propaganda programs such as DARE have proven to be a monumental failure (even by the FBI’s reckoning), it is reasonable to assume that the demand for drugs is fixed.

Thus let’s look at the supply side of the curve: When federal agents “bust” a supplier, this decreases available supply on the street. Assuming market principles hold, the drop in supply with fixed demand leads to higher prices.

Conservatives such as Bill Bennett go so far as to hail this as a “victory” in the War on Drugs.

Hardly.

One of the main reasons given as justification for the Drug War is the so-called “cost to society” that drugs inflict, namely through peripheral crimes associated with drug use and trade. However, increasing the price of drugs simply translates into increased crime to get them in the first place – in essence, Johnny B. Crackhead will have to steal one more T.V. to get his fix.

So what’s the way out to this quagmire? Easy. Do things the American way – find a way to make it cheaper and put our competitors out of business.

In other words, “Legalize Everything.”

Sound pretty crazy?

So is waging a so-called “war” on our own citizens for what in most cases amounts to a self-regarding action carried out by adults in their own homes.

A legalized, well-regulated supply and distribution of controlled substances would greatly diminish the peripheral crimes associated with drugs as well as all but eliminate the bankrolls of both organized crime and terror. Such groups would either have to come above-board to compete (thus disclosing the money trail) or go under.

If you think this is a fallacious assumption, go back to the Prohibition example. Bootlegging in that time was an immensely profitable way to fund a criminal syndicate – nowadays it’s more of a joke than anything. This is because alcohol is legal to produce and distribute under a well-regulated system, hence the incentive to bootleg is non-existent.

Treating the sale for drugs as a legitimate transaction between adults and its harms as a public health matter would strike a far greater blow to terrorism than any forfeiture of civil liberties ever would while bankrupting criminal and terrorist organizations abroad.

Wising up to our failed “War on Americans” isn’t declaring defeat – it’s declaring victory for freedom and striking a deep blow to all those who profit from thumbing their nose at the law.

Steve Skutnik is a senior in Physics from Palm Harbor, FL and no, he is not a heroin addict.