Walt Rubel Commentary: War in Venezuela won’t solve our drug problem

When did drug dealers become “narco-terrorists?”
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The word “terrorist” is typically used to describe religious or political fanatics who kill or injure innocent people, often in horrific ways, in an attempt to instill a sense of terror in the public. Their motive is to destabilize their enemies. And, their victims, such as the 2,977 employees who showed up for work at the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, did absolutely nothing to contribute to their deaths.

Drug dealers are typically wealthy and powerful men, at least at the top, who are trying to amass more wealth and power. Their motive is greed. And, their victims are consumers who not only willingly participate, but will often go to great lengths to obtain drugs that they know are both illegal and deadly.

I don’t mean to sound cold. Addiction is a powerful force. It makes wise and cautious people do foolish and reckless things in an endless attempt to feed the raging beast.

We must do more to give those in the throes of addiction the treatment and support they need to get and stay sober. And, we need to have overdose prevention medication available in areas where we know it is needed. 

But, we’ve been fighting a war on drugs ever since Nancy Reagan declared it in the 1980s, trying to address the problem with a law enforcement solution. Four decades later, drugs are clearly winning.

It’s not for a lack of trying. A 2015 report by the Drug Policy Alliance found that the U.S. had less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but nearly 25 percent of the world’s inmates. And, because possession of crack cocaine was treated much more harshly than powdered, nearly 80 percent of inmates in federal prison were black and Latino.

If we could jail our way out of this problem, it would have been resolved long ago. And yet drug overdoses have killed more than a million people in the U.S. since 1999.

After having given up on the rhetorical war on drugs, our government is now on the verge of waging a real one.

It starts by blowing up small boats that are allegedly transporting drugs. As of Sunday, there had been 20 strikes. Each is videotaped and then posted online like some kind of trophy. Eighty people have been killed. We are assured each one is a drug runner, but the two who managed to survive an attack were released instead of tried. 

That’s how the war starts. But our president clearly has larger ambitions. He has sent the U.S.S. Gerald Ford, the newest and largest aircraft carrier in our fleet, to the Caribbean. Other assets already deployed there include a nuclear-powered submarine; dozens of other warships; 15,000 troops; and aircraft based Puerto Rico, making it the largest U.S. military presence in the region since the invasion of Panama in 1989.

This is about regime change, not drugs. When the president authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela last month, he didn’t use drugs as an excuse. He said it was because they had, “emptied their prisons into the United States.”

A TV host turned cabinet secretary who changed the name of his department from “Defense” to “War” is clearly itching to put that new name to use. A president who decried regime change when others were in power now embraces it.

To be clear, I’m no fan of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. But our past experiences toppling governments in Central America have not been a ringing success.

And, ousting Maduro will not help one addict in the U.S. get sober. The drugs will keep coming as long as the customers keep buying.  


Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected].

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