Trouble in the South Seas

Ebeye, a tiny remote island in the Marshall Islands chain would be the last place one might expect to see a cocaine problem. With only 12,000 inhabitants, it would hardly warrant notice from the major cartels, yet the island is awash in the white powder - thanks to prohibition. It seems the ocean currents favor the islands with packages of coke that wash up on the beach after being dumped from drug running ships who fear interception from the US Coast Guard.

Needless to say, if it were legal, there would be no dumping necessary but as it stands, cocaine is now commonly available on the streets of Ebeye for about five bucks a gram. I expect they sell some at the US military base on the next island as well, where many of the local residents work.

Since the cocaine washed ashore, 14 locals have been charged with possession of the drug and several have been jailed.

Neither is this a new problem.

Packages of cocaine have been washing up on remote, uninhabited parts of the Marshall Islands since the early 1990s.

Right about the time the US government became enamored of "tough on drugs" laws. The cause and effect is obvious and so is the solution but the prohibition profiteers are not going to put themselves out of a job by using common sense. It's up to us to demand our lawmakers start treating drugs as a health problem instead of wasting our precious tax dollars on a criminal (in)justice approach.

[hat tip to Vig]