First off, the premise is specious: slavery, where a human being is held by force against his or her will and forced to work for or serve another, has nothing whatsoever to do with a voluntary transaction to buy a product. Secondly, the way to eliminate corruption from trafficking in illegal goods is to eliminate their illegality: if cocaine could be produced and sold legally, there'd be no criminal gangs involved in their production. Organized crime disappeared from the liquor trade in the US only after the repeal of Prohibition.

But the most annoying thing about this bit of nonsense is the ridiculous historical/political claims made by the UN bureaucrat:

"In the 19th century, Europe's hunger for slaves devastated west Africa," he said. "Two hundred years later, its growing appetite for cocaine could do the same."

Really? Slavery and the slave trade was outlawed entirely in Western Europe well before the halfway point of that century, and in Russia by the end of the 1860's - and the Russians weren't involved at all in the West African slave trade.

"Coke-snorting fashionistas are not only damaging their noses and brains -- they are contributing to state failure on the other side of the world," wrote Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime.

So, the entire problem in Nigeria is due to cocaine, and not oil. That's odd, given the preponderance of news stories suggesting the opposite, and the history of Nigeria itself. And Sierra Leone - not diamonds but dope, right?

To the best of my knowledge, Africa is not a major growing region for any drug plant except khat - which is not exactly a problem in the rest of the world. The coca plant is native to, and grown almost exclusively in, South America.

And have you ever heard anyone refer to Africa as being "on the other side of the world" from Europe? Same hemisphere, last time I checked.

Methinks the bureaucrats are getting a bit nervous.

The United Nations' anti-drugs chief has denounced celebrities such as pop star Amy Winehouse and supermodel Kate Moss, saying that their alleged drug use was helping devastate West Africa.

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:26 /Politics | 0 writebacks | permanent link