British Woman Sentenced to Life in Laos Drug Court
June 4th, 2009 by RussThe tendrils of US drug enforcement reach across borders, over oceans, and even into the legal affairs of foreign nations. When British national, Samantha Orabator was caught concealing a pound and a half of heroin in a Laotian airport last August, her life was nearly forfeited because of a US campaign to toughen drug standards in Asia’s ‘Golden Triangle.’
Only spared execution because she was pregnant, this week’s ruling by a Laotian court imposed the second most stringent possible sentence, life imprisonment. In other words, posession of a pound and a half of a particular opiate extract, nearly cut short the life of a 20-year old girl. Rapists, murderers, and war criminals seem to have better odds of parole in certain parts of the world, than those attempting to profit from unsanctioned substances.
One could chalk up this legal disparity to the oddities of a foreign, facist culture. In actuality, much of the motivation for Laos’ draconian drug policy comes in the form of US dollars. In 1993, Laos was ‘certified for narcotics cooperation ‘ with the US State Department. In return for showing erradication of opium crops and increasing crackdowns on drug trafficking, Laotian officials received training from American drug police as well as millions of dollars to fund the ramping up of their anti-narcotics operations.
In other words, if the Laotian government showed leniency to those convicted of non-violent drug crimes, they could lose an important source of foreign aid.
Meanwhile, the United States drives the demand for about a quarter of the world’s consumed heroin. Instead of acting to reduce demand internally, it has strong-armed, threatened, or outright bribed other nations to impose disastrously incongruous and disproportionate laws that have destroyed tens of millions of lives.
Marijuana Use Spreading in Japan, Oh Noes
March 3rd, 2009 by Perry
A U.S. report on drug control showed widespread marijuana use in Japan, one of the largest methamphetamine markets in Asia. Citing a number of high-profile arrests in the last year, the captures may be considered possible contributing factors to the drug’s rise in popularity.
The reports also suggests Japan is filling a void from the closure of alleged state-directed drug trafficking in North Korea and the closure of mega-labs in the Golden Triangle region.
It could also be that in a lot of other countries in Asia you can be beaten, imprisoned for life or executed for even moderate offenses, making Japan relatively soft on drug offenses.
