Disadvantaged communities win.  Places where the prison is THE community business.  Places where the average person doesn't have the wherewithal to move out of his desperation and, like the guard I mentioned in Blythe, CA, has sold his soul for what the government pays him.  Places such as Appalachia are rejuvenated.  And many places are vying for the opportunity to "host" a Federal prison.  They might get a new sewage plant , water tower and gas station just for perks. And let's not forget the ~$23 million a year the Feds will pump into their economy.  To some, such as those in Greeleyville, South Carolina, that's worth the Faustian deal.

Unemployment stats win.  It's estimated that, if all of the State and Federal prisoners were released, the unemployment rate would climb by 2%.  Of course, if the government put the same amount of money into developing new industries for these blighted areas, we might actually increase the GDP, not to mention the self-worth and self-esteem of the people engaged in profitable activity.

The MAJOR drug dealers win.  Prohibition keeps prices high and their income flowing.

The people making the drugs (especially those outside the country) win.  They have crops to cultivate and harvest, and payment for those crops.  Their families win because they can eat.  But, if the anti-narcotics people spray their fields with a defoliant and destroy their crops, they lose their crops now and potentially into the future - but the chemical manufacturers win.

Guerillas and terrorists win.  They can buy arms with their percentage of the take, thus guaranteeing a world of violence.  As a matter of fact, the U.S.'s arch foe, the Taliban, also received money from the U.S. just a short while ago for NOT raising opium.  They raised hell instead.  Now their replacements are the foremost opium producers in the world!  Back to business as usual.

On October 31, 2002 a lawsuit was filed against the RJ Reynolds tobacco company for their alleged involvement in drug money laundering (reported by the Washington Post, 11/13/02).  If this is true, they profit BIG TIME! 

And, of course, there are lots of third world politicians who willingly take American dollars for letting the U.S. invade their countries on the pretext of fighting the War on Drugs. Did I miss anyone?

Dare we call any of this "War Profiteering"?

Yes, the War on Drugs is the ULTIMATE "pork barrel."

Of course, there are only four groups of losers:

The low-level drug dealers who are stupid enough to deal to begin with, and then get caught;

their families who get fractionalized and destroyed, thus guaranteeing the next generation of violence and the need for more laws and less liberties;

their extended families who get to foot the legal expenses (if they can);

and, the American public who gets to foot the bill for the balance, and in the process loses more and more of their civil liberties in the name of "public safety".  Not only do they get the bill for all of this, they lose the money that could be raised from taxing these (currently illegal) products which could provide funds for programs to help the disadvantaged, education and the like, thus insuring more people going to prison in the future. 

Pretty clever, huh.  A self-perpetuating system!

Now, don't you feel safer???