On March 14, 2009 a meeting of the G20 took place in England. This group of 20 finance ministers and and bank governors, from developed countries, continues to try and solve global economic woes. The participating countries are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union. One very interesting policy agreement for the group, pertains to it’s recognition and need to combat the funding of global terrorism. Many terrorist organizations are funded by the international illicit drug enterprise. I’ve always found it really hard to understand how the policing agencies guesstimate the annual revenue generated by this “illicit industry”. The numbers are staggering and I believe understated. Somewhere between $350,000,000,000 and 500 billion seems to be the generally accepted approximate figures. I’m also sure that if these numbers are inaccurate, it’s because we have underestimated and not the opposite. These monies are controlled by the same illegal organizations and cartels that tend to fund gangs, terrorism, and other criminal activities globally. Keeping that in mind, how then does the G20 expect to combat global terrorism, while nearly every country in the G20 plays an integral role in the success of this illicit business? One may also conclude that an industry of such substantial means, would enlist the cooperation and protection of many high level officials around the world. Much like birds of a common feather, these industrialized countries behave the same, regarding their respective drug problems. They continue down a path of denial, high level corruption, violent streets, the rise of powerful crime organizations and the beat goes on.

Recently many cable news networks are talking about the legalization of marijuana. Although this is a step in the right direction, lets keep it real. Decriminalizing or even legalizing “grass”, in America is not the answer to the GLOBAL drug dilemma. The producer countries, like Afghanistan, Columbia, Peru, Bolivia (not members of the G20), and consumer countries, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia (all members of the G20) must start a dialog that goes beyond the fears of political suicide, and societal backlash. Clearly the time is at hand for these world organizations to throw caution to the wind, and address this mammoth global concern.