My name is Cocaine - call me Coke for short.
I entered this country without a passport.
Ever since then I've made lots of scum rich.
Some have been murdered and found in a ditch.

I'm more valued than diamonds, more treasured than gold.
Use me just once and you too will be sold.
I'll make a schoolboy forget his books.
I'll make a beauty queen forget her looks.

I'll take renowned speaker and make a bore.
I'll take a mother and make her a whore.
I'll make a schoolteacher forget how to teach.
I'll make a preacher not want to preach.

I'll take all your rent money and you'll get evicted.
I'll murder your babies or they'll be born addicted.
I'll make you rob and steal and kill.
When you're under my power you have no will.

Remember my friend my name is " Big C ".
If you try me just one time you may never be free.
I've destroyed actors, politicians and many a hero.
I've decreased bank accounts from millions to zero.

I make shooting and stabbing a common affair.
Once I take charge you won't have a prayer.
Now that you know me what will you do ?
You'll have to decide, It's all up to you.

The day you agree to sit in my saddle.
The decision is one that no one can straddle.
Listen to me, and please listen well.
When you ride with cocaine you are headed for hell

I tried snorting coke once, but an ice cube got stuck up my nostril.

Seriously now, its a good poem. The question is, will it make any difference?
Who wrote it?

For sure its not an easy subject. At whom do you point the finger? The addict? The dealer on 'our' streets? The people who make/manufacture it?
All of them, I guess. But until someone comes along and offers a better 'economy' or should I say "way to earn a living for many, many people' not alot will change. Sticking the addict or the little pusher in jail isn't going to stop it, there's always another addict or pusher waiting in line....

You can't live in a capitalist society and enjoy all of it's trappings and have conscience. Whether its coke,, or diamonds, or even the very computer you're typing away at now; the chances are somebody in some remote tinpot shithole country has had to pay dearly for it. Raw materials have to come from somewhere, and many lives are lost acquiring them (through poor working conditions, civil war, environmental effects etc.).

Take the humble automobile. I'm willing to bet theres quite a bit of blood oiling the gears there, once you've taken into account the complexity of it and the sheer variety of materials used in it's manufacture.

I'm also willing to bet that more people have died over oil than coke, and yet we still happily fill up our tanks and stick another (plastic) sandwich container in the (plastic) bin.

While you're sat here reading this you're not free from guilt. When it comes down to it, your very existence is perpetuated by the misfortune of others. Whether you truly decide to give a fuck is up to you.

Absolutely Chikhai - and I read somewhere about a tiny ingredient used in mobile phones that in some way or another harms the children who 'harvest it' - cant recall exactly what or how or why - but yep if we really and truly sat down and thought about all the ills of this world at grassroots level, well I may as well shoot myself here and now.
But still, glad I do have a conscience and try to do my piddly bit anyhow!