I am serious. Is drug use a cause, or a consequence, of poverty, or is it neither? Drug abuse does not need to be a societal problem, but it becomes one when a whole community is touched by it, and with the violent crime associated with illegal drug trafficking. But again, what are the causal relationships?

And now, going back to dark humour, isn't it the case that the CIA financed itself in the 1970's by getting involved in drug dealing in America's inner cities?

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper