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An Overview of Conditions Around the World
Drug addiction: An enormous global industry
According to a recent UN report, the illegal-drug industry generates $400 billion
to $1 trillion in revenues and accounts for 8 percent of global tradeñan industry
larger than sales of iron or steel and almost as great as oil and gasoline or textiles.
Cocaine accounts for some $130 billion of the drug trade, followed by $110 billion
for heroin, $75 billion for marijuana and hashish and more than $60 billion for synthetic
drugs.
The amount spent on illegal drugs is roughly double that spent on legal pharmaceuticals,
which account for $233 billion annually, according to the report. Drug users spend
more for deadly addictive drugs than they do for legal medicinal drugs, cars or clothing.
Drug abuse exacts an enormous financial toll on American society, costing an average
of $300 per person annually in added medical costs, criminal activity and declines
in productivity. On average, health costs for a drug abuser are about 80 percent
higher than for others of the same age.
The United States has an estimated 12.8 million drug abusers, equaling 6.1 percent
of the population.
In spite of some reports of slowing drug usage, the reports stated that global production
of coca leaf and opium have roughly tripled in the past 10 years, and global marijuana
output has increased 50 percent. (Source: Gannett News Service.)
Taking stock of Britain
Last year, 1997, brought a sharp change of focus to the British Isles. After nearly
20 years of Conservative government in Whitehall, a decisive national election ushered
a Labour administration into power with such a vast majority that monumental changes
suddenly became feasible.
Already Scotland is to have an elected parliament and Wales a national assembly.
This historic turn of events doesn't bode well for the future of British sovereignty.
Further, the central government in London appears much less resistant to the pressures
that Brusselsñheadquarters of the European Unionñwill inevitably bring on Englishmen's
way of life.
The justice system is a case in point. A fundamental principle of law with the American
and British systems is that one is innocent until proven guilty. That traditional
supposition is now under threat in Britain because on the Continent it tends to work
the other way around.
As columnist Leo McKinstry explained: "At a meeting of the European Social Affairs
Council, the government is to sign up to a new directive shifting the burden of proof
in cases of sex discrimination from the employee to the employer. In other words
under this inane Euro-regulation, firms accused of sex discrimination will be guilty
until proved innocent."
European reversals of British court judgments are fairly common. For instance, in
September of 1997 a lesbian couple won a sex-discrimination case against a train-company
employer for failure to provide the same benefits as it did for heterosexual couples.
Britain has also been in the dock with the European Union (EU) over the Continent's
maximum-48-hour working week. Perhaps much less serious in nature, but still a blow
to the British psyche, is that in "two years packaging and recipes must by law be
metric only." Yet the results of a poll show that, "despite a 30-year campaign to
force Britain to go metric, the majority of its citizens still find it more convenient
to use feet and inches, pints and pounds." Anglo-Saxon tradition dies hard.
At first glance merely comical, the plight of the British lavatory takes on a sobering
significance when the implications are carefully considered. Said one Sunday newspaper:
"The British lavatory, widely regarded as the world's most elegant and efficient
means of waste disposal, is about to be challenged by its leaky European rival."
According to the British Council, "millions of gallons will go down the pan every
day" in a country recently troubled by serious water shortages. So much for the battle
of the flushes.
The above news items represent only the tip of the iceberg of numerous EU regulations
that are being brought into conflict with long-held British traditions. The public
does not yet realize the full extent of the changes taking place on a daily basis.
Sovereignty is fast shifting from London to Brussels. When the peoples of the United
Kingdom fully comprehend what is taking place, there may be real conflict between
Britain and the European Union. (Sources: The Express (London), The Sunday Telegraph
(London).)
The millennium bug and the year 2,000
At the close of the 20th century, people are beset by so many threats that it's
hard to keep up with them. Not least of the problems is all the fuss emanating from
the calendar date itselfñthe beginning of the year 2,000.
The millennial clock is ticking away, and some observers fear that the transition
from the familiar double-digit 19 to double-digit 20 is going to be a technological
nightmare of catastrophic proportions. The problem? Hundreds of thousands of computer
programs have been written using only the last two of the four digits of the year.
The year 1998, for example, is represented by 98. When 2000 arrives, many computer
programs that have not been corrected will assume that the year 1900 has arrived.
This problem is generally known as the "millennium bug." No one is quite sure exactly
what will happen in a world increasingly dependent on computers. But many observers
agree that it threatens to temporarily ground air transport, cause severe stock-market
drops and precipitate numerous economic and business calamities. Apparently even
our defense systems could be menaced.
Governments have not ignored the threat. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain has
taken it seriously and made available 20,000 computer professionals to work on the
problem, now only about a year and a half away.
However, we have much more serious endangerments to consider than just calendrical
technicalities. As journalist and author Marina Benjamin reflected: "From its inception,
the twentieth century has been less a century to celebrate than one to survive. And
as it draws to a close with threats to our continued existence multiplying both in
scale and numberñso that to add to the evils of overpopulation, possible nuclear
warfare and famine, we now face a catalogue of environmental hazards and a legion
of new microbial foes . . ." (Living at the End of the World, pp. 8-9).
"Will we survive?" is still the biggest question dogging the human species. Jesus
Christ Himself looked down through the centuries and anticipated the dilemmas of
the world at the end of this age. He said that end-time events would so seriously
imperil humanity that the survival of the species would be in doubt.
He spoke of "a time of great distress, such as there had never been before since
the beginning of the world, and will never be again" (Matthew 24:21, Revised English
Bible). Yet Christ guaranteed our survival as a species in the same promise He gave
to the Church of God (Matthew 16:18). "If that time of troubles were not cut short,
no living thing could survive; but for the sake of God's chosen it will be cut short"
(verse 22, REB).
Christ had mentioned earlier that "all these things are the first birth-pangs of
the new age" (verse 8, REB)ñanticipating the coming utopian time: His 1,000-year
millennial reign, which would follow in the wake of our present problems. What we
have to endure is a difficult transition. Yet our eventual deliverance is sure. For
further understanding, please request the free booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom.
(Sources: Newsweek, Yorkshire Post.)
Coming soon: a common European currency
If Jan. 1, 2000, promises to be one of the pivotal dates in history, Jan. 1, 1999,
is probably no less important to the European Continent. The latter is the date when
11 national forms of legal tender will be fused into one common currency, dubbed
the euro. This transition will probably turn out to be one of the biggest steps ever
taken in pursuit of European unity. It is difficult to see how political and military
union will not follow if the change to the common currency is a success.
Among the countries of Western Europe, Britain, along with Sweden and Denmark, has
chosen a more-independent economic course. The United Kingdom has a history of exercising
caution toward European alliances. The British were slow to enter the present European
Union (EU), and many of the island's inhabitants have felt a sense of discomfort
ever since. Though Britain plans to adopt the new currency about three years after
its introduction (about 2002), some observers doubt that she will ever take that
step.
The British are not the only ones approaching the euro with caution. In the new currency
the world will see a competitor to the U.S. dollar, which has dominated monetary
exchanges for decades. What will be the impact of this new currency?
In the words of Rupert Wright in The European: "The dollar is the Coca-Cola currency,
recognisable and tradeable throughout the world: almighty, all-conquering. Since
it toppled sterling when the British devalued in 1931, it has been the only truly
global currency for more than 60 years. It is used to settle more than 50 per cent
of all trade. Want to buy a jumbo jet? It is priced in dollars. Oil? $16.20 a barrel
will do nicely . . .
"Now there will be soon be a new kid on the block: the euro. On 1 January 1999 the
11 members of Euroland will formally launch a new currency that will instantly be
hugeñ
second only to the dollar and with the prospect that it might one day even challenge
it for supremacy" (May 4-10, 1998).
Likely the euro will quickly assume the role of a parallel currency in the opt-out
countries of the European Union as well as Eastern Europe. The Mediterranean and
North Africa will also see plenty of euros.
Many are making claims in advance. "The euro is the event of the century; the euro
will make people forget the deutschmark," said Helmut Kohl, chancellor of Germany.
Brian Reading, director of Lombard Street research, says the euro "will replace the
dollar as top dog."
But other voices predict an accommodation. Writes Norbert Walter, chief economist
for Deutsche Bank: "There is room in the ring for the dollar and the euro. It is
a fight that probably neither can win outright, nor do they need to. The dollar and
euro are each likely to wind up with about 40 per cent of world finance, with about
20 per cent remaining for the yen and a few smaller currencies such as the Swiss
franc and (British pound) sterling. The euro will launch with a big bang and continue
with a slow-burning fuse."
Some Europe watchers wonder if this common medium of exchange is not another major
step towards the fulfillment of biblical prophecies about a dominant political, economic
and military power yet to rise in the territory that once constituted the nucleus
of the old Roman Empire. Prophecy tells us that this crucial occurrence will precipitate
events leading to the second coming of Jesus Christ. (Sources: Newsweek; The Times
(London); Daniel 2,7; Revelation 13,17.)
ñJohn Ross Schroeder and Scott Ashley
©1999 United Church of God, an International Association
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