"Last summer, I made a presentation called "How the Money Works on Organized Crime" to a wonderful group of about 100 people at an annual conference for a spiritually focused foundation in Philadelphia. This is a group committed to contributing to the spiritual evolution of our culture.

After about an hour walking through the various profits generated by narcotics trafficking, financial fraud and other types of organized crime, as well as the intersection of this money with the stock market and campaign fundraising, I asked the group what would happen to the stock market if we decriminalized or legalized drugs?

The stock market would crash, they said.

What would happen to financing the government deficit if we enforced all money-laundering laws? Since most bank wire transfers are batched and run through the New York Federal Reserve Bank, this should not really be that hard, right?

Their taxes might go up. Worse yet, their government checks might stop, they said.

I then asked them to imagine a big, red button at the front of the lectern.

By the power of our imaginations, if they pushed that button they could decriminalize narcotics trafficking or whatever actions were necessary to stop organized crime and stop all money laundering in the United States.

Who would push the button?

It turns out that in an audience of approximately 100 people committed to spiritually evolve our society, only one person would push the button.

Upon reflection, 99 would not. I asked why. They said that if they pushed the button, their mutual funds would go down and their government checks might stop. I commented that what they were proposing is that an entire infrastructure of people continue to market narcotics to their children and grandchildren to ensure that their mutual and pension funds stay high in value.

They said, yes, that was right.

Which is why I say that America is not addicted to narcotics as much as it is addicted to narco dollars."