The UN's chief drug-fighter says billions of dollars in drug money saved the global economy from collapse last year. Sounds kind of plausible, doesn't it?

From the London Observer:

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.

Costa told the paper that the global financial collapse amounted to Christmas and Easter all rolled into one for international money launderers: The liquidity crisis mean that drug kingpins and crime syndicates were often the only source of ready cash, and they ponied up, in many cases pulling cash-starved banks from the brink of collapse. According to the Observer, Costa's claims are based on evidence he's seen from "officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the U.S."

"In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said.

Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said.

"Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way." Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.

Given that the international drug trade has now been implicated as the financial bulwark holding up both terrorism and the banking system, it seems like the moral calculus you have to go through before you secure your supply for New Year's is pretty much a wash.