When Nixon first brought America into the War on Drugs, it was with an idealistic drive that he believed we could cure society of this perceived evil. 40 years and a 10 presidents later, we might as well still be at the drawing board. While Cocaine and hard drug use has marginally diminished, the american public is beginning to resent the de-facto draft against marijuana. In many ways, we've turned into our own worse enemies in this front. But this is a war of many fronts, and the much, much, MUCH bigger problem lies at the source: Mexico
While we squabble over whether drugs are immoral, ponder on whether the government should have a right to tell you what to put in your body, and forecast the economic impact of legalization, over 5000 people have died from murder alone in the last 5 years on Mexican soil. Mexico has overtaken Colombia in murder per capita (TIME, Jully 11 2011), and Mexican gangs have grown to monstrous proportions because of drug money. The Police force has grown so corrupt it is now essentially preliminary training for gang membership, and what have we done to help? We've given money, but the root of the problem lies much deeper than that, and who knows how much of that money is used for the opposite purpose than which it was sent.
President Calderon has made it clear that Mexico is in a state of emergency, and has explicitly asked the U.S to legalize marijuana for the sake of his country. With public support approaching majority for the idea, an overcrowded prison system, and the lives of thousands of innocent Mexicans at stake, it seems ridiculous that we cling to our sense of moral purity and keep the drug illegal. Now don't get me wrong, I have no intention on turning this blog post into a Marijuana legalization ad, but as of late congress has been having the tendency of applying broad principles to highly delicate situations of tremendous importance (Just look at the republican's staunch refusal to even mildly raise taxes in the budget ceiling debate). We have always seen ourselves as the protector of democracy across the world, and this current drug war is threatening one of the world's largest democracies while we stand there and feed money to the problem. Congress must act quickly and decisively, and we can do this in two ways: direct and indirect. The indirect way is the aforementioned legalization of marijuana, but for this problem to truly be solved we also need direct military confrontation.
Our current war on terror is also moving at an immeasurably slow pace, as most wars on abstract concepts tend to do. What I suggest is to move over much of the funds on this monetary sinkhole to protect the people of Mexico against a much closer opponent, taking a direct stance against this problem. This Mexican bloodbath must come to an end, lest it makes its way across the bathroom floor.
Nicolas Botero’s blog post, The Drug War; from Juarez to Congress, touches very close to home for me. I grew up in Matamoros, Mexico, a city that has been heavily affected by the war on drugs in Mexico. I have seen the violence escalate to a point where people can’t leave their homes to go to work, school, or even to the grocery store because of fear that they will be shot in the crossfire between rival drug cartels and the military. There are often grenade fights that destroy buildings and homes. There have been shootouts on my street and cars blown up a few streets down. This war became very real to me when one of my friends lost his life. He was driving home one night and got caught in a shootout between two rival drug cartel groups. He was shot multiple times and was killed. He was an innocent young man on his way home that lost his life for no reason at all. This war is responsible for the lives of thousands of innocent people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Botero that the United States government hasn’t done enough to help Mexico and to help end the violence that it is enduring. The United States invaded Iraq with no real motive but doesn’t bother to help their neighboring country of Mexico in desperate times. I understand that Mexico is a dangerous country and the lives of U.S. citizens would be at stake but something has to be done. I agree that if marijuana was legalized, it would help decrease the violence and crime in Mexico because there wouldn’t be a high demand for it here in the United States. However, I don’t know if legalizing marijuana here in the United States would end all of the violence that is happening in Mexico. It is true, as Botero points out, that the police and other government officials are very corrupt and are likely allies with many drug cartel leaders. I do not think that marijuana legalization will happen anytime soon in the United States, even with our huge deficit, because our country is very conservative and bases many policies on its morals.
A recent article in the Huffington Post, titled “U.S. Guns From ATF Operation Fast and Furious Found at Mexico Crime Scenes,” tells of how 122 firearms that were originally part of an undercover U.S. operation have been found at crime scenes in Mexico. Some of these firearms were also found on their way to drug cartels. These guns and weapons were part of an operation that was supposed to track weapons going across the border but the operation went bad. Even worse, some of these weapons were found at the murder scene of the U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona last year. This story shows how the United States is being careless when dealing with the war on drugs in Mexico and it is time to step up their efforts. This war is on the border of the United States and may eventually spill onto U.S. soil if the government doesn’t make more of an effort. I think that maybe stricter gun control policies in the United States would help decrease the number of guns and weapons that are transported from the United States to Mexico. There isn't a clear ending in this war for Mexico but hopefully if the United States starts helping out more, the violence and turmoil will decrease.
The Civic Spyglass’s Nicolas Botero recently wrote a dynamite post on the problems plaguing Mexico and how the U.S. isn’t enacting the correct legislation to help Mexico’s situation. In “The Drug War; from Juarez to Congress” Botero addresses the American public’s malcontent with the War on Drugs, then explains the dire situation in Mexico (alarmingly high murder rates and “monstrous[ly] proportion[ed]” gangs) and the various ways the U.S. could best deal with it, including the legalization of marijuana and “direct military confrontation”. He explains that Mexico’s President, Felipe Calderon, has directly asked that the U.S. government legalize marijuana “for the sake of his country”, yet Congress has yet to pass such legislation. Although Botero has “no intention on turning this blog post into a Marijuana legalization ad”, that’s exactly what I’m getting from the post – America is insane if we don’t legalize the drug.
ReplyDeleteAlready an advocate for the legalization of marijuana, this blog only strengthened my views. Not only could marijuana’s legalization largely benefit Mexico’s situation, but it could seriously help out our own. As we all know, the U.S. government is spending more money than it’s bringing in, severely injuring our economy and our credentials. According to a study conducted by Harvard professor Jefferey Miron (easily understood in this GeekPolitics article), legalizing marijuana would “save the government $7.7 billion dollars a year by reducing the enforcement and incarceration costs”. Not only would we save all that money, but the police force could focus its attention and resources on much more dangerous crimes. In addition, Miron estimated that the drug’s legalization would generate an astounding $6.2 billion dollars of revenue for the U.S. government. That’s essentially $6.2 billion dollars going straight from drug dealers’ pockets to the government.
In addition, marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco. As stated in The Progress Report (this is a really interesting article, I definitely suggest reading it!), marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no lethal dose and no impact on the brain structure. Why, then, is alcohol legal while marijuana is not? The evidence of the harmlessness of marijuana is all over, so its prohibition simply doesn’t make sense. Alcohol is harmful because of the substance; marijuana is harmful because of the law.
The point is: the United States government could drastically help out both America and Mexico through legalization of marijuana, and in the process draft legislation that actually makes sense. As President George Washington advised, "Make the most of the Indian Hemp Seed and sow it everywhere".