What Will it Take to Stop the Violence?
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a Mexico City radio interview in August that he supported Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s call for a debate on drug legalization. He also said that he will work to build a united front with Peru and Mexico on legalization if voters in California approve Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana in November.
Colombia and Peru are the world’s top cocaine producers. Mexico is the leading producer of marijuana and opium in this part of the world, and is the home to some of the world’s wealthiest and deadliest drug trafficking organizations.
President Santos has made such remarks before. In 1998, as head of the Good Government Foundation, he co-signed an open letter to then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for a “frank and honest evaluation of global drug control efforts” because “we believe the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself.” Two years ago, he told a London conference on cocaine that legalization should be part of the debate.
In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced a new military offensive against his country’s drug cartels. Since then the cartels have become more powerful than ever, financed primarily by marijuana sales. Violence has spread not just in the border areas but throughout Mexico and more than 28,000 people have been killed in the prohibition-fueled violence. Realizing that his hard-line approach has not worked, earlier this month Calderon said the time has come for Mexico to have an open debate about regulating drugs as a way to combat the cartels. Ignoring this problem, Mr. Calderon said, “is an unacceptable option.”
Calderon’s predecessor, Vicente Fox, went even further, writing on his blog that “we should consider legalizing the production, sale and distribution of drugs” as a way to “weaken and break the economic system that allows cartels to earn huge profits… Radical prohibition strategies have never worked.” Fox is hardly alone. His predecessor, as well as former presidents of Brazil and Colombia, has also spoken out for the need to end prohibition. Meanwhile in the US we’ve given criminals a virtual monopoly on something that U.S. drug-policy researcher Jon Gettman estimates is a $36 billion a year industry, greater than corn and wheat combined. We have implemented laws that are not enforceable, which has thereby created a thriving black market.
Sadly, despite 14 states flouting US federal law and legalizing marijuana for medical purposes and, despite a referendum to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes that will be put before California voters this November U.S. officials refuse to even acknowledge that such a debate is taking place. Obama’s Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has said repeatedly that the Obama administration is not open to a debate on ending marijuana prohibition. Even worse, we’ve donated $1.4 billion to fund Mexico’s horribly failed drug war.
Recently six former “drug czars” got together and released a statement in opposition to Prop 19 in California. All past directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the administrations of Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, these bureaucrats have presided over a policy that has been a documented failure since its inception and they continue to lie about the facts and encourage more of the same disastrous policies. After decades of America’s drug war and close to a trillion dollars spent on their policy one would think it would be nearly perfect instead of the resounding failure it has obviously become.
America’s insistence on drug prohibition has caused violence and crime, not only at home but in all of Latin and South America. Now the violence has reached such heights that the stability of these country’s governments is in jeopardy. The wealth and power of the drug cartels could easily lead to the establishment of narco-states. That would give America a raft of new countries to send troops to and to war against. We are already all over the Middle East and looking at expanding into Africa; can we sustain enemies to our south as well?
Mexico officially calls for national debate on drug legalization
Mexican President Calderon announced that the time has come to entertain a serious national discussion on the pros and cons of legalizing drugs. To cover his ass he then announced that he doesn’t support legalization. Why call for something you don’t like? Well President Calderon is very familiar when his predecessor Vincente Fox had the same idea. Fox was pressured by the Bush administration and forced to drop the idea. With the border issues facing the two nations and the distinct possibility of the US taking actions that would cause serious harm to Mexico’s economy this is dangerous time to go up against US policy.
Calderon has faced criticism as violence plagues the country. In years past he has been able to claim that it was drug dealers killing other drug dealers and therefore not really a problem. Now official figures released this week put the number of drug war related murders at 28,000 and many of these are honest civilians, students, even children on their way to a birthday party. Gun battles rage in the streets and the public is fed up but entry into the US illegal drug market is so hugely profitable that the cartels do what ever they must to see it continue. No amount of troops or police can possibly stop it.
Calderon’s opposition party, the PRI opposes legalization for largely the same reasons that opponents in the US do. Fear-mongering about addicting the nation’s youth were they to legalize drugs is promulgated in PRI’s broadcasts on radio and television. Their solution? More of the same. Use the police and military to crack down on the drug cartels when they commit public violence but turn a blind eye to the actual drug trade. They figure the violence will slow down if the cartels are allowed to continue the lucrative business.
Several prominent politicians from Latin and South America have called for legalization in the past year because of similar problems in their countries. Some have moved down the path toward legalization already by adopting measures to decriminalize small quantities of drugs intended for personal use. These other counties may help to provide cover for Mexico but the key player here is really the US. If the US legalized drugs then the drug problems these nations face would fade quickly .
So what will Obama do? He stated during his campaign that he knows the war on drugs has been a failure. He admitted to having smoked marijuana and tried cocaine himself as a student. Can we count on a president to honor his campaign promises?
Marijuana- America’s new favorite drug?
Marijuana is back. Safer than alcohol it is a mild psychoactive drug used all over the world for thousands of years. Nobody has ever died from smoking it. It has been used as medicine in cultures around the world. Even that symbol of propriety England’s Queen Victoria used it to ease her menstrual cramps.
These days hundreds of studies from around the world tell of its effectiveness in helping those suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Glaucoma, Crone’s Disease, and a long list of ailments. 14 states have approved its use for medical purposes and the bill in the New York State legislature would make it 15.
In July the Veteran’s Administration approved its use if recommended by a VA doctor. Of special interest to them is its use in treating the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) so common among Vets. Remember… the VA is a branch of the same federal government that officially claims marijuana has no medical use.
The U.S. Patent Office opened a department specifically to trademark names of different types of marijuana. Names like Acapulco Gold, Skunk, Agent Orange, and Third Dimension, could be registered to an individual or corporation for use only by them just like “Coke” or “Marlboro”. The office was open for several months before someone realized that marijuana was, under federal law, very illegal and the federal government couldn’t be selling trademark rights to illegal products. It was closed a couple of months ago.
Now marijuana is moving beyond just medicine. California has a bill that will be voted on by the public in November calling for marijuana to be taxed and regulated… just like alcohol… legalized. The polls show it will be a very close vote… about 50% for the idea and 50% against. If it doesn’t pass this year it will probably pass next year. However, 65% believe it is at least somewhat likely marijuana will be legalized in the United States in the next 10 years. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that just 17% of Adults rate use of marijuana as riskier than drinking alcohol. Fifty percent (50%), about three times as many say alcohol is more dangerous.
Altering one’s consciousness is a natural human trait. Children love to spin around and get dizzy. For adults in today’s society alcohol is, for better or worse, our consciousness - altering drug of choice. The different tribes of American Indians used tobacco, peyote, coca, or psychedelic mushrooms. To the best of my knowledge the only culture not to use some form of plant to alter their consciousness are the Eskimos of the far north simply because nothing grows there.
Marijuana is certainly safer than alcohol - nobody has ever died from smoking it and you can’t say that about alcohol. It seems that America is moving away from alcohol as its favorite recreational drug . As the country makes that move it will leave behind not only the problems associated with alcohol use but the terrible costs, both in money and ruined lives, of marijuana prohibition. It’s high time.
The New Jim Crow?
There has been much talk over the past decade or two about the paucity of leadership in the African-American community and the silence of what leaders there are about the massive incarceration of blacks in America and its connection to the war on drugs. In New York State for instance some 93% of prisoners doing time for drug offenses are Black or Latino. Knowing that these groups drug use per-capita is about the same as in the White community it’s pretty hard how one can’t see racism in that number yet there has been silence on this from the NAACP and most Black leaders.
We’ve known since H.R. Haldeman’s revealing memoir on his years as Nixon’s chief-of-staff that the war on drugs was used as a tool to exercise control over the African-American community without seeming to do so. As Nixon so shrewdly planned, this tactic apparently worked on the majority of White America. What about the Black leadership though? How could intelligent, politically-savvy black leaders not care that their communities were being devastated by mass incarcerations for the same crimes that Whites generally got probation for? How is it that the NAACP focused on the perceived racial imbalance on TV sitcoms while the constituency it purported to represent languished in prison?
A tiny handful of mid-level Black leaders spoke up but were ignored by the higher-ups. Long-time NAACP National Board member Richard Burton started something called Project Reach that focused on the racial injustice in the drug war but his message was apparently ignored by NAACP leaders. Why?
One possible answer may be found in the history of alcohol prohibition in America. Back in the 1920’s and 30’s immigrant groups such as Italians, Jews, and Germans were heavily involved in the sale, smuggling, and production of alcohol because of the economic opportunities the illegal market provided to them because discrimination prevented them from many legitimate avenues to make a living. Understandably perhaps, these groups were reluctant to speak out against the law for fear of being considered un-American. Since they didn’t want to call attention to themselves for their traditional alcohol use and possibly bring down yet more difficulties on their communities they remained largely silent. If the alcohol prohibition laws were like today’s drug laws and users and small sellers were going to prison for years things might have been different.
Another possibility is that some sort of understanding was reached whereby silence on the drug policy issue would ensure continued social benefits in the form of welfare and other government aid to communities of color.
Whatever the reasons things may be starting to change. With the growing understanding in America that the war on drugs is a failure there are signs that at last the Black community may be ready to speak out about this horrible injustice. There is a new book out called “THE NEW JIM CROW” by Attorney Michelle Alexander. She says “…I wrote this book because I was so deeply alarmed by the relative quiet of the civil rights community and African-American leaders in the face of mass incarceration. And I admit, at the outset, that I, myself, failed to fully grasp the extent of the devastation caused to communities of color as a result of the Drug War. There was a time when I didn’t fully get it.”
Alexander makes a compelling case for the idea that Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status-much like their grandparents before them.
Another promising sign comes from California where that state’s chapter of the NAACP has endorsed state representative Tom Damiano’s bill to legalize and tax the sale of marijuana in the state. That is a bold step. Still no word from the national NAACP about this issue but a step like this from a major chapter like California’s must have been noticed on high.
It’s a terrible shame that this travesty of justice didn’t get the attention it deserved before a generation or two were hammered mercilessly by this senseless drug policy but, as we see all too often in America, change comes slow.
New York: Shouldn’t we be Progressing not Regressing?
I just spent a wonderful weekend in one of the most beautiful places on the world… The Thousand Islands. It’s a part of the St. Lawrence river near Lake Ontario. The river separates the US and Canada and the stretch just above the lake is chock full of small islands, about 1800 of them actually. It was a haven for alcohol smugglers back in the 20’s because of the ease, if you knew the islands and shoals, of evading the law. Today there are all sorts of craft from Jet-ski’s to massive freighters that ply the Great Lakes crossing back and forth across the border all summer long. People have summer camps on many of the islands and all along both the US and Canadian shorelines. Americans own property on the Canadian side, Canadians own property on the US side. It’s very porous border.
In one direction the river opens up into the easternmost of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, then over Niagra Falls into Lake Erie and points west. In the other direction it flows through sparsely populated areas of Canada and eventually into the North Atlantic.
Well along comes New York’s Democratic Senator “Chuck” Schumer, with New York’s best interests at heart of course, with a plan. A plan to “to make sure we devote resources to stop drug trafficking at the northern border, just as we have at the southern border.”
Well doesn’t that sound a bit passé ? I mean I thought the country was moving in the opposite direction regarding the war on drugs? The cocaine sentencing disparity was shrunk. New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws were gutted. Fourteen states now have legalized medical marijuana and there is a referendum in California to legalize marijuana altogether. Almost everybody you talk to these days will tell you the drug war was a monumental failure that cost billions and kept these drugs away from no one who wanted them but it seems the good Senator is nostalgic for the old drug war.
Let’s see… there is already a customs checkpoint if you drive across one of the bridges that span the river so drug smuggling by car is somewhat risky. Boats are another story. Small pleasure craft come and go all summer long , back and forth from Canadian to US waters and back again. You are supposed to check in if you land anywhere but that clearly unenforceable… or is it? Perhaps we could build a wall down the center of the river? Or we could significantly increase the number of patrol boats and have make frequent stops of recreational boaters and demand papers and search their boats. Such a plan would certainly hurt the area’s property values as well as hurt countless businesses in the US and Canada but would it reduce the flow of drugs into the US? Since the best efforts of the Senator and his state’s Department of Corrections have failed to come up with a single drug-free maximum security prison, I doubt it.
Shame Senator… New York should be leading the move toward a rational drug policy not wasting money we don’t have repeating the mistakes of the past 40-odd years and expecting that somehow this time it’ll be different. Our school budgets get cut. Our taxes go up. Our roads are full of potholes yet we should spend millions trying to stem the flow of drugs across New York’s immense northern border? C’mon Senator… it’s 2010. New York is in the midst of a serious economic crunch. Can’t we stop throwing millions down the toilet and do something that might improve the lives of New Yorkers?
