Mexico: the arrival of crack cocaine
Traditionally, Mexico’s drug wars involved the business of moving drugs to the U.S. And this has always meant crime and violent acts as the participants of one of the most capitalistic of all businesses—that of selling illegal drugs—battle over turf. But now it appears that crack cocaine is finding its way into Mexican communities. Crack has a way of destroying all that get near.
Coca leaf tea is one thing: crack cocaine quite another. Just as a tonic with a small amount of opium is quite different than injectible heroin. Some drugs can’t be made available to the masses without dire consequences.
I know this is an unpopular view for many that frequent this site, but that’s the way real democracy works: people have to sit down and discuss ideas and look at all sides of an issue.
It’s easy to blame all drug-related problems on the fact they’re illegal. And I fear, inaccurate.
I find lots of gray areas in this world, where the solution to one problem creates other problems.
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Sitting down at the drug dealers' table
Submitted on May 22nd, 2005 by Benjamin MelançonYou write:
So I'm sitting down, discussing ideas, and looking at all sides of the issue. First, as I've mentioned before, there's a whole harm reduction movement in Brazil and Argentina that speaks directly to your concerns of the grey area between the dangers of hard drugs and the dangers of the drug war. See, for instance, The History of Brazilian Harm Reduction by Adriana Veloso (part 6 of an 8 part series), or her later article When Drug Treatment Met Harm Reduction, and Reducing the Risks: The Argentina Harm Reduction Movement, the second in a two-part series by Luis Gómez.
I would like your point by point responses to these assertions and questions.
What would you do? Would you have drug smugglers, like you were, shot? Or do you have the knowledge to effectively go after the real movers behind illegal drugs? How, in short, would you reduce the availability and/or harm of drugs in a legal framework where the drugs themselves are illegal?
Thank you for bringing the increase in crack cocaine use in Mexico to our attention. Now who is bringing it, and how do we stop them or reduce the harm the crack cocaine will bring?
From the same May 20 article by Jeremy Schwartz that you cite, it is clear that Mexico's drug laws have long been user-friendly compared to U.S. law, but that Mexico's drug use has historically been low and this increasing crack cocaine problem is new. If the source of the problem isn't in the drug law, it seems strange to look for the solution there.
In all seriousness, the relatively minor act of repealing the economically-disastrous NAFTA would seem more effective at preventing a crack cocaine epidemic in Mexico than all the availability-control you can imagine.
I'll take a stab
Submitted on May 23rd, 2005 by Don Henry Ford Jr.I agree entirely with your first point.
On point two I prefer the word decriminalized to legalized. I do not advocate giving prison sentences to users. But speeding and buying a whore are also illegal. It's the severity of the sentences imposed I find so out of line.
On point three, I do think legalizing marijauna, coca leaf, and possibly weaker extracts of the herbs from which hard drugs are derived would make the distillates less inviting.
I wholeheartedly agree with point four.
To summarize, I favor freedom, but not anarchy. The point where what we do begins to harm others is where the law must intervene. I've seen how the sale of extremely strong distillates can be used as a weapon against the masses. Whether the person doing so does so legally or illegally makes little difference to me.
In a way, this whole debate seems an effort in futility, with the obvious direction in which our country is headed. While I waste time arguing minor policy differences with you, multinational corporations and their governments ramp up programs to kill, enslave, and rob from the citizens of the world. Their grip tightens as I speak.
Sorry for preaching to the choir.
Cancun has nothing to do with it
Submitted on May 24th, 2005 by Jules SiegelI asked a friend of mine here who knows more than he should about cocaine if crack were available here. He said that it isn't, but that the police call freebase and any other concentrated cocaine crack.
Let's try very hard to remember that anything the police say about any drugs is usually either a ridiculous lie or a rotten lie. That's the range. I think the whole issue will fall apart on close examination, and will turn out to be just another pretext to get Mexico to change its drug policies.
As far as what drugs should be illegal, the usual consumer standards should apply. Is it a poison? Do people get sick and die from it? Then prosecute the sellers, not the consumers, just as we would do if someone were selling methyl alcohol. Of course, this would mean relying on real scientific evidence instead of drug science (the modern equivalent of racial science).
Every way you look there's another trap. We are doomed, I tell you, doomed. The Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. Where's the outrage? Get on it right now. we need to know what this means. It could trump all questions about drugs.
Have a nice day, Internet viewers.
Letters from Ike
Submitted on May 26th, 2005 by Don Henry Ford Jr.I did see your piece about crack cocaine making it in to Mexico. Brother, I
am here to tell you that not only has it long ago made its way into use in
Mexico, it is prevalent and spiraling into a huge problem. I have
observed a steady and continued rise in drug use by the young working class
people that work, or try to work, in Maquilas for the last several years.
One of the oddities that I have observed, and what may be a factor in the
escalating violence that I think will soon spill over much more so to Texas,
is that this drug use is almost exclusively limited to the young males. The
women just do not seem to be getting involved in it for whatever reason. I
imagine that in the States this is also somewhat of the case, but I know
growing up on the border and in the drug filled 80's there were always
plenty of women users, both anglos and Hispanics. But, on the Mexican side,
at least in the working classes that I am around, it is almost strictly
limited to the young males.
The big issue about this problem is that drug dealing has been and is
currently being so glorified in Mexico that these kids truly think that what
they are doing is not only fun and good but also respected. I don't know
how much you keep up on this stuff, but on all the "Grupero" Mexican radio
stations I would say that "Narco-Corridos" make up at least 25% of the play
list, possibly more. All the big time musical groups have several hits
describing the glamour and excitement of the drug trade and some of the
tunes that I have heard also delve into the use.
I can tell you that along this part of the border, the stomping grounds of
the Gulf Cartel, the drug trade, both domestic and for export, is
flourishing. The power that these groups have is incredible. All along the
main highway that runs from Matamoros to Laredo there are lookouts and quasi
checkpoints (the Cartel's, not the army or the Federales), usually kids with
radios and binoculars, stationed at crossroads and principal points. I
guess to warn of law enforcement, although we both know that they too are
involved in all of this, or possibly the presence of the other Cartels. The
"Zetas" that you hear mention not only exist, but are worse than the
press makes them out to be. Last year they were resisted by the mayor of
the small municipality of "Nuevo Guerrero" (near Falcon Lake and south east
of Laredo) and he was kidnapped and "re-educated" for several
days. The former mayor of the city of "Diaz Ordaz" (west of Reynosa) was
disappeared a few weeks ago, not a trace of what truly happened to him is
known. This group has not only killed early and often but is actively
recruiting new members from the youth of the area. It is being rumored in
the press and I am here to tell you that it is fact, that this group has
gotten tied in with the Central American "Maras" in an effort to monopolize
the flow of illegal aliens. It used to be that any Mexican could go down to
the river and takes his chances swimming across, no more. These groups
basically control the river and anyone who chooses to cross has to pay them
a toll.
One of the other situations that is developing is that there are so many
groups, members, participants, or whatever you want to call them, in this
illicit drug trade along the border that there is just not enough room for
them all, that is what, in my opinion, is leading to all the violence. I
also do know that these drug cartels are branching out into protection
rackets, gambling and as I mentioned illegal immigration. In Matamoros the
local cartel, due to low revenues caused by increased US border vigilance,
has adopted a $100 per car tax on the very large and active used car
business. I have also heard mention that there has been activity to
pressure produce and trucking companies from the interior of Mexico that are
involved in shipping produce to the US. These groups are so large and well
organized that they require a ton of revenue to stay in existence and they
are going to get it anyway they can. I truly fear that at some point there
is going to be a serious social upheval along the border as decent and law
abiding residents are going to start resisting this situation, as they know
that the authorities are either compromised or, as Slim Pickens would say,
"in cahoots" with the drug gangs and truly dangerous situation is going to
develop, one of basic civil unrest.
I did not mean to get so sidetracked on all of the above. Where this ties
into what you wrote is that I can't help but think that due to the increased
participation on the supply side that there has to be efforts to increase
the size of the market. And that increase is logically going to be in
Mexico as there is now (we can even assume an indirect connection to the
contribution of the Maquilas) much more wealth and disposable income in
Mexico, especially Northern Mexico, as compared to years ago. If this
already poor and socially dysfunctional area goes further south in terms of
more problems, what is to become of it? and or what is to become of South
and South West Texas? You are very correct in that this is a serious and
terrible problem that will have dire effects on this part of the world and
who knows what will happen in Mexico with its inherent legal dysfunction and
corruption.
And then, this:
I was fortunate growing up in the sense that I stayed relatively away from
Drugs, I have always been allergic to hangovers and thus I even avoided too
many problems with drinking. But, I will tell you this that drugs were and
are extremely readily available along the borders. In the 80's and early
90's you just did not see too much drug use in Mexico, to the point of it
affecting society, but today things are different. In Reynosa and I believe
in Matamoros random drug testing has occurred and when it has been done
(usually when a new mayor comes in to help get shed of the leftovers of the
previous administration) they end up getting rid of a huge amount of the
police and "transitos". The current mayor of Reynosa (across from McAllen)
is a former high school classmate of mine and also a good friend. He has
been active in politics for a while now and got himself elected mayor. Last
I talked to him, right after his newly appointed police chief was found shot
to death on the Monterrey highway the day before taking office, he was wide
eyed about the current situation.
He comes from the class of Mexicans that years ago ruled the municipalities
and states. The ones who owned most of the businesses and real estate, the
ones whose kids had a new pickup or mustang when they turned 15, the ones
who vacationed in New York and Paris, the ones who were educated in Europe
and along the East Coast, the ones who had no fear of a traffic citation or
lawsuit. Well let me tell you that class of Mexicans no longer truly rules
the country, they used to, but they don't anymore. The cartels and the
"mafia" rule the country now and what you are going to see is the last
vestige of power of this class go to war with cartels and in true fashion
the rich are going to try and use poor Indians from Tabasco, Oaxaca,
Guerrero and the like to take their places at the front, while being paid a
pittance. The cartels know how to reach the poor and they will do so. What
is going to happen when the ruling class is backed into the corner? are they
going to acquiesce to the cartels or will they bow up and fight it as it
needs to be fought? I truly don't know, but I do know that if it ever gets
to be a big fight, not a show fight like there currently is, there are going
to huge ass problems in Mexico.
Prohibition and the Ruling Class
Submitted on May 30th, 2005 by Dan FederAnyway, the situation he lays out here, to me, just confirms for me once again that much of the “drug problem” comes from prohibition itself. When drugs are made illegal despite clearly rising demand, these policies are providing a gift to organized crime: a highly valued industry that no one else is allowed to touch. When that prohibition is enforced through tougher enforcement and a “war” on these mafias, the narcos don’t surrender, they buy bigger guns and prepare for battle.
I would say that Ike’s observations about the new role of the Zetas and Maras in illegal immigration also bear this thinking out (though I’m no expert on the immigration topic and would be interested to see if others agree). Operation Gatekeeper totally changed the landscape for illegal immigration in the mid-90s by militarizing the border at an unprecedented level. Did illegal immigration slow down? Not really, but a lot more people started dying after being forced into more dangerous crossings through the Sonora desert, and the arming of one side of the border led to the arming of the other side as well, where crossing the border increasingly involves armed gangs.
As far as drugs are concerned, the picture is just going to keep getting worse in Mexico and other countries as long as our governments keep following the same failed, unjust policies. New legal frameworks for dealing with drugs in society will only be possible once lawmakers start thinking outside the prohibition box.