Hello Friends and Family,
I apologize for not writing sooner. Work life has been very crazy lately, I will catch you all up on that later... I have also been gone/out and about for a few of the past weekends. We went to Santa Fe for a retreat with other volunteers who are serving in Denver, it was lots of fun. I love new friends. Then I went to Seal Beach to spend time with my Grandma, Great Aunt, and Great Aunt's friend. It was AMAZING! I had so much fun. Enjoyed relaxing and being pampered :) And the beach was a nice touch too. I am in love with the beach. I visited it multiple times a day while I was there. Other adventures include seeing the singing policeman, going to Jewish Temple, and enjoying the sun :)
So I have been meaning to write on the violence in Ciudad Juarez, the city that borders El Paso in Mexico, for a long time and have been collecting statistics and such but when I saw this article on Yahoo News I realized the time had come to write.
First some background. Ciudad Juarez has been the battle ground for drug cartels for a while now. The US, through plan Merida has been helping to fund the Mexican Officials on combating the cartels, however, if anything this has only caused more violence as the heads of cartels are taken down many more start waging for the power. Additionally, there is documented corruption amongst the military in Mexico, yet the US continues funding it. According to this Yahoo news article, "Nearly 18,000 people have been killed since Calderon deployed tens of thousands of troops and federal police across the country in December 2006 in an offensive against drug traffickers."
To put the number of murders in perspective, there were 2,650 documented murders in Ciudad Juarez last year, a city of around one million people compared to NY's 460 murders for a city of eight million people. This weekend two US Americans were killed, one of whom worked at the US consulate, so Obama is saying this must be investigated and that he is saddened and outraged by the murders. I say this with no disrespect to these two individuals but SINCE WHEN ARE US CITIZEN LIVES MORE VALUED THAN MEXICANS? Why as a nation are we not outraged that 2650 of our neighbors were murdered last year, who cares what national anthem they are singing? Why do we continue to sink our tax money into a 'solution' that is only contributing to the problem? It is my belief that every human life is just that, a human life. Why should a USC have to die for us to finally care about the violence that has been tearing apart the lives of thousands, many of whom are family to some USCitizen?
Though I am never in favor of ignoring human suffering, regardless of where it is taking place, I could at least understand the perspective of 'ignoring' this if we were in no way responsible, from a governmental perspective (Mind you I say I could understand, not that I would agree). How are we responsible for violence in Mexico you may ask. Well, my friends, thanks for asking. From my research and understanding there are two reasons this violence has gotten so out of hand, and both are thanks to the individualistic, self-serving policies and perspectives of the US population (Can you sense the brooding frustration :) )
The number one reason, which I will do my best to outline here is our US drug consumption. The other would be our unjust trade agreements, but I will leave that for another time.
According to a speaker at the Latino Congreso, the US has 4-5% of the world population but 1/4 of the world drug consumption, 25% of the prison population (much of which is associated with drug based offenses) and 50% of the drug base of Mexican/US drug smugglers money is from Marijuana. What is my point with all this? Well, first, US Americans need to have some self control. Your drug problem is killing people and not just you. Second of all, Marijuana is safer than booze so why is it still illegal?
My argument is that we should legalize, at least Marijuana. Then it can be regulated and we can tax the heck out of it. Those taxes could be used for drug rehabilitation to help people overcome addictions instead of just locking those people up in jail. This would also reduce our jail/court costs because sooo many crimes are linked to pot. It would all around be a financial asset to our society. Some people are also going to smoke the stuff, like it or not. If it is regulated, at least you know your kid is going down to the corner pot store with a fake ID instead of going to a shady ally or risking life or limb to get a hold of pot. While drug dealers are not all sketchy people, some are. Additionally, it would help to cut the legs out from under the drug traffickers, which would save innocent lives. It could also be grown and sold locally, which has further financial benefits. Yes, there are other drugs and that problem should also be addressed but Marijuana is a start. I am sorry I don't have better statistics for all y'all on this but I don't take enough time to research and document my musings they just build up in my head after hearing things from many sources.
Soooo my messages from this blog are: Smoke local, it saves lives. And Don't do drugs, it is killing people.
Can't wait to hear your reactions, thoughts, and musings in response.
First off, if you tax the hell out of pot, there's still a reason to have a black market. It should be taxed but the price should still be reasonable. Second off, why stop at marijuana? If someone wants to do drugs, they will find a way. At least if it's legal they will be clean unlaced drugs and users will be contributing to the economy. It's all really a matter of having Americans that are anti-drug and convinced that anti-drug laws will stop people from using along with users who don't really care where their drugs come from. Americans are smart business people. Legalize it, tax it, regulate it. There could even be a data base users have to be registered in that says who is buying and the quantity. The same thing happens in Brazil and there's such an easy fix that is actually beneficial safety-wise, health-wise, and economically. Of course this is all a crazy, crazy idea because America will never go for legal action that could let a stoner off the hook.
ReplyDeleteLeah R
Hey karen,
ReplyDeleteAs someone who's never used pot, and frankly, can't stand when those dirty Seattle Sounders fans smoke up a storm in the stadium seating right in front of me :) I totally agree with you. If you're in the business of supporting the human family, this is a step that has to be taken. Ciudad Juarez is just one (although a major one) of the many places throughout the America's that suffers due to our drug policy.
I also Agree with Leah, Price point will be an interesting thing to come to terms with. I believe that we can set a high price, a price higher that the cartel's, because as a nation we can offer this selling point; people who buy legally will pay less in the long run because of the steeper penalties we put on purchasing illegally (think about the fines and issues folks face with the OLCC when they sell booze illegally here in Oregon :D)
Running with that idea, we would also need stiff smoking and driving rules to reflect change. Right now we have the DUI/DWI system that works very well for alcohol, however, using weed and driving would need to be brought into the education of the nation as a whole.
I'm not a fanning of abusing substances, no one is. One thing that separates weed from booze is the intended use. I can have a glass of wine without any "effects" One bowl of weed is still one bowl of weed. This is something that the culture will have to come to terms with as we move through this process.
Back to work I go, Miss you Karen, Keep up the good work!
Teige