Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, right, gets bad
advice on drug policy from U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. (AP Photo/Daniel Aguilar, Pool)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on to something when she conceded that America shares blame for the crime and violence that has engulfed Mexico as a result of drug prohibition. Being who she is, of course, Clinton blamed demand for drugs, rather than prohibition as the culprit, and threw in a pointless call for additional restrictions on firearms. Even so, it's helpful when politicians concede that their authoritarian and ill-considered policies have harmful effects abroad as well as at home.
Of course, Clinton is a politician, so her concession that America plays a role in Mexico's woes was less a half-step in the right direction than a quarter-step. Just a day after she conceded that Mexican criminal drug suppliers are responding to the "insatiable" demand for illegal drugs north of the border, her boss, President Obama, rejected the obvious solution: legalization.
Prohibitionist policies based on the eradication of production and on the disruption of drug flows as well as on the criminalization of consumption have not yielded the expected results. We are farther than ever from the announced goal of eradicating drugs."
-- Finding in a report endorsed by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
Strictly speaking, Obama's dismissal of legalization in an electronic town hall referred only to marijuana. But if he won't consider even that basic step, then legalization of heroin and methamphetamine -- the two drugs driving the black-market violence in Mexico at the moment -- is obviously off the table.
Now that's a lack of change you can believe in.
Clinton, of course, tossed in a gratuitous nod to her ideological base, calling for tighter U.S. gun restrictions as a means of countering violence in Mexico. Even she can't believe that nonsense when such gun control stalwarts as the Los Angeles Times report that the Mexican drug gangs are battling police, soldiers and each other with fully automatic weapons, grenades and rockets -- items not generally available in Texas gun shops.
The proliferation of heavier armaments points to a menacing new stage in the Mexican government's 2-year-old war against drug organizations, which are evolving into a more militarized force prepared to take on Mexican army troops, deployed by the thousands, as well as to attack each other.
These groups appear to be taking advantage of a robust global black market and porous borders, especially between Mexico and Guatemala. Some of the weapons are left over from the wars that the United States helped fight in Central America, U.S. officials said.
The truth is that demand always finds a supply, and black markets fuel one another. Demand in the United States for illegal intoxicants such as marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine creates a potential for profit that leads to the rise of suppliers in Mexico and elsewhere. Money flows into the coffers of those black-market suppliers, who then seek to protect their turf from other gangs, from thieves and from law enforcement officers (although the lines between the various groups can be foggy). These gangs now want to purchase weapons and have the funds to do so, and ...
The cycle continues. Want to shut it down? Too bad. You can't.
What you can do, however, is allow demand to be met through legal channels. Let people who want to get high buy their heroin from above-board businesses that purchase their poppies from perfectly legal farms and their other supplies from equally legitimate sources. Disputes between legal suppliers are settled in court with lawyers, not in the streets with assassins, massively reducing crime and violence.
We're not talking utopia here, but we are talking about respecting people's liberty, reducing violence and increasing the potential for prosperity.
If Hillary Clinton wants to help Mexico, she should promise to push for drug legalization at home and tell Mexico that the best way to get rid of the drug gangs is to legalize the whole drug trade. Ending Prohibition in the U.S. stripped the Mafia of much of its power and wealth, and ending drug prohibition in Mexico would do the same to the drug gangs.
But if Clinton, as we can expect, is unwilling to give the Mexicans good advice, they should look close to home for wisdom. Just last month, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo joined with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, of Brazil, and César Gaviria, of Colombia, to call for an end to the violence-breeding, U.S.-driven prohibition model in drug policy. The report they endorsed states:
Prohibitionist policies based on the eradication of production and on the disruption of drug flows as well as on the criminalization of consumption have not yielded the expected results. We are farther than ever from the announced goal of eradicating drugs.
That's an understatement. In fact, Mexico is being torn apart by prohibitionist policies that have put whole sectors of the country in the hands of criminal gangs and produced a convulsion of violence.
With or without Clinton, Mexico should do itself a favor, and combat violence and crime by dropping drug prohibition.
email J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com
You might also enjoy these:
- Forty percent of Americans want marijuana legalized
- Three Latin American presidents call drug prohibition a failure
- Police group celebrates anniversary of Prohibition repeal with call to legalize drugs
- Is getting high on drugs always a bad thing?
- Former police chief opposes war on drugs
- To legalize or decriminalize prostitution (and everything else)?
- Overregulating our way to police abuse
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Comments
Agreed- Legalize Weed- and spend the saved money on stopping the hard stuff and better border security-
Hillary Clinton has a point, we as greedy, excessive American idiots drive the drug trade. We have created the marketplace, now we should assist the Mexican gov't in fighting it. Legalizing marijuana really isn't the solution. Sure it sounds great on paper, but where would it end? Our addictive American appetites would just transfer to some other new drug of choice, and the mob-like gangs would be more than happy to start supplying it. It's a cycle. In general, we as a people have become enabalers and supporters for drug use, whether we realize it or not. This coming from a former drug user.
JC- I disagree with you that legalizing weed will gateway to other drugs. Legalizing it would be only one step in containing the drug violence in Mexico (legalizing it on both sides of the border). It will put more money in state coffers and cut down our prison costs and allows more funding that perhaps could be directed to border security and prosecuting the more serious stuff out there.
Hillary Clinton will have no credibilty with me unless we crack down on the border. We have to stop this drug and human trafficing that threatens our economy and safety. It really is a shame that there are no Republican or Democrats with any real political courage. I'm very un-impressed with Obama thus far on any issue.
We will never cut out the flow of drugs completely, but we can make them a lot more dfficult and expensive to aquire.
I'm actually for more open borders! Putting a wall up between people is never a good idea. Nationalism is not one of our founding principles, but a union of nation-states. I would actually like to see Mexico join our great nation! I think we may have lost sight of what it means for a state to be part of the union. How we are weaker divided than as a whole!
End all prohibition. After a century of the stupid and evil policy of drug prohibition the same percentage of people are addicted now as there were before. Prohibition always fails and makes things worse. You can't fight a natural human tendency with stupid "laws".
"Good fences, good neighbors make"- Poor Richard's Almanac (I think).
I notice she didn't suggest Mexico build a wall on their border, why not? Wouldn't that stop America's corrupting influence on the poor Mexican government?
House - with all due respect when you try and assimilate huge masses of people from different cultures it never works out just look at history. You need a national identity or culture or there is nothing to assimilate to. We have to quit worshipping at the altar of political correctness. When you try and put people under the same umbrella when they are from different cultures you get Yugoslavia- Please study your history. If small groups want to come and adopt our culture while keeping their customs- great- But believe me when you see millions come over here in California they are not assimilating to our culture they are bringing theirs with them. This serves to create distrust and social tensions.
The Feds need to stay out of all of it. It's literally none of their business in terms of what the Constitution allows.
If drugs were de-criminalized and the welfare system - all of it - were eliminated, we wouldn't need walls, fences or illegal Federal border guards.
As far as the culture goes, the Spaniards and the natives of this continent have been here for a long time. Why they are suddenly a cultural threat to people is beyond me. They have as much business here as anyone. The culture really isn't that much different, either - not between the U.S. and Mexico. Believe me! I'm married to a natural born Mexican. There are a lot fewer differences than most people imagine. What I see is a lot of media driven hysteria.
That fence concept frightens me. I spent some time in Germany. I wrote a little about the fence in Berlin... I fear that a fence would make us more prisoners in our own country than we already are. And, it separates families.
People calling for a fence need to know more about the history of Germany and Berlin.
I spent quite a bit of time in Germany and am a fluent German speaker. I studied the history of Germany and the World Wars. I can't post links here or I'd send you to one of my articles on this subject. I think if people understood more about the history and the effects of that boundary, they would not think that a fence or wall on our southern border was a good idea at all! A fence is not freedom for anyone... it was the source of great misery for all of Germany.
I don't know much about the history of other states along the border, but Texas has a long relationship with Mexico. Texans and Mexicans are the same or very similar historically. A fence between Texas and Mexico would be similar to a fence between East and West Berlin.
Angela- I do not know where to begin, but I'll begin anyway-
To compare us trying to secure our border with a violent and corrupt state with the Berlin Wall is incredible. I am also very familiar with Germany and have a great understanding of their history and culture. Believe me if the Germans were bordering Mexico instead of prosperous European countries then they would be taking action (as any civilized country would) to protect their citizens. I live out in LA and violence and poverty being thrust upon us here is out of control. I know that most of the people coming across the border are seeking a better life and have great work ethics etc; however there are also very dangerous elements coming across-Drug smugglers, potential terrorist and all types of criminals. I wish that Mexico was a wealthier country and under control like Canada so the measures might not be so extreme- but unfortunately we have to live in the real world.
Mexico has more material wealth than California, but because we take on their social problems here by taking their poor and allow drugs to freely come across the border we serve as enablers to their government not to face its corruption.
You seem to suggest that the world should not have borders and anyone has the right to be here because of the United State's past history of conquering- This is a ridiculous premise as all nations and peoples have descended from the conquers and the conquered.
You need to really look at the history of the world and realize you cannot assimilate huge population of people from a different culture in a short amount of time- as I mentioned just look at Yugoslavia or any other nation or empire that has tried this. Yes they are a different culture- no doubt a great culture but it is not our culture (If I drive to Santa Ana I do not realize it as my culture). If you live in California you know that these people do not assimilate they congregate- this just feeds distrust and social tension.
Controlled immigration where there is a lot of scrutiny to make sure that the people are legitimate is fine so long as we have a labor market that can take them on.
I believe if you had a loved one (God forbid) get shot during a gang shoot-out out here you would have a different world view. We are having over 700 murders a year in LA (A lot due to illegal gang members) and Phoenix has become the Kid-napping capital of the world. It saddens me that both Bush and Obama did not and do not have the political courage to confront this issue. The left wing has gotten so opposed to common sense that they just call you a racist if you mention any thing to do with enforcing the border.
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