Bob Ray Sanders writes a slightly left-of-center column for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His most recent offering starts off as a simple amen to Hillary Clinton’s recent comments about the relation between Mexican violence and American addiction issues. But Clinton’s remarks could be interpreted as a call for a ramped-up war on drugs and that’s the last thing Sanders wants to see.
Here’s the heart of Sanders’ argument: “It’s much easier to raid a home in some low-income neighborhood and drag some minor drug dealer out in his underwear than it is to raid some office building and arrest some kingpin dressed in a $1,000 suit.”
SANDERS: Mexico and the U.S. have failed to address the drug problem
BOB RAY SANDERS
bobray@star-telegram.com
Sunday, Mar 29, 2009
Hillary Clinton is right.
Right on target.
Dead right, if you will.
Before some of you Hillary haters begin convulsing, hear me out.
After hearing our new secretary of state’s comments last week in Mexico, I thought perhaps she had overheard a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with an obviously upset man.
He’d left several voicemails before we had a chance to talk. In the recordings, he made it clear that he wanted to talk about something he found quite disturbing.
When we finally connected by phone, the tone of his voice – the tremor of each word – was one of hurt and anger. The caller was a Hispanic with a deep love for Mexico.
After hearing broadcast reports about the drug cartels in Mexico and the violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, the man was upset by a recurring theme in comments from some U.S. government officials.
Some of those officials – and some media commentators – were referring to Mexico as a “failed state” or on the verge of becoming such.
He had a question: If Mexico is a “failed state” because so much drug traffic is coming from there, then are Americans a “failed people” because they are consuming those drugs?
I promised I would ask his very good question to our readers and dare them to answer it honestly.
That brings me back to our secretary of state, who visited Mexico as our country was committing more resources to the border and desperately trying to figure out what else could be done to stop the drug trafficking and the increase in related violence.
Clinton said our two countries have a “shared responsibility” in this devastating crisis, and she concluded that Americans’ drug habits and our failed government policies contribute to the problem we claim to vehemently despise.
“How could anybody conclude any differently?” McClatchy Newspapers quoted Clinton as saying. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, solders and civilians.”
She is right.
I said the same thing when this country, under President George H.W. Bush, ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose, capture and arrest leader Manuel Noriega for drug trafficking.
I continue to ask: If we knew Noriega was sending tons of drugs to the United States and laundering money, we should also have known who in this country was receiving all those drugs and paying for them. If Noriega was a racketeer, then there were also racketeers in this country.
The same with Mexico.
If there are cartels south of the border, then there are cartels north of it. Let’s deal with them all, consistently and effectively.
Sadly, we do have communities all over this country afflicted by addiction, and we can never do anything significant about drug trafficking until we deal with the demand here.
Too often in our “war on drugs,” we focus on the junkies and the small-time dealers, leaving the leaders of the “cartels” to stay in business.
It’s much easier to raid a home in some low-income neighborhood and drag some minor drug dealer out in his underwear than it is to raid some office building and arrest some kingpin dressed in a $1,000 suit.
Every time there is a budget crisis, among the first programs to be cut are drug prevention, intervention and treatment.
If we spent one-tenth of the amount on drug treatment and prevention as we do on drug enforcement, we would make tremendous progress in addressing the problem.
Yes, we need to fight the drug-related violence along our border and help Mexico fight the addictive cancer that’s eating at its soul.
But we must also find a way to cure this nation’s “insatiable appetite” for the illegal substances that destroy individuals, families and entire neighborhoods.
To answer that caller’s question, neither country is a failed state, but both have failed at adequately addressing one of the most damaging problems any nation can face.
Friends of Justice 
We could drive a stake right into the heart of the drug cartels by legalizing drugs and taxing the sale to provide funds for treatment of addicts. Take away the profit and the cartels will wither like Jonah’s gourd plant in the hot wind.
Bob Ray,
Thanks for this column.
A brief sunmary of pertinent govt. daata is at Drug Use, Abuse and Dependence (Addiction) In America
http://www.dpft.org/duia.htm
The drug war is a disaster for fundamental reasons that the general public has never heard. If abuse of only prohibited drugs is the standard, it applies to less than one percent of the population, a group so small that they will always be easily supplied. The rest of us have no problem – or we have alcohol.
The government estimated 22 million cases of drug abuse and dependence (addiction) are dominated by alcohol, which plays a major role in 5 out of 6 cases (over 18 million). About 70 percent of all cases are alcohol only and in another 14 percent alcohol is combined with other drugs. Much of the remainder (3.7 million) is misuse of prescription drugs, notably pain pills. The heavy use of alcohol spurts around age 18, peaks around age 21 and begins a steady decline after it becomes legal to use. Illicit drug use also peaks around age 21.
About 90 percent of cocaine addicts, 75 percent of meth or heroin addicts and 70 percent of marijuana addicts already have a simultaneous alcohol abuse problem. In essence, our modern prohibition addresses about 10 percent of our drug problem in what has to date been a futile attempt to deter a relative handful of people or, seemingly, to increase their abuse of alcohol.
BTW
Marijuana is the foundation for the drug cartels. It is over 90% of the tonnage and, many officials say, 70% of the sales.
Most marijuana we use is now grown in the US. Cartels grow it in many of our national parks. Official reports predict continued stable supply. Estimates say it may be our number one cash crop, billions of untaxed revenue.
We criticize Mexico ??
Columnist Leonard Pitts has recently and reluctantly come out for legalization.