OPINION & EDITORIAL
Lighting up hurts, endangers many
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Also by Joe Trovato:
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- Ethno-political lobbying anti-American (October 24, 2007)
- Ahmadinejad invite unpatriotic insult (September 26, 2007)
- Play ball now: UW deserves baseball (September 12, 2007)
- Personal responsibility lacking in U.S. (May 8, 2007)
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by Joe Trovato
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Many have used the excuse that drug use is a "victimless crime" as their rationale for lighting up a joint now and then. The argument is based on the premise that drug use does not hurt anyone else. After all, people should be able to decide what goes into their own bodies, right?
On the surface, perhaps this seems like a fair statement. Well then, America, it's time to open your eyes and become a true "global citizen" for a moment and think about the effects of this so-called victimless crime from someone else's perspective.
Take Mexico, for example. The drug trade controls Mexico, its government and its police forces. Corruption, unlawful killings of civilians by security forces, and even kidnapping by police and other drug-related groups run rampant in Mexico according to the U.S. State Department. Drug lords pay off Mexican officials in a corrupt scheme that allows for the creation of a pro-narcotics oligarchy that dominates the country through an illegitimate and illicit trade. The government turns a blind eye to the drug cartels operating in Mexico because key officials are paid off.
Drugs equal power in Mexico and it has rendered the common man of Mexico helpless. No honest middle-class Mexican has a chance of prosperity in Mexico. Legitimate business cannot prosper when illegitimate and illicit business holds a dominating monopoly over the economy.
With 40 percent of Mexico's population living in poverty, it is obvious that most of the nation's wealth is being controlled by the drug lords and corrupt members of the government. As long as the government remains corrupt, all of these people in poverty stand no chance.
Logically, a large population of disgruntled illegal immigrants looking for opportunity inevitably makes its way toward the U.S. border to flee the raw deal they are getting from their own government. The sad thing is that it is the United States — and its addiction to the drugs supplied by these Mexican cartels — that is fueling the entrenchment and solidifying the power of this Mexican drug lord government.
In a nutshell, drug use in the United States is victimizing the common man in Mexico and is largely responsible for supporting the pro-drug government that exploits its own people. This exploitation leads to illegal immigration, which causes countless problems in the United States.
Furthermore, this drug culture that has been created by the United States in Mexico has made the country one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. In fact, on Nov. 22, Robert Marcos Garcia, the editor of a local newspaper in Veracruz, was killed. Garcia was the seventh journalist killed in Mexico this year, making Mexico the second most deadly country in the world for journalists, trailing only Iraq. One thing that all of these slain journalists held in common was that their work exposed some of the rampant corruption within the government and its connection to the drug lords.
The border town of Nuevo Laredo also illustrates the side effects of America's addiction to drugs. This town, located on the U.S.-Mexican border, was the site of 10 percent of the 2,000 drug-related murders that occurred last year. Kidnappings and killings have become so commonplace that local newspapers have stopped reporting drug killings out of fear and pressure from the government and drug dealers. One police chief was killed last year and a second quit out of fear for his own safety. Three hundred police jobs cannot be filled — even with the promise of $600 per month — due to the fear of trying to stand up to the drug cartels.
And why must the residents of this town have to live in fear every day? Because their neighbor to the north needs its drug shipments, and Nuevo Laredo is one of the major shipping crossroads from Mexico to the United States.
So next time someone lights up, please remind him that not only is he hurting himself, but he is hurting members of the U.S. military, journalists, immigration officials and CIA operatives who are trying to combat the drug trade on our borders and in the media. Remind them about the Mexican families that live in fear for their safety every day in Nuevo Laredo and the 40 percent of the Mexican population that lives in poverty because of their corrupt government. Also, remind them that it is because of their selfish desire to get high that the honest, hardworking people of Mexico are unable to make a decent living in an honest line of work and are thus provoked to immigrate to the United States illegally in search of opportunity. Think about the victims of this supposedly "victimless crime" next time you get the urge to get high.
Joe Trovato (jtrovato@wisc.edu) is a freshman majoring in journalism.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 8:11am):
You're an idiot.
Who did prohibition make powerful? The Mob.
Legalize it an the problem ends. Budweiser has yet to ruin America. Bootleggers and crime syndicates, however, could have ruined America. (Compare to pushers and cartels)
Besides: "It is well documented that William Randolph Hearst, legendary newspaper mogul, owned huge tracts of forest land, which he intended for use in the paper industry making wood-pulp paper. Cheap Cannabis-based paper would have compromised his forestry investments into a huge loss."
Thanks, Hearst, the war on drugs was well worth your precious paper industry. Without you, Miami Vice would have never existed. White blazer, pink shirt, and rolled sleeves.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 9:37am):
Wow is this article poorly conceived.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 12:33pm):
Oil money fuels terrorism.
Legalize drugs and all the problems go away.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 12:40pm):
So what this article is saying is that the fact that drugs are illegal is causing all sorts of problems and severe crime.
Sound familiar?
Welcome to prohibition.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 1:51pm):
Easy there freshman. Who said anything about smoking Mexican weed. We grow our own here in Madison. You obviously are confusing Madtown with Stevens Point. Get your facts strait rookie.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 2:34pm):
You could say the same things of oil, or diamonds, or Nikes or produce or any number of other luxury goods that come from less fortunate countries.
And a lot of those countries would be a whole lot better off if we weren't manipulating them to keep the product we desire cheap and plentiful.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 2:47pm):
Its about time that someone stood up and spoke out on an issue that is often neglected by many on our campus. Indeed, drug use perpetuates poverty in the underdeveloped world and makes a farce of the idea that we are at all interested in making our world free, open, democratic, or non-violent. Thanks for the enlightening article and keep fighting the good fight.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 2:56pm):
Thanks for the article and its about time. Also-- ignore idiot posters whose first resort is to criticize rather than debate. For those interested, I ask that you look at the UN report on the amount of drugs flowing North from Mexico. Anyone with common sense will see that we have a major epidemic problem on our hands, and the columnist's point is to make everyone aware of what sort of an impact it has. The reality right now is that prohibition aside, marijuana is illegal. So, either fight within the system to change its legal status, or recognize that Latin America and Mexico are being sacrificed by your selfish drug habit.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 3:00pm):
Obviously this guy wasn't at the Perpetual Groove show at the Rathskeller last weekend. The band hotboxed the whole first floor and some guy was walking around selling special brownies and mushroom sandwiches.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 3:44pm):
Hmm, Madison weed grower- Are you really implying that nowhere in the unsavory history of your weed growing you never bought marijuana? And provided that is even true, that your precious Madison plant didn't originally come from seeds smuggled across the border? I mean seriously? Not to mention that you make a mockery of the notion that there are countless people defending the streets from people associated with your pastime. Nice thinking. By the way, strait is actually spelled straight. Perhaps you should consider spending a bit of time mulling over facts and consequences as well?
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 5:07pm):
Firstoff, don't lump all drugs together. People who actually use certain substances will disregard whatever you say because doing that shows so much ignorance.
Second of all: Mexico: my anti-drug?
Ha. Even if all the facts that you provided were true, your conclusion that people should not do "drugs" (smoke herb?) is fallacious. If the problem is caused by marijuana being illegal (which it is- you don't see these problems with tobacco, a much more addictive, widely used, and dangerous drug) then it stands to reason that it should not be illegal. That would pull the rug out from under all of the problems that you described. Your implied argument that it should be illegal because it is not a victimless crime, due to it hurting people because it's illegal is circular and illogical.
It IS a victimless crime. The definition of a victimless crime is that it does not have a victim (and being emotionally bothered doesn't count-otherwise I should be able to call the cops on you) is unheard of for anyone directly involved in the act to report it to the police. For example, an assault has a victim. The person who was assaulted calls the cops. Smoking a spliff is a victimless crime. Who's going to call the cops? The person who sold it to them? The people who smoked it? The frisbee company?
Clearly, the only solution to this problem is to legalize it. Anti-sodomy laws, which demonize another victimless "crime," homosexuality, used to be very real and enforced. When more and more people started coming out, however, it started a dialogue that led to most of those laws being taken off the books- or at least a total lack of enforcement.
Therefore, if anything, more people should smoke herb and be open about it- especially if they get it from somewhere other than Mexico, which most people do if there is a choice.
The border patrol between Mexico and the US makes smuggling large quantities of herb difficult- if you don't compress it (because it is most often done by driving it across the border in the hidden parts, such as behind the paneling, of the car). The process of compression turns it into an unappetizing brick and severely depletes the quality, crushing and knocking many of the THC crystals off of the outside of the buds- if there even are buds. There's also an urban legend (maybe it's true?) around Milwaukee that the latin kings, who have connections in Mexico, make the marijuana they sell weigh more by soaking it in gasoline and then drying it out. They make more money from it this way both because they can sell less as more and because the crystals that the gasoline forms during drying makes the herb look higher quality. Look at an issue of High Times sometime. Generally, the better it is, the more THC crystals it has.
(Public Service Announcement: Stoners- if you're scared by this, there's an easy way to tell if someone has done it. The herb will spark, much like a very short sparkler. If this happens, please throw it away. Smoking gasoline crystals makes you dumber, and that's not the image stoners need right now.)
This is why any stoner worth their salt who has a choice stays away from Mexican weed.
There's a lot of domestically produced marijuana too (wiki the "Emerald Triangle")- and for the love of everything lovable - don't forget Canada! This is the northern US, after all. It's also much easier to float it through the Great Lakes with a GPS tracker than over a border with a bunch of cops.
And if "drugs" (marijuana) cause so many problems for the people of a country that produces them, where are the US and Canada's problems? The problem in Mexico clearly stems from their corrupt comercially authoritarian government, not marijuana.
But thanks for exacerbating the problem!
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 5:12pm):
"drug use perpetuates poverty in the underdeveloped world"
BS
Try telling that to the weed, coca and poppy growers who make geometrically more money on those crops than they could on anything legal.
Crime in the underdeveloped world yes, poverty - not so much.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 5:44pm):
NAFTA. Mexican, American, Canadian, it really doesn't matter. Nice try associating ILLEGAL drugs with ILLEGAL immigrants.
All the Libertarian readers must cringe when they read this article.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 7:21pm):
"Indeed, drug use perpetuates poverty in the underdeveloped world and makes a farce of the idea that we are at all interested in making our world free, open, democratic, or non-violent."
Not true. Putting pressure on other countries to keep the substances that make the "moral majority" uncomfortable does, though.
"Also-- ignore idiot posters whose first resort is to criticize rather than debate."
You could easily say the same thing about people who lump all illegal substances together as "drugs" even though there are important differences.
"Anyone with common sense will see that we have a major epidemic problem on our hands, and the columnist's point is to make everyone aware of what sort of an impact it has."
Anyone with common sense? That's not elitist and critical at all. Anyone who doesn't believe everything the UN says and draw the same conclusions as you is an idiot. Of course.
"The reality right now is that prohibition aside, marijuana is illegal. So, either fight within the system to change its legal status"
It's very difficult to fight within the (broken) system if professing any specific knowledge about marijuana incriminates you. Why are absolutely all of these comments anonymous?
Interracial marriage also used to be illegal. Should the loving couples have broken up, not had a party to celebrate their devotion to each other and written letters to their congressmen? Illegal does not mean wrong.
Just boycott Mexican weed. It's crap anyway. There's plenty of other places it's produced, like the vast majority of the rest of the world.
"or recognize that Latin America and Mexico are being sacrificed by your selfish drug habit."
Tell that to the cancer patients. Wouldn't it be selfish to condemn others for something you know very little about just to make yourself feel superior?
Latin America, including Mexico, is being sacrificed by people who can't admit that they should live and let live. It's being sacrificed by the willfully ignorant and by a government that can't admit it was and is corrupt and wrong.
"Hmm, Madison weed grower- Are you really implying that nowhere in the unsavory history of your weed growing you never bought marijuana?"
I'm sure the person wasn't. Just that it wasn't Mexican. Also, way to insult "unsavory" (what, not meaty enough for you?) people.
"And provided that is even true, that your precious Madison plant didn't originally come from seeds smuggled across the border? I mean seriously?"
What border? Canada's? California's? For the 9,000th time, all herb is not from Mexico.
"Not to mention that you make a mockery of the notion that there are countless people defending the streets from people associated with your pastime."
GOOD. They should be mocked for ruining people's lives just because they have closed minds and want to control people.
"Nice thinking."
On his or her behalf, thanks.
"By the way, strait is actually spelled straight. Perhaps you should consider spending a bit of time mulling over facts and consequences as well?"
A typo on an internet forum! They must be idiots.
"All the Libertarian readers must cringe when they read this article."
Hell yes! I did.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 8:32pm):
I just have to say "WoW" in response to this article. Obviously, what this writer dosen't understand is that the drugs that fund Mexico's corruption were here way before Mexico. Maybe the fact that, like when alcohol was made illegal, these drugs are illegal is the whole reason for the kidnapping and killing and corruption. If it was a legal and controlled business, maybe there wouldn't be smuggling and drug lords who make all the profits and rule with an iron fist. Just remember, when prohibition started, that's when the mob was able to become a real force, as well as the fact that it enticed more consumption than had ever been recorded before. It's just a shame that our drug war is fueled by ignorance and a lack of care for personal rights.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 9:04pm):
All of the above listed problems would be solved if the plant was legal or decriminalized.
So, the next time someone lights up, think to yourself, the government is hurting all of us.
And while this goes on, the goverment imports drugs straight into the country to raise money to fight a secret war in Nicaragua???
I'm not too sure where you get your statistics, but Mexico as the 2nd most dangerous country in the world just sounds like you don't know jack. All because of 7 deaths in over 300 days??
But basically all this guy is saying is if you smoke drugs.... grow your own. Be self sufficient, and don't hurt anyone.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 9:11pm):
"Not to mention that you make a mockery of the notion that there are countless people defending the streets from people associated with your pastime."
Does that include the no-knock gestapo killing old ladies? I do worse than mock them - I bite my thumb at them!
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 9:43pm):
Why does the author not even mention cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine, which all play a major role in the Mexican drug trade and the danger surrounding it? Or mention that Mexico proposed decriminalizing marijuana in small amounts to break the cartels, but then were stonewalled because trying to stop the problem was showing their lack of commitment to the WAR ON DRUGS? I haven't been this angry about a poorly conceived and written article in the Herald in a long time...
Even worse, I do not see how this article proved any point other than to spout out alarmist theory about how MARIJUANA (NOT drugs as the only drug that the author references is marijuana) is solely responsible for all of life's problems in Mexico.
Anonymous (December 7, 2006 @ 11:47pm):
Joe - great article. I think you brought up a lot of points that many of us do not normally think about, especially the fact that a person's decision to "light up" has an impact on so many others. The article really set up the domino effect of this "victimless crime."
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 12:13am):
Ah, but if Marijuana was legal then none of these problems would exist would they? Because we could all just grow our own.
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 12:33am):
I thought this article brought up a theme that is not often addressed, and that much of the feedback in response to the article is avoiding. This article was not written to begin a debate about whether or not marijuana should be legalized, or where the supply should or should not come from...it's goal was to bring to light the fact that poverty in Mexico is in part continuing because of this drug's use. It's important to have a global view and see the impact that one's actions can have on others. Whether or not someone is worried about the influence marijuana has on him or herself is not what the author is concerned about, rather he is asking those involved with this drug's use to take a step back and gain an understanding of the implications the drug has on other people and another society.
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 12:39am):
The no knock gestapo? As in all of our nation's law enforcement officers are some sort of thugs not associated and integrated with our communities? That's right- fight the power, and smoke weed. That'll show'em.
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 2:04am):
Man it is comforting that all of you are out there supporting us. We will keep growing for msn. I guess i did misspell straight...I bet you could spell 'Santorum' correct on the first try. Respect to all! Despite my white skin, i think am a bit connected to the underclass of this town. Are you?.--spellcheck as needed--
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 7:31am):
Yep, a freshman.
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 11:22am):
Hey freshman, what the hell do you know about the "Mexican common man," and how would you know that he's being victimized by me smoking this delicious joint? Did you go out into the field and interview average Mexicans? Do you have any research to back up any of your ridiculous claims, or is it all based on shady assumptions?
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 1:03pm):
Though I am not the author of the column, I would say that the evidence is fairly clear on the impact its having on Mexico's commmon person. I can't speak for the author, but I have been to Mexico and interviewed average Mexicans. Additionally, I am not sure that the consigned space of a student newspaper column is necessairly conducive to citations, though there are numerous reports on the topic from the UN, the US Government, and the testimony of countless victims along the border. They live under a despotic government whose intractability is a concern for the average aspiring citizen who wishes to voice real change through the democratic process. Though one of the posters is correct in arguing that drugs are not the only issue, it is nevertheless the columnist's point to ridicule the notion that there is not an impact. He is absolutely correct. Many of you who are opposed to the author also have twisted this into a major assault against the entire "War against the war on drugs." This wasn't his point, it was merely an article suggesting that there are victims because of smoking marijuana, and that is all. Give the guy a break. Keep going Freshman. I am with you.
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 2:31pm):
Dear Mr. Trovato,
Thank you for pointing out in your article the insatiable demand that exsists in the USA for drugs as the determining point in the fight for control of the northern border of Mexico to supply these drugs.
As vicepresident of tourism of the Chamber of Commerece of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, I can tell you that this drug war has wrecked havoc with our ecomony to the point that over 600 business have closed over the last two years and left several thousand people out of work. From the very beginning of this drug war, I have always clamined that the problem is in the USA and not Mexico. The amount of money involved in huge and resulted in the corruption of our entire police force.
Alejandro Dominguez, our past president of the chamber, was asasinated just hours after taking the job of police chief. He had told me hours before about his plan to fire the entire police force and start from scratch. That cost him his life but his ideas lived on as the Mexican Goverment did exactly that days after his asasination.
Today things seem more calm here in Nuevo Laredo but the damage has been done.
I hope to meet you one day. I liked you article very much.
Saludos,
Pablo Jacobo Suneson
Vice-president of Tourism
Nuevo Laredo Chamber of Commerece
jack@martis.com
Anonymous (December 12, 2006 @ 9:40pm):
Thank you for the insight Mr. Suneson. I am sure that a lot of people here need the wake-up call from those of you who view the situation on the border first-hand. I hope that those readers who criticized the writer of this newspaper column are viewing the results of their drug habit with the new Mexican Administration's crackdown this week. Let's hope it works.
