Mar 25 2009
Clinton: US shares blame for Mexican drug wars
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Mexico City, Mexico and pledged U.S. support for Mexico as the drug cartel violence worsens. Over 1,000 people have died in Mexico from the violence this year so far, and it appears to be spreading into the U.S.
The demand is definitely coming from the U.S., as well as the guns that the cartels are using to fight Mexican authorities. Clinton did acknowledge this in her press conference.
“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” Clinton said. “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”
This is a pretty big break from the previous administration, who acknowledged that there was a problem but mostly called it Mexico’s problem. I think, along with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, that we are Mexico’s problem.
“We know that the vast majority, 90 percent of that (weaponry), comes from our country, we’re going to try to stop it from getting there in the first place,” Clinton said.
Clinton pledged financial support, noting that the Obama administration was working with congress to provide $80 million to buy U.S. made blackhawk style helicopters for the Mexican government.
Here’s my issue. We have a huge demand for drugs in this country. All of the financial support in the world is not going to change that fact. The distribution of these drugs is completely unrelegated and the profits are going right to these drug cartels. They are making a ton of money off of this! It’s a monopoly. They have enough money to practically wage a revolution against the Mexican government. Furthermore, in many regions of Mexico they are winning.
The “war on drugs” is fueling this latest drug war. It’s high time (pun intended) that we take a look at our prohibition style system, which obviously isn’t working, and make some changes. No I’m not saying start selling heroin to kids at the local 7-11 gas station. Some drugs are best left illegal. However there are some changes that are long overdue.
Furthermore, we’re making a prison-state. Look at the statistics. One in a hundred U.S. adults are incarcerated right at this moment. In my home state of Ohio that number jumps to one out of twenty-five. Throw race into the equasion and the picture gets way uglier.
Most of these criminals are in jail for non-violent drug related charges. Rather than make rehabilitation a focus, we’ve gone in the opposite direction - Mandatory minimum sentencing. The fact remains though, this isn’t cutting down on the demand. When there’s a demand that big, someone is always going to be ready to supply it. Should we really keep funding these violent drug lords?
excellent summary of the nonsense of the war on drugs.
anyone who takes the time to actually look at the issue and look at what history has taught us knows that the drugs are not the problem, but the simple fact that we’ve made them illegal.
It really is high time. We could fix this entire Greater Depression in a week just by legalizing pot and prostitution.
High time indeed, every pun intended!
Spot on. You know another problem connected to this “War on Drugs” is inner city violence in the US. When the prices of street drugs go up, inner city crime goes up proportionately. This war on drugs is going to produce some ugliness right here in our cities. No doubt supply is going to be affected here eventually. And when it does, people in the inner cities are going to victimized. And it appears we are throwing more money around again without much say in how it will be spent by another government with a history of past corruption.
Excellent post. I think that what you say here is true. It clogs up the prison system where yet more taxpayer dollars go.
Good post. I don’t like the idea of drugs because they fuck up your mind, but it looks as though we may have no other real choice but to legalize. So i say legalize and tax the hell out of it. We shoudl be out of debt in no time!
Independent-American
@ libertarianvegan-Are you serious? You obviously don’t have kids and your comment on making drugs illegal as the main problem is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Are you actually advocating the legalization of heroin? That is the drug that is causing the most problems. Heroin is supplied from 4 areas; Southeast and southwest Asia, South America, and Mexico. I have officially withdrawn from the pot debate. The newsday is exactly right citing the number of prisoners incarcerated for non-violent drug charges. However, keep in mind that trafficking in heroin is classified as a non-violent crime. I’m not talking about simple posession. Perhaps it’s time to take a look at the judicial system and additional funding for treatment and education before we start giving dealers a free ride. Does anyone honestly think that we will be able to devise a system to properly “tax” drug dealers? Perhaps with proper education; the demand may decrease. Great piece newsday.