Last week, I went to Tijuana. After I made the decision to go and purchased the plane ticket, the newspapers reported a rash of killings in Tijuana. I saw my emotions stir up fear, as is human nature, and I sent in my brains to quell that nervousness with common sense. It’s a city of a million and 20 drug runners are gunned down in turf wars with the cops in the wee hours in bad neighborhoods. Let’s go.
Once in TJ, standing there on the curb, I noticed a clear military and police presence: machine-gunners in “Federale” uniforms tense atop speeding armored jeeps. I found that exciting and fun to photograph…and nothing for the tourist to worry about. As usual, the image from a distance was one of tension. With the bloody news and concerned loved ones, I wondered if my visit was wise. And also as usual, when I got there, I found no tension. Locals I quizzed discounted the bloodshed, saying, “The dead are just drug pushers — they’re killing each other, and that makes fewer of them we need to deal with.” (They’re actually killing police, too.)
I guess they’re planning on a long struggle, as I saw the next generation of drug warriors being trained. I met what looked like a Boy Scout troop in juvenile police DARE uniforms learning how to be policemen to fight a drug war stoked by the US appetite for recreational drugs (it is American consumers, after all, who make up a substantial part of the lucrative drug market). With that training, these kids will have an exciting job awaiting them when they turn 18.
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Looking at the loving teachers and the new DARE uniforms, I wondered about the cost and violence that comes with drugs. I pondered the countless American boys waiting until they’re old enough to “fight evil” funded by the illegality of drugs in poppy-rich Afghanistan. I envisioned that war heating up and the USA getting sucked deeper into a quagmire much like the one that helped bring down the USSR, when gung-ho Russians underestimated the task of fighting and winning a war in Afghanistan.
Then I recalled seeing the movie No Country for Old Men— the entire plot based on a very violent confrontation between police and drug runners. Bloody movies, shoot-’em-ups just south of the border, expensive wars in lands rich in poppies: It’s all got me thinking. Imagine if drugs were suddenly made legal (people who chose to use them were held criminally responsible for bad things they did) and the money and violence associated with drugs disappeared overnight. That would infuriate a lot of very bad people who make money because drugs are illegal. Just a thought I had in Tijuana.
(PS: I am what drug reform activists call an “incrimentalist”–I support decriminalization of marijuana but not harder drugs. The pot issue is clear to me. I’m still struggling with the more sweeping approach to taking the crime, money, and violence out of hard drug use and abuse. Except for one delightful mushroom dinner in Bali, I’ve never ventured beyond pot.)
Great post, Rick. Thanks for keeping it real!
Totally disagree with your last paragraoh –Working in the legal system in both Juvenile and Family court for over 15 years I see drugs destroy hundreds of families a year. Kids start out on pot then move to crack or methamphetamine. There may be a few educated people out there that can eep their pot addiction in check especially as they grow older and don’t want their own kids seeing them smoking up. But for the most part on my watch I see what happens when drugs get out of control…people abuse their kids, people lose their jobs, people lose their lives. It has been extraordinarily easy to get controlled substances over the internet jacking up the problem even more, no prescription needed no controls in place. I know I am going to get the flip side of alchohol and I have the same arguement about that, people turn to booze get addicted and lose their kids but no even close to the people that have lost their kids and family to drugs. If you could only see the twenty’s mom shaking and twitching in court as the judge signs the termination of parental rights to her kids because she can’t keep off the pot and meth. We’ve lost the war on drugs because we want a quick fix to problems we encounter in life. There are legal drugs for people who truly need them they are called controlled substances for a reason. The netherlands is a small country that can keep tabs on their pot but think of what that would be like in the use that is 50 times larger than the netherlands it would be a nightmare. I don’t want to sound preachy but the kids in foster care are there due to people who do drugs and making them legal and more accessable to an addict personality or person looking to escape put them in more jeapordy.
Here’s my take on where legalization of drugs will go Government is all over the tobacco and alcohol industry – do people really think they won’t be involved in drug regulation? Let’s be realistic for a minute: 1. New laws for minors. If cigarettes and alcohol cannot be sold to minors, can anyone realistically say that drugs will not be restricted from minors? So, there will be new laws regulating the selling to minors for each and every drug that is legalized. 2. Lawsuits – I’m sure everyone is aware of all the lawsuits being brought against the tobacco industry…take a guess how many lawsuits will be brought up for drugs…..notice all the regulation and laws surrounding cigarettes? Legal drugs means MORE LAWS, MORE REGULATION AND MORE GOVERNMENT, higher taxes and higher insurance rates. 3. Campaign corruption: The tobacco industry owns many politicians now – can you imagine the drug industry? We’d have politicians selling out to the drug companies instead of tobacco companies. And if one is tempted to argue that the government already is selling out to the drug lords – well, think how much that would increase if it could be done legally. 4. Do people really think that drugs will not be taxed? They will – in fact it is the tax FROM the drugs that is proposed to pay for all the new drug rehabilitation programs that will be put in place. Legal drugs will be regulated by the government, just as alcohol is, and thus, this government controlled item will have lots of OUR TAX dollars poured into it. Crime will also not be reduced by drug legalization. Studies show a correlation between drug use and crime – violent crimes such as homicides, assaults and domestic violence. Why? – drugs cause violent behavior. Has anyone considered that the reason that people committed a crime was because they were ON drugs in the first place – legal or not? That they weren’t necessarily committing a crime to get illegal drugs, but the drugs themselve caused a violent behavior
I’m torn. I am generally for legalization of MJ but not for harder drugs….which would leave a lot of the same problems. Like Kathy, I have seen drug addiction up close, and it’s not a pretty sight. I have also personally known two people who overdosed and died on legally acquired prescribed pain pills (one was addicted to them; the other was an accident.) Mexico is a country of natural resources, but it is corrupt. The vast majority of the wealth is held by a very small percentage of people while the rest live in poverty. If you took away the drug running, that problem would still exist.
Lets raise another point. (a) why is the USA the biggest consumer of a variety of drugs, thus driving the commercial trade? (b) why is Russia, for instance, a huge consumer of booze amongst the young? What is it among specific cultures and countries that attracts and captivates youth. No more farm work with early to bed, early to rise folks? Would mandatory military service for all at age 16 or 18 be better than prolonging high school into community colleges? Like ballparks (you build it, they will come), it seems drugs (you grow it, they will buy it) are with us for the short (and maybe long term). As my 91 year old dad said, “good wine is only someone elses sour grapes” and my 68 year old perspective on MJ is if you have burned leaves in piles and trash in incinerators, you don’t need to stick a joint between your lips to know what it feels like. Now, back to TJ – having lived moments from the border for 68 years, it has always befuddled me why tourists head for TJ to “experience” the Mexican life. Ugh. Head for Monterrey or the Yucatan Peninsula or a ton of other spots where you will meet the real people and enjoy the sights and sounds of a really great country. TJ is like living in El Paso and taking a day trip to Juarez to “experience” Mexico.
Prescription drugs are the most abused substances, and teens are involved with them as much as anything. Meth is a deadly serious problem. Just because someone happened to smoke a joint before doing these others doesn’t make pot the culprit. If pot wasn’t there, the situations are be the same. If people have additive personalities, don’t blame pot. I’m 59, and yes , myself and many of my friends have had long and successful careers while smoking some pot. For those who can’t/don’t succeed, there are no doubt many reasons why.
Well Boy, I favor total illegality! That way instead of my kids and your kids going to a government controlled, monitored, safe, etc. outlet, they can instead go to a dark and dangerous criminal underworld to get their drugs. They will be bringing into my home all kinds of disreputable, violent, diseased characters who might rape my kids, beat us and steal our stuff, but that’s okay with me. I like the status quo. Why, I nevah saw a problem ah couldn’t sweep under the rug!
I am 50 and have never used any form of illegal drugs; I have never smoked, and I don’t drink. However, what interests me most about legalizing drugs is that all the money will pour into government coffers rather than into the pockets of poorly educated street thugs that choose violence to settle disputes. Some parts of our society will choose to do drugs just as other segments will choose not to. Legalize it, tax it, and allow individuals to choose. Yes, they should be also be monitored and addicts should be treated to allow them to better handle their addiction.
Legalization of the soft drugs in Canada has been talked about for quite some time. I don’t think it’ll happen soon – the mere stigma of pot prevents that from happening. Well, there’s also the fact that we have a conservative party in power, but that’s something else. Now, if only we could stigmatize tobacco the same way pot is today, we could save our health care system a few million dollars a year…
Good point Rick. However if you are going to give people the right to use drugs, then they must be responsible for their own actions, if something bad happens. As we have seen with people getting mortgages they cannot afford, society as whole has become responsible for individual choices. So if you will offer some guarantee that society, as a whole will not be responsible for an individual’s drug use, then I agree. Otherwise, I am opposed.
Michael B- my prediction with this is that the goverment will charge X amount for the legal drug because they have to add federal tax, state tax and maybe a city tax to it plus some type of surcharges so the people that use it now will still try to score it from people on the street who sell it cheaper with no tax attached, the street thug. So there will be no big change as to crime. In reality most people who are charged and convicted for possession of recreational pot are not sent to jail only the ones that are carrying weight and are charge with possession with intent to distribute or sell- the dealers. Even cocaine most get probation the first time around and offered a first offendor status where if they stay clean they will never have the arrest or conviction show up. People who go to jail for drugs normally go because they were coming a crime and had possession of drugs when they are arrested. So yes if you are arrested for murder or armed robbery and you have drugs that will be a second charge but not the main charge. Very very few people go to jail for the charge of misdeamenor possession of drugs and in some counties you just get a ticket for it. Ever heard of pharmaceutical parties? Kids bring their parents legal drugs and throw it in a bowel and they start grabbing handfuls of drugs not knowing what they are taking, it’s called skittels at a pharm party. Drugs legal or illegal are very very dangerous. And with all the clients that I have been involved with in juvi court they all start with pot and then move on to the bigger high the bigger thrill no one starts with meth..
Sorry for typo’s my computer is sticking- it should be bowl not bowel…I just want everyone to uderstand this is a huge problem that alot of parents don’t even know about. The kids go to the drug store and get decongestants ( to pump up the heart rate) and get their parents pills and put them in a bowl and then grab a handful of them and take them- barbituates, anti depressants, narcotics, anti anxiety drugs, pain medications anything and everything. All the drugs are legal drugs, and they usally top it off with some pot at the end, either blunts or joints depending on how much money they have. Do you know why they are restricting decongestants over the counter now with pseudo ephedrine? Because they use it to make meth. do you know how they cut some heroin with distilled down baby formula. Know why they raise an eyebrow when you buy too much clorox- an active ingredient in meth. Drugs legal and illegal dangerous even in the hands of responsible people whose kids wind up getting their hands on them and wind up in a coma or dead.
Rick: Would you say that on your trip to Tijuana that most of the violence is associated with pot or with the so called hard drugs? And btw, does incrementalist mean to favor legalization one drug at a time until they all are legal? Thanks for the blog post on your trip to Tijuana.
Why not let anyone use any banned, illegal “substance†they wish — including cocaine, opium, alcohol, marijuana, oxy-condin (or whatever) — in any amount they can afford, but just one thing. The only tax-payer paid medical treatment permitted when that person gets sick because of that substance, is a triple-double-overdose of whatever it was that caused the problem. And not one cent of taxpayer money can be used to pay for their health care, not one cent! And the dwealers of any of those items, will pay for all and any cost that results from an accident.
Jim, I think you’d be tempting many an addict with that proposition, the ones willing to take their chances. I think the headline would read “Death by glorious and free overdose.” :)
Rick it was not the poppy that brought down the USSR in the Afghanastan quagmire it was the fact that the Cold War came to an end and there was no more use for an Afghanastan front…are you sure you were a history major in school? It troubles me that you would try to manipulate facts to make your point because then that makes me worry that if I am relying on your truthfulness in your books are you manipulating facts there as well to benefit your agenda in some way. The US, UK, France, Italy and New Zealand are all within percentage points of drug use and China and Japan are the lowest users. So what does that tell us—China and Japan kids do better and are more disciplined could there be some correlation to that..could it be their PARENTS discourage drug use not advocate it. Usually the only time people get arrested or cited for MJ use is when the are in the process of comiting a crime so can we link the use of MJ with the crime – probably yes. Your last paragraph insults our intelligence because we know you are a big NORML advocate and spokesperson so please don’t make it sound like a new revelation. If you need drugs in your life to cope fine do them but don’t ask me to help you make them available to kids or young adults who might not be able to see all the danger to them like lung cancer, memory loss, doing harm to others if yu have a predisposition to psychiatric problem made worse by drug use or just plain giving up on being a go getter and become a chilled out failure. You might be able to handle the use of drugs but others might not. Why not put your time to better use and join MADD
Steve, “no more use for an Afghanastan front”? Funny, it still looks like a front to me. As it was when I was there in the 60’s and 70’s. You don’t need me to tell you most history is never known. The Contra affair wasn’t the first drugs for guns operation run by the USA and won’t be the last. By the way, Rick said “helped”. In this he is correct. We are such primitive beasts. Still unable to try a new approach when the old one doesn’t work.
Cannot disagree more with much of the argument here. 1. “Gateway Drug” argument. It’s true that almost everyone (over90%) of hard drug abusers started with pot. Unfortuantely, nobody mentions that only about 3-6% (depending on the study you use) of pot users EVER try harder drugs. People actually do have common sense. And of the 3-6% who do, very few become addicts. So the gateway drug argument is hooey. 2. Nobody seems interested in basic human rights. What the devil right have you got telling me what I put in my body? I agree with Steve – addicts should be on their own, no tax money to help’em dry up, but plenty to jail them if they commit a REAL crime to support their habit. 3. You can add Colombia to the tragic list of drug victims. This country has been trashed fo 60 years because drugs fuel their Communist insurgency. Without drugs, the rebel FARC would blow away in about six months. 4. I spent most of my military career in LatAm. LatAm would benefit immensely if we admitted the problem is demand, not supply. WE are responsible for drug use, and we could destroy the drug trade overnight. EXAMPLE: Street coke is about $1200/oz. Cost to manufac-ture: $2/oz. At that profit margin, we will NEVER suppress the trade. Legalize it, and the narcos are trying to make a profit on $5 an oz. Ain’t gonna happen. This is about personal / national responsibility. We cause the problem; we should own up to it and deal with it here. 80% of our prison population are drug-related. We could cut the cost of prisons by 4/5ths just be legalizing drugs – not to mention the cost of prosecution, law enforcement…and the immense cost in corruption, right here in River City. That river of drug money corrupts a lot of cops, judges and prosecutors. And if you thing drugs aren’t involved in politics now you are wrong. There is lots of drug money going to support legislators who oppose legalization. Put that in your pot pipe and smoke it! Lwizzel
Ok I am totally unclear about this…the logistics. Who would do the growing of the marijuana ..would it be privatized or government regulated. And would it be grown in the US, Mexico or abroad and if it is grown abroad or in Mexico would it not be considered an import and then taxed or tariffed. So if it grown in the US would not the Mexicans or Columbians still want to get it into the US on the streets if they can’t import it legally and the same problem be there if they have to get in illegally- through violence and smuggling? If it is outsourced to Mexico won’t the US citizens be angry that their jobs to produce it are being outsourced and how do you maintain quality control? What branch of the government would it be under the FDA? At what age and what amount would be considered legal? Would it be considered a drug to be dispensed by the pharmacy or over the counter like tobacco?
I guess what needs to be determined is degree of damage that wil be caused and how much normalcy will be maintained. There’s got to be some sort of gauge that will tell us how much if any social and public damage would be done beyond the positive financial implications that would come with taxing and tariffs. Decriminalization of a “street drug” will not magically make the problems that exist as a result of manic use just go away. I’m not for nor am I against it but everyone seems to have contrary facts and figures. It might be helpful to look at the alchohol industry, used to be illegal, became legal… what were the pros? cons? Just a few thoughts.
Thanks for another position.
If we did what Jim Humberd suggests, would we being saying good-bye to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Don Imus, and Cindy McCain? Have not these people all been drug abusers/addicts? I can not help but think we need to implement some plan that has actually been thought through. If we have have learned nothing else these last eight years, haven’t we learn the folly of not thinking through the consequences of our actions?
I cannot believe that there is an argument here. Do we sell packaged pot next to the cigarettes at the gas stations? What kind of warning labels go on the packages? “Please take this package right home, order a pizza, watch a Cheech and Chong movie and forget about becoming a productive member of society.” And please don’t tell me that people are being killed because Americans will not legalize pot. There are plenty of social ills caused by abuse of legalized drugs. Do we really need to contribute to these problems.
Great advocate more expense to our health care system and premiums. A new study finds that the development of bullous lung disease occurs in marijuana smokers approximately 20 years earlier than tobacco smokers. A condition often caused by exposure to toxic chemicals or long-term exposure to tobacco smoke, bullous lung disease (also known as bullae) is a condition where air trapped in the lungs causes obstruction to breathing and eventual destruction of the lungs.At present, about 10% of young adults and 1% of the adult population smoke marijuana regularly. Researchers find that the mean age of marijuana-smoking patients with lung problems was 41, as opposed to the average age of 65 years for tobacco-smoking patients.Marijuana is inhaled as extremely hot fumes to the peak inspiration and held for as long as possible before slow exhalation. This predisposes to greater damage to the lungs and makes marijuana smokers are more prone to bullous disease as compared to cigarette smokers.Patients who smoke marijuana inhale more and hold their breath four times longer than cigarette smokers. It is the breathing manoeuvres of marijuana smokers that serve to increase the concentration and pulmonary deposition of inhaled particulate matter – resulting in greater and more rapid lung destruction. Rick if you want to smoke yourself silly go for it but the research shows this is something that would kill or cripple our kids…don’t we have enough problems with tobacco?
It all goes back to the Greeks and Romans,,, they never had any legalization or criminalization of drugs and look what happened…everyone had access to whatever they wanted to put in their body and the both civilizations came crashing down. Bad enough we are in the shape we are with the checks and balances in place can you imagine what would happen if the floodgates opened to free access to drugs. Maybe the few responsible people you know Rick would not abuse it but with all the dysfunctional personalities out there our country would be in bad shape, no one in Europe has decriminalized drugs and deadbeats from overseas would flock here for our liberal drug policies, get on our welfare system to cure their addiction and round and round. Way to go Rick,.. got any great ideas how to fix the economy or should we roll a joint and contemplate it after we are done smokin.
Am I alone in wanting to see more frequent blogs from Rick? We hunger for your travel words of wisdom. Would at least every three days be too much? Not being pushy, just needy.
I agree with Rick. Legalize MJ. It would reduce millions upon millions of man hours that go towards enforcing bullheaded MJ laws, and thereby alleviating a burden to focus on more important issues. -Think about it… which is worse; a drunkard throwing a fit when being arrested or a dude saying “wow, man, you’re far out” to the cop that busts him. Alcohol is worse than MJ.
Eric , do you not realize the guy saying “wow man you’re far out” to the cop that busts him is driving under the influence, driving impaired and a road hazard. I don’ t want either on the road.
Hey Meg, not sure how my charaters got on the road, but I assure you that an alcholic is just as bad a driver as a pot-smoker (probably worse). But I don’t think that is the issue here. Drunk drivers get busted for DUI’s and so do potheads. In fact, if you are pulled over while under the influence of MJ you will get a DUI with current laws. How about the fact that our cities are too spread out and it takes to long to get from point A to point B. This is another area in which we have failed as a country. Our zoning laws and regulations have inadvertantly increased the number of drivers “under the influence” in dramatic numbers. Since it is typically no longer possible to walk from the bar to your home (thanks to the dumbass zoning laws) you HAVE to get in your car and drive home. So more drunkards drive drunk. Study “New Urbanism” or visit CNU.ORG to help resolve this mess. Thanks.
Wow, they don’t call pot “dope” for no reason. If the brain of a pot smoker was not clouded with THC, then they would have a different view of how bad dope can be, and is for many people. Pot smoking is burning hot vegetable matter into you lungs and if you are dumb enough to do that, then you are to dense to write an article worth publishing. Rick your views are as clouded as your mind.