Scan the headlines in Borderland Beat, a “blog dedicated to the reporting of organized crime
on the border line between the US and Mexico,” then ask yourself if the US will somehow be immune from the tsunami of violence and corruption currently overwhelming Mexico.
But the US will do little or nothing until it’s too late (if it isn’t already.) Right now, the powers-that-be are pretending the problem doesn’t exist. Or that corruption on a large scale isn’t already here.
Some of the violence there now can only be described as deranged.
We cannot just stand by and watch– already the cartels are moving into the U.S. Besides b order violence, Iron County, Utah reports that tens of thousands of pot plants have been destroyed so far and a half dozen sites. Sheriff Gower said,
“Evidence collected would lead us to believe that they are all drug trafficking organizations – organized crime.â€
In other words, cartels. How long before they start to try to protect their investment with more than camouflage? And a look at the map will tell you that there are hundreds of miles, one very large state, and a little thing called the Grand Canyon between us and the border. These are inroads into mainstream America.
http://ironcountytoday.com/view/full_story/9207160/article-More-marijuana-grows-raided?instance=secondary_stories_left_column
Yes, the cartels are moving north and south due to the pressure put on them by the Mexican Army. But, something that is never or rarely discussed is the source of the problem, which is the voracious appetite for drugs by US citizens. The reason the cartels fight so desperately for the inroads to the US it is because the US is a HUGE market.
We see a lot of money spent on building walls and arming troops and police officers but where is the money for commercials or awareness programs that will show that every “line” of cocaine sniffed by someone in California contributes to decapitated bodies and murdered bystanders in Mexico?
Liquor is just as potentially dangerous, some say more so, than marijuana; why not decriminalize it and rob the gangs of billions of dollars in profits?
In my novel, “An Inconsequential Murder” http://www.untreedreads.com/?s=An+Inconsequential+Murder, a character argues that conservative elements on both sides of the border have kept decriminalization from happening. Perhaps it is time we took another look at it.
Vested financial interests don’t want legalization either. There’s too much money to be made laundering drug money through crooked hedge funds and banks.