Spring Break
Marijuana: The New Blood Diamond for Mexico
Lucy Tuttle
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Politics
Last week countless individuals celebrated 4-20. Weed, pot, hash, bud, whatever you want to call it, is enjoyed by over 25 million Americans on a regular basis. However, last year it caused 6,300 deaths in Mexico, and this year it has already claimed the lives of another 1,600.
More people were killed last year in Mexico for drugs than soldiers in Iraq in the last six years. Our country is becoming the kidnapping capital of the world because of marijuana. The government has even classified it as a threat to complete government collapse. It seems as though marijuana has become the new blood diamond and Mexico is its victim.
First came the rise of the Mexican cartel, brought about in the late '80s and early '90s after authorities cracked down on Columbian traffickers and choked off routes along the Caribbean and in South Florida. The Colombians aligned with the Mexicans for transportation, and then began paying their Mexican subcontractors in drugs. As more Colombian traffickers were brought down, the Mexican took over both transportation and distribution. A decade ago, 60 percent of drugs entering the United States came from Mexico, and today that figure has risen to 90 percent.
This product is a $38 billion industry for the drug cartels of Mexico. It also stimulates the U.S. economy as 90 percent of the guns being used by the drug cartels comes from this country. Guns are an excellent source for taking control, but beheading someone is a better intimidation tactic.
Border Patrol officials have found heads in ice chest accompanied by notes warning them not to get involved. Juarez has already seen the bloodshed of 1,600 individuals this year. The violence has gotten to the point that the police commissioner of Juarez resigned and the mayor moved his family to Texas after the cartels made good on a threat to kill a police officer every 48 hours. The city itself is now run by the cartels, and the people who live there have nowhere to turn for help.
More people were killed last year in Mexico for drugs than soldiers in Iraq in the last six years. Our country is becoming the kidnapping capital of the world because of marijuana. The government has even classified it as a threat to complete government collapse. It seems as though marijuana has become the new blood diamond and Mexico is its victim.
First came the rise of the Mexican cartel, brought about in the late '80s and early '90s after authorities cracked down on Columbian traffickers and choked off routes along the Caribbean and in South Florida. The Colombians aligned with the Mexicans for transportation, and then began paying their Mexican subcontractors in drugs. As more Colombian traffickers were brought down, the Mexican took over both transportation and distribution. A decade ago, 60 percent of drugs entering the United States came from Mexico, and today that figure has risen to 90 percent.
This product is a $38 billion industry for the drug cartels of Mexico. It also stimulates the U.S. economy as 90 percent of the guns being used by the drug cartels comes from this country. Guns are an excellent source for taking control, but beheading someone is a better intimidation tactic.
Border Patrol officials have found heads in ice chest accompanied by notes warning them not to get involved. Juarez has already seen the bloodshed of 1,600 individuals this year. The violence has gotten to the point that the police commissioner of Juarez resigned and the mayor moved his family to Texas after the cartels made good on a threat to kill a police officer every 48 hours. The city itself is now run by the cartels, and the people who live there have nowhere to turn for help.
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