The most hidden stories of 2017 #1: the war on drugs
Too many vital stories remained under the radar. They should be on the front page every week, but they hardly ever get a column in the back of the paper. This has to do with power and how media works these days. I want to bring up these stories, with a positive and a negative story each time. In this episode: the crazy war on drugs.
On December 20, 2017, the drivers who drove under the bridges to the Mexican resort of Los Cabos made a lugubrious discovery. The bodies of six men dangled meters high above the road. These are the most recent victims of the 'war on drugs' where the neighboring country of the USA has been dealing with for 10 years.
At the end of November, the sad record of the number of murders was broken. More than 23,000 Mexicans died violently. Most of these killings are related to drug trafficking: drug gangs against each other, police and army against drug gangs, corrupt agents, drug gangs against the population, army against the population, ...
Since 2007, 200,000 people have been killed and another 28,000 Mexicans have gone missing. In December 2006, it was president Felipe Calderón who gave the start of the 'war on drugs'. He sent 6500 heavily armed troops to his home state of Michoacán. Rival cartels were spreading death and destruction for more than a year. Two months later, 20,000 soldiers were already involved in the war against the cartels, spread across the whole country.
The costs for the war are partly covered by the US, who are spending one and a half billion dollars each year. According to critics, this cash flow created a dubious security industry where corruption thrives. That came on top of the illegal economy of the cartels themselves, who are bribing agents, soldiers, judges and politicians with their billions of dollars.
The deployment of soldiers only increased the human costs of illicit drug trafficking. The cartels were obliged to invest even more in their own 'army'. The army had to justify the high investments, and soldiers therefore recourse to ever more extreme methods. Between 2003 and 2013 Amnesty International saw the number of complaints about torture rise by 600 percent.
Former president Calderón is proud of himself that 25 of the 37 largest drug dealers were arrested under his rule. But according to critics, their place was soon taken by rivals.
The violence in Ciudad Juárez - at one point the most dangerous city in the world - decreased, but that has little to do with the war on drugs, well with the fact that one of the rival cartels prevailed. The violence only moved to other regions that were relatively quiet before.
The reason the war on drugs can never succeed is the drug consumption in the US. The number of drug users rose from 8.3 percent of the population (above 12 years) in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2013. The drug trade between Mexico and the US is worth 30 billion dollars annually. To give an idea of how much that is: the total Mexican export of agricultural products to the US is 23 billion dollars. Drugs are Mexico's third-largest export product after cars and machines.
The drug cartels therefore compete for a trade with an annual turnover of 30 billion dollars. No army can compete with that.
Legalize drugs?
Can this situation be reversed? Yes, more and more people say: legalize drugs. On the eve of UNGASS - the United Nations General Assembly Special Session - more than 1,000 world leaders and prominent people have signed a letter in which a passionate plea for another drug policy is being held. "Humanity cannot afford a 21st century drug policy that was as inefficient as the drug policy of the 20th century," the letter says. Striking: Hillary Clinton also signed the letter. Just like former US President Jimmy Carter and a whole series of American senators.
Does not that just mean that you give up a whole generation of young people to legal drug sellers? No, because that depends on how you implement that legalization. You can opt for the alcohol or tobacco model where you leave the trade to multinationals without hindrance. Or you can opt for a very regulated sale with government intervention and ban on advertising. The billions saved on military, police and penitentiary expenses can be invested in prevention and shelter.
The utterly insane war on drugs now only makes victims: innocent Mexicans in the clash between army and cartels, crammed prisons in the US and the number of drug users continues to rise. The only reason to continue is the fact that this is just the desired result for some cynical politicians and their favorite lobby groups.
Sources: Neon Tommy, Claudio Toledo, VN, UNGASS