Throughout history, Americans have fought many enemies that threaten the safety of our great Nation and provided aid and resources to our partnering countries in their time of despair. However, the consequences were substantial, countless brave men and women lost their lives defending the freedom of Americans. Today American’s fight a different kind of war; it is a war without a clear enemy or end in sight. Today, America fights a War on Drugs.
In the early 1970s, the War on Drugs was still relatively new and drug smuggling continued, going virtually unimpeded through the U.S. northern border (Stout 34). For over 40 years, the War on Drugs (implemented by former President Richard Nixon) had cost the United States an estimated one trillion dollars, for what is believed to be nothing more than an “objective to stomp out growing social discontent in the country” (Stout 38).
However, by this time, the drug demand had increased significantly throughout the United States and many drug smugglers were beginning to create smaller organizations throughout Mexico, breaking all ties with the larger organizations. Furthermore, cash flow from drug sales wasn’t enough and other methods for obtaining quick money were used to subsidize their income, such as; kidding napping for large ransoms, prostitution and auto theft. With criminal activity escalading, President Nixon then created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1973 to declare an, “all-out global war on the drug menace” (Martin 226).
Although, drug production and smuggling was an essential way of life for many Hispanics throughout Mexico, the United States continued to provide financial and military aid throughout decades of uncertainty. Additionally, these actions resulted ...
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In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
Since 2006, a growing issue of drug smuggling and trafficking has arisen between Mexico and the United States. Not only does this issue affect the economies of the two countries but also the social life of the populations.
The business process of the Mexican drug cartels is not easy, but is a very simple method. Step one is the drugs are produced in Mexico. Step two is the drugs are smuggled across the boarder. Step three is the drugs are distributed to the drug dealers in the U.S. Step four are the drug dealers sell the drugs and U.S. cash dollars are made. It is a simple four-step method, but the process of the four steps comes with a lot of trouble, risk, and violence.
The Mexican drug war began in the 1960s, with America’s love for illegal drugs fueling the fire. Narco-violence has claimed the lives of thousands of citizens in recent years. Drug cartels have become comparable to Mafia figures, and have resorted to Mafia-style violence to prove to the Mexican government that they remain in control. The violence caused by drug cartels is rumored to lead Mexico to become a failed state. George W. Grayson, regular lecturer at the United States Department of State, has made more than one-hundred and twenty-five research trips to Mexico, and is considered an expert on U.S.-Mexican relations. A recent book by Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State, describes the depressing situation provoked by drug cartels, and debates the controversial argument of whether Mexico will become a failed state. Narco-violence in Mexico will be analyzed by the severity of the drug problem and the executives’ influence on the drug war, to determine if Mexico will reach the status of a failed state.
The international drug trade is deeply routed in the global economy. The drug business is protected and run by drug cartels, who make huge profits in a multi-billion dollar industry. This industry has humble beginnings with poor farmers in lower income societies. An example of this type of society is Mexico. Unlike America, not as many drug laws are enforced in Mexico. As a result, more drug materials are grown here. Farmers start by growing and processing the plants that make the drugs, and then they illegally ship them across foreign borders. In some areas of Mexico, crops that produce drugs can be the most profitable, explaining why a decent amount of farmers work for drug cartels. Though neighboring countries look for solutions, there is a problem with trying to reduce the drug production in foreign countries like Mexico. It ...
The topic of alternate policies to the U.S. Drug War has always been an interesting and thought provoking topic for me. Over nearly the past four decades, the U.S. government, along with state and local agencies, have spent billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of man hours, and many lives with little to show for stopping the flow of drugs into or the use of drugs in this country. The only true outcome from these expenditures and all of this enforcement are more robust resupply networks, more refined and potent drugs, deepening psychological issues, and alienating specific aspects of American society.
. “The illegal drug market in the United States is one of the most profitable in the world. As such, it attracts the most ruthless, sophisticated, and aggressive drug traffickers.” Throughout the years drug trafficking has been a major issue in America. These issues have impacted our economy, security, which promote new laws and policies throughout the U.S. and among our boarders. Drug Trafficking has created conflict with other countries such as Mexico. “…criminal groups operating from neighboring Mexico smuggle cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and marijuana into the United States. These criminal groups have smuggled heroin and marijuana across the Southwest Border and distributed them throughout the United States since the 1970s.” (Policy Almanac).
Concerned authorities have focused essentially on criminalization and punishment, to find remedies to the ever-increasing prevalent drug problem. In the name of drug reducing policies, authorities endorse more corrective and expensive drug control methods and officials approve stricter new drug war policies, violating numerous human rights. Regardless of or perhaps because of these efforts, UN agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $US400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade (Riley 1998). This trade has increased organized/unorganized crime, corrupted authorities and police officials, raised violence, disrupted economic markets, increased risk of diseases an...
The United States has a long history of intervention in the affairs of one it’s southern neighbor, Latin America. The war on drugs has been no exception. An investigation of US relations with Latin America in the period from 1820 to 1960, reveals the war on drugs to be a convenient extension of an almost 200 year-old policy. This investigation focuses on the commercial and political objectives of the US in fighting a war on drugs in Latin America. These objectives explain why the failing drug policy persisted despite its overwhelming failure to decrease drug production or trafficking. These objectives also explain why the US has recently exchanged a war on drugs for the war on terrorism.
At even the national level, the “war on drugs” was just as detrimental. Reagan's narcotics policy had doubled both drug arrests and the prison population in the US. Under him, the media propaganda helped ignite public concern – sometimes bordering hysteria – which effectively created “a mandate for a massive campaign against drugs –an intensified federal enforcement effort, harsher prison sentences, and omnipresent narcotics surveillance of ordinary Americans.” Bush's “war on drugs”, an
The war on drugs has been going on for some time. The war on drugs refers to the government’s attempts to stop the circulation of drugs. This includes the production, selling, and transport of illegal drugs, in order to reduce drug abuse. This war has been going on since the 1900’s. The bureau of justice reported that fifty five percent of federal prisoners and twenty one percent of state level prisoners are incarcerated on the basis of drug related offenses( ). That amounts to about half a million people for scale that’s more people than live in Wyoming. The war on drugs has been going on for thirty years now. The war has made a significant impact on society, the economy and has made a lot of history gaining spotlight time along the
Drug abuse is a plague that is taking over the United States; not just the possession of drugs, but also the sale and use of illegal drugs. People in America depend on the stock of drugs as a breakout for a number of reasons. For some, illegal drugs are the only concern they have through past experience. For others, it’s a way to make money and gain more power over their peers. In other words, it’s their way of climbing to the top of the socioeconomic pyramid. Illegal drugs lead to substantial problems such as health issues, death, and murders. Illegal drugs are also becoming an obstacle when coming in and out of the United States via the Mexico border. Anderson and Gardner states, “Illegal smuggling goes both ways on the United States-Mexico
Mexicans claim that the war in drugs only made the cartels more violent and the state authorities more tainted. The result is that guiltless onlookers are often caught up in the crossfire. For periods, drug transferring groups have used Mexico's fragile political system to make "a network of corruption that ensured distribution rights, market access, and even official government protection for drug traffickers in exchange for lucrative bribes," (Shirk,2011).
The drug problem that overtook the United States was not just your average run of the mill small time street hustling drugs. The problem was much larger, with several contributing factors. During the 70s, at the beginning of the war on drugs, there
drugs to this day. One of the reasons the war on drugs is lasting so long is because of the cost; the war on drugs is a very expense war. In the past, the government has spent arou...