US Marijuana laws fuel Mexico’s drug wars

While the The Wichita Eagle prints an entire article trying to link marijuana to crime, the more serious crime in Mexico is being attributed to US marijuana laws. Sure there are those who will break in and steal someone’s home grown marijuana crop in places where they can legally grow it for medical use, but the killing by drug gangs are for more serious. People break into pharmacies to steal legally made and sold drugs. We don’t shut down pharmacies to stop a few burglars.
According to The Wichita Eagle:

“There have been dozens of cases (burglaries) in recent months. The issue received more attention this week after a prominent medical marijuana activist in Seattle nearly killed a robber in a shoot-out — the eighth time thieves had targeted his pot- growing operation….
….Critics say the heists and holdups prove that marijuana and crime are inseparable, though marijuana advocates contend that further legalization is the answer. News of crimes related to medical marijuana comes at an awkward time for California and Washington advocates who are pushing to pass ballot measures to allow all adults, not just the seriously ill, to possess the drug.”

Most of us will agree that murders are more serious than burglaries. So while a few Americans have lost their pot crops, the people of Mexico are dealing with a more serious outcome of our drug wars. We can see the awful damage being done in the name of stopping drug traffic in Mexico.
According to AlterNet:

“It was less than one year ago when acting U.S. DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart publicly declared that the escalating violence on the U.S./Mexico border should be viewed as a sign of the “success” of America’s drug war strategies.
“Our view is that the violence we have been seeing is a signpost of the success our very courageous Mexican counterparts are having,” said Michele Leonhart, who was recently nominated by President Obama to be the agency’s full time director. “The cartels are acting out like caged animals, because they are caged animals.”
Well, if the DEA’s chief talking head thought that some 6,300 drug cartel-related murders in 2008 was an indication of progress, one can only imagine that she believes that this weekend’s south-of-the-border killing spree — which included the murder of a pregnant U.S. official and members of her family — must be downright victorious.
To rest of us, however, these acts are nothing short of a senseless tragedy — a tragedy made all that much more heart-wrenching because it is U.S. policy that is helping to fuel this violence.”

It would seem that the reality of US drug policy is that they start and contribute to wars. The war on Cocaine has dragged the US (quite willingly) into a war with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARK). It has also allowed the US to get involved with guerrilla wars in Peru.
Clearly the death toll and destruction in Mexico shows once again, that drug laws are nothing but oppression and create crime.
For a look at the history of US drug laws, don’t forget to check out Can You Pass the Acid Test?: A History of the Drug and Sex Counterculture and Its Censorship in the 20th Century. --សតិវអតុ