Violence In The Illegal Drug Industry
Growing up in an extremely religious country, I was taught a simple truth, drugs are bad and if you go near them and approach them in any way you will be punished. I lived a in Saudi Arabia for a long time, a country in which possessing drugs or even alcohol can be punished by lashings or even death. Saudi Arabia is a strict country because of their islamic fundamentalism and that seeps into the lives of normal everyday families, my father shared the same beliefs the country did and raised my family to hate and fear drugs. Johann Hari tells multiple different stories in his book Chasing the Scream.
The idea Hari tries to convey is that the war on drugs cannot be won and the stories Hari tells that range from the beginning of the anti-drug scentiments to the lives of drug dealers on street corners in multiple different countries serve as proof that the drug war is being lost. In addition to the war on drugs, other different sad but teachable addiction related stories from around the world are used to convey the feelings and emotions of the people who have been affected by drugs and subsequently, the war on drugs. These people were not helped in their lowest moment but instead thought of as lost causes and they were shunned from their own communities and thrown out into the streets in the name of discipline and retribution.
The reason I believe that the united states united states and Saudi Arabia are so alike is because according to the Telegraph about 56% of the United States is Christian and about another 32% are other religions so that means 88% of the united states is religious and that drove toward strict drug laws and stricter implementations. Hari Begins with Anslinger, A man who fathered the war on drugs, then he approaches the lives of the people that war affected by those extreme laws. Finally we leave the United States to see what life is across the southern border and eventually we cross the Atlantic ocean into Europe. “Arnold tamed the police with an approach that, years later, would be distilled by his successors, the Mexican drug cartels, into a single elegant phrase: plata o plomo. Silver or lead. Take our bribe or take out bullet. Every now and then, there would be a police officer who refused to accept these ground rules. When two detectives, John Walsh and Josh McLaughlin, broke into one of Rothstein’s illegal dens one night, he shot at them, suspecting they were robbers. The Judge dismissed the case.
A journalist asked: What’s “a little pistol practice with policemen as targets” when you are Arnold Rothstein?” (Hari, P. 53)In the beginning of the drug trafficking industry, the government was prepared to handle all the needs of the drug traffickers. "Traditional police corruption usually involved a mutually beneficial arrangement between criminals and police officers” as stated by the house of representatives and with the money and power Rothstein had he could bend people to their will no matter who they are. Rothstein feared no one, he owned the whole city and everything around it, and ruled with an iron fist. Rothstein used the method of the carrot and the stick to convince force people into obeying, his methods were so effective the gangs in South America adopted them. Hari described Rothstein at home as a man with simple need and desires. Rothstein loved food first and his family. On the other hand was Rothstein on the streets, he was a cruel man. Rothstein cared about no one, he would use fear to drive gangs out of neighborhoods and he would use that same fear hunt police officers who disobeyed him. Rothstein was merciless. Rothstein was considered one of the oldest drug traffickers in recent memory and he was also one of the most inventive ones, you could even say he paved the way for all the other traffickers. In chapter 5 of the book we saw some of Rothstein’s methods being used by Chico and later on in chapter 8 we see Rothstein’s methods being used and also being expanded upon by the Zetas. Alfred Blumstein, a Professor of Urban Systems, stated that “Both the murder and the robbery rates peaked in about 1980, declined through the early 1980s, and then climbed again during the late 1980s with the intensification of the crack epidemic and the "war on drugs. ” This shows that violence is a product of the drug industry and that it is both a method to sell drugs and a result of taking them. Knowing what the harms that drugs cause and what Rothstein had done people wonder why United States hasn’t been torn apart by the drug war and I think I have reason to why.
The Drug war is not bound by borders and in the next passage we will be learning about the people who ruled their country through fear and violence, something Rothstein could never achieve. “Sergio, [Marisela] was told, is Zeta. That is why the police would not touch him. That is why he kept escaping. When Marisela got her final lead on where Sergio was, the police were finally honest with her. “ If he’s a Zeta, we’re not going to be able to do anything, because they run the state,” they told her. “If we do a bust, it’s because they allow us to do it. We don’t bust people just like that. ” They were apologetic, but they explained that the Zetas give them money if they serve the an death if they don’t. ” (Hari, P. 137)In this example the Mexican police were extremely blunt to Marislea. Unlike their American counterparts, the Zata was extremely rooted in Mexico, they owned the police, legislators and governors.
According to Gale researcher”The corruption in Mexico's police forces runs very deep, and it grows steadily worse” so people protected by their respective gangs can go around and randomly kill without any repercussion. The most interesting part was when Marisela was asked by other gangs if she wanted them to seek justice for her as if these gangs are the new form of police and they are the only to keep each other in check. Marisela however rejected their offer and wrongly believed the government would help, they did not. I believe Marisela’s decision not of not asking the gangs for help and going on her own was extremely dangerous and I think should have asked for there, the Zata had too much political influence and she knew that but she believed that asking the gangs for help would make her no better then the man who killed her daughter. Unlike the United States, Mexico has rampant corruption and an immense amount of drug money in it’s system. Just like the United States, Mexico had a majority religious population but unlike the united states Mexico did not have the funding or manpower to suppress the drug organizations and that is why I believe Mexico has that much corruption in it’s system. No person was spared from the violence that came with the drug industry. Rosalio Reta was a little kid who enjoyed video games when he was sent to the camp on the mountains deep in Mexico, Rosalio loved Video games but he was taught things like beheading and other cartel related methods of violence. Rosalio said, “There’s times I’ve seen it they’ve done it by saw, blood is everywhere when they start going and they hit the jugular. ” (Hari, P. 120).
According to Dale Archer, M. D. ,“Children who watch violent movies are more likely to view the world as an unsympathetic, malicious and scary place and that this stimulates aggression. ”, that is for children who watch violence but Rosario had a hands on experience which must have impacted him and him and his way of thinking greatly. “Leigh’s support for the drug war was an act of compassion. She genuinely believed she was making the world a better place by protecting people from drugs and drug gangs. She is a kind and decent person, and this is what drove her to the drug war. ” (Hari, P. 90)
In this passage we explore how anger and bad ideologies can cause people to make bad situations worse. Leigh story is of someone who went through a traumatic experience and tried to resolve it with anger. After what happened to Leigh’s sister she tried to comfort in Anslinger, Leigh become a cop working hard and busting criminals but all she could really do is add to the crime. Leigh felt like she was doing a good job but that did not translate well into reality, with every gang Leigh busted several new gangs rose and that kept happening over and over again. In the previous passages I explained why the United States unlike it’s neighbor to the south has been for the most part corruption or at least it had no visible effects from corruption. I think people like Officer Leigh are the reason.
After realising her mistakes, officer Leigh changed. Officer Leigh hated drugs and drug dealers due to her so she could never be corrupted and she wasn’t racist either, which added to her credibility. We know officer Leigh was not racist from her story of infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, also known as the K. K. K. , and her attempts to arrest them. In the end it was futile and she ended running for her life. Unlike Officer Leigh, most people either did not care or do not even notice the issues caused by the drug industry because According to Thomas Winkowski, Acting Deputy Commissioner, “Since October 1, 2004, 138 CBP employees have been arrested or indicted for acts of corruption including drug smuggling, alien smuggling, money laundering, and conspiracy.
During this same period more than 2,000 CBP employees have been charged in other criminal misconduct, including off duty behavior that serves to undermine the confidence of the public that we serve. " That shows the gaping holes in our border security which is exactly what the cartels count on to bring the massive amounts of drugs across the border. The National Gang Center stated that “In each year, a clear majority of agencies reported that intergang (between-gang) conflict and drug-related factors directly affected local levels of gang violence. ” They also stated that “Two factors, gang members returning from confinement and intergang conflict, increased in importance by more than 10 percentage points from 2006 to 2012. ” These numbers show that drugs not only increase violence in peaceful areas but it also shows that inmates who served time for drug related return harder and tougher than before they were incarcerated.
People in around the world and especially in Mexico have suffered from the constant pain of loss, according to the Tracy Wilkinson, a writer for the LA Times, “Mexico has been investigating mass graves outside the city of Iguala. ”. Mass killings in Mexico by the cartels have become normal for most so has the looming fear of in the wrong place at the wrong time. In 2014, Ben Mathis-Lilley, a writer for the slate, states that “Cartels and Police May Have Conspired to Massacre Student Protesters in City Near Acapulco” and he also states that “34 bodies were also found in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero”. All of these articles and testimonies only bolster the fact that no one is to be trusted, not even the police, and drug money can corrupt anything it touches. The power that cartels have is immense and they must be defunded one way or another, Legalizing the sale of drugs is both the safer and smarter choice, not only will you stop the main income stream of the drug industry but by taxing the drugs, governments can open up treatment facilities for the addicts who need the real help. Read by my Roommate Kevin.
