Tag Archives: cartels

Time To End The War On Drugs

Benjamin Arellano-Felix

Benjamin Arellano-Felix, the former leader of the Tijuana Cartel was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in San Diego to serve 25 years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $100 million in criminal proceeds. The sentence followed his conviction for racketeering and conspiring to launder monetary instruments. After serving out his time in the U.S., he will be deported to Mexico to finish a 22-year sentence.

Jose Antonio Acosta-Hernandez, the Juarez Drug Cartel’s leader in Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico, also pled guilty in El Paso, Texas last week, and was sentenced to life in prison for his participation in drug trafficking and numerous acts of violence in connection with the Barrio Azteca gang.

Despite these successes, the War on Drugs has been an abject failure. Drug smuggling and distribution are currently estimated to be a $300-$400 billion global business.

In a recent article, Jess Rigelhaupt, an assistant professor of history and American studies at the University of Mary Washington noted that the U.S. currently has more than 2.3 million people behind bars. One in every 100 adults is in jail. The incarceration rate is 750 per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the world. We have 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the people in jail. We imprison people at a rate five times higher than comparable Western industrial nations. More than half of new prison sentences to state prisons between 1985 and 2000 were for drug offenses.

According to the Drug Sense website, the U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion on the war in 2010, which amounts to about $500 per second. Someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 19 seconds. Police arrested an estimated 858,408 persons for cannabis violations in 2009. Of those charged with cannabis violations, approximately 89 percent were charged with possession only. An American is arrested for violating cannabis laws every 30 seconds.

Last November, president Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia declared that market alternatives to deal with narcotics trafficking should be considered. In February, President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala called for a debate on drug regulation to reduce violence in Latin America. Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras and Mexico all voiced support for the initiative.

Three weeks ago, at the 55th annual session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil and chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said, “There is a clear rise in public perception on the flaws of the current approach to deal with drugs in our society. We can no longer afford the levels of violence in Mexico, Brazil, Central America and West Africa, the trillions of dollars spent on this endless war and the obstacles it presents to harm reduction policies. It is about time that the UN and politicians in office engage on a constructive debate towards decriminalization, regulation, and public health programs that may reduce violence whilst preventing and relieving the suffering of drug abusers.”

I couldn’t agree more.

A Success In The Drug War

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As I looked at Edgar Valdez Villarreal’s smiling, smug photo in the newspaper this morning, I wondered what his photo might look like a decade from now after he serves his first ten years of what will no doubt be a very long sentence in prison. I suspect the American born drug lord called “the Barbie” by the Mexicans because of his fair complexion and green eyes will not be smiling smugly in future photos.

Villarreal is the third major Mexican drug lord killed or captured in less than a year. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has been roundly criticized for pursuing an aggressive war against organized crime and the cartels in the face of escalating violence that has claimed an estimated 28,000 lives. But what, I ask, is the alternative?

Calderon could just ignore the cartels and the massive flow of drugs into the U.S. Before he decided enough was enough, Mexico was well on its way to becoming the next Somalia, a country controlled by warring, well-armed gangs and corrupt government officials. Earlier this week, 72 immigrants were murdered on their way to the U.S. by the Zeta drug cartel. Human trafficking has become an additional source of income for the drug cartels, as they grow more desperate for money to fund their operation. Yesterday, a firebomb killed eight people in a bar in Cancun. The owner of the bar had refused to pay extortion money to the Zetas. If the violence continues to expand into tourist areas such as Cancun, Mexico’s economy could suffer a devastating blow.

Colombia, under the leadership of former President Alvaro Uribe and newly elected President Juan Manuel Santos, has pursued a similar strategy against the FARC and the Colombian cartels. As a result of these security policies, Marxist guerrillas are on the run, kidnappings have been reduced, and the economy is on the rebound.

Rather than ignoring or aggressively pursuing the cartels, Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has joined with those urging Calderon to legalize drugs in Mexico, saying that could break the economic power of the country’s brutal drug cartels. Calderon has agreed to open the door to discussions about the legalization of drugs, even though he remains opposed to the idea.

The Mexican government spends about $8.2 billion annually on law enforcement. It’s estimated that it would save between 5 percent and 15 percent of GDP if narcotics were legal in all countries. But those savings fall to as low as 1 percent if drugs were legalized only in Mexico. Ultimately, all countries, including the U.S., would have to legalize and regulate the drug trade. It’s extremely unlikely that will happen.

And so Calderon is left with little choice but to aggressively challenge and pursue men like Villarreal. The violence and deaths will continue, but my guess is, the drug lords who have managed to avoid killing or capture are not smiling now.

Deficits and Drugs

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November 2, 2010 is the date of the mid-term elections. It’s also a date that may signal the beginning of a major change in our drug laws. While fourteen states and DC have enacted laws legalizing medical marijuana, if Proposition 19 passes in California, it will be the first U.S. state to legalize the drug.

Legalizing marijuana appears to have broad support in the state, with 51% to 56% of Californians surveyed in various polls saying they favored making marijuana legal for social use and taxing the sales proceeds to help bail out the cash-strapped state.

Those supporting the measure assert that banning marijuana has contributed to an increasingly deadly underground economy run by brutal drug cartels that have cost billions in scarce law enforcement resources and made criminals out of countless law-abiding citizens. Those opposed to the measure worry about increased drug usage and impaired driving crashes and say the social costs far outweigh the money it would bring in.

Under the initiative, simple possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, currently a misdemeanor offense punishable by a $100 fine, would be legal for anyone at least 21. It also would be lawful to grow limited amounts in one’s own home for personal use. While sales would not be legalized outright, cities and counties could pass laws permitting commercial distribution subject to local regulations and taxes. Retail sales would still be limited to an ounce for adults 21 and older.

Despite our decades long battle against the cartels and traffickers, the U.S. still has some of the highest rates of drug use in the world, and more than a quarter of its prison inmates are behind bars for drug-related offenses. Mexico’s U.S. backed war on drugs has left more than 28,000 people dead since December 2006. Recently, former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Mexico should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs in order to “break the economic structure that allows the mafias to generate huge profits in their business.”

It is truly ironic that government budget deficits largely created by anti-drug politicians may lead to the legalization of marijuana in California. And its passage may spearhead a national movement toward decriminalizing the drug in states across the country.

Mexico’s Civil War

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During the 1980s, Pablo Escobar and his ruthless Medellín Cartel became synonymous with violence and death in Colombia. His policy in dealing with law enforcement and government officials was known as plata o plomo, silver or lead. Those that couldn’t be bribed were killed. This resulted in the deaths of hundreds, including civilians, policemen and state officials. Escobar was also responsible for the murder of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán as well as the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 and the DAS building bombing in Bogotá in 1989. That year, Forbes magazine estimated he had a personal fortune of $25 billion, making him the seventh-richest man in the world. His Medellín cartel controlled 80% of the global cocaine market. The Colombian government finally went on the offensive and Escobar was eventually hunted down and killed in 1993. While the majority of cocaine is still produced in Colombia and cartels still exist, Mexican cartels have grown increasingly more powerful. The State Department estimates that 90% of cocaine entering the United States transits Mexico.

Facing a situation similar to Colombia’s in the 1980s and 1990s, Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug traffickers after his election in 2006 by deploying nearly 45,000 troops and 5,000 federal police to 18 states. As in Colombia, there has been an alarming increase in deaths. Estimates are that 9900 people have died in drug-related incidents since January 2007. Cities such as Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo have become armed camps. But Calderón’s war on the drug cartels has had an effect beyond the increased levels of violence and deaths. The U.S. government estimates that the amount of cocaine seized on U.S. soil dropped by 41 percent between early 2007 and mid-2008. And yesterday, Mexico captured Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as El Teo, one of Mexico’s major drug kingpins. His capture follows the arrest of Benjamin Arellano Felix and the death of his brother Raul, the leaders of the Arellano Felix gang.

Still, the U.S. Justice Department now considers the Mexican drug cartels the greatest organized crime threat to the United States as violence spills across the Mexican border. Officials in cities such as Phoenix have reported an alarming increase in killings, kidnappings and home invasions connected to Mexico’s cartels. Also, more than 200 Americans have been killed in Mexico since 2004. The governors of Arizona and Texas have asked the federal government to send additional National Guard troops to help those already there supporting local law enforcement efforts against drug trafficking.

While Colombia has experienced a continuing decrease in levels of violence as current President Alvaro Uribe continues the country’s war against drug traffickers and military groups like the FARC, it’s anyone’s guess whether Calderón and Mexico will succeed. The level of corruption runs deep.

Along with continued military and financial support to Colombia and Mexico, the U.S. could help reduce drug usage and violence by decriminalizing marijuana usage and treating it as a public health problem rather than a security problem. Studies have found that using drug user treatment to reduce drug consumption in the United States is seven times more cost effective than law enforcement efforts alone, and it could potentially cut consumption by a third. Decriminalization, particularly of small quantities of marijuana, might also save money and countless lives in Mexico and in the U.S.