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| The Hidden Connection between the Drug War and Illegal Immigration |
pointing to the larger problems of our nation seem to obscure the roots of those problems.
For instance, the relationship between illegal immigration and the drug war.
The federal and state governments involved in fighting the drug war will say that the
connection between the two is simply the fact that drug dealers pay illegal immigrants to
carry a load across the border when they go. This undoubtedly does happen, but other
experts think that most of the transportation of drugs across the border is done by
professionals who do that for a living.
The actual connections are much deeper, and much more subtle; as with all social
problems, history has to be considered, for it is what has made Mexico and Central and
South America so dysfunctional.
For many years after Cocaine, marijuana and other drugs were made illegal in the 1930's the
new drug laws had a very subtle effect. There was not widespread usage of cocaine, which
is the drug we are concerned with here. The farmers which produced the drug, until the
1930's had been dealing with a free, legal market and it took some time for that market to
become corrupted.
In the sixties and seventies there was an explosion of drug use across the country; in the
early seventies, President Nixon declared the first War on Drugs, and that policy was
reaffirmed and strengthened by President Reagan.
These policies had unintended side effects - they drove the price of the drug up in the
market; the more expensive the drug got, the more power and money it gave to the gangs
who now controlled the farming population.
This building momentum led to weakening governments in the drug producing nations; the
US pushed all countries to adopt the same drug policies, and the drug cartels' influence over
the governments and army and police forces became stronger than the governments
themselves, despite our best efforts to help these countries.
There is a direct line between our drug policies and the failed governments and economic
policies of those countries to the south of us. We are not wholly responsible, but our policies
have ensured the destructive influence that would go with any huge illegal industry in a
country which is not very strong to begin with.
It has taken decades for this problem to develop; now we see people fleeing across the
border every day, striving so hard, fighting with death itself to get away what they are leaving
behind as much as what they are coming towards.
Until our policies on the drug war change, there will be little change in the levels of
corruption that are found in Mexico and Central and South America. Until that happens, there
will be little or no real economic development, and the immigration trend will only become
worse. In this situation, as in our energy policy and the study of the influence of money on
the system, we are guided away from the root causes of our problems. The drug war is not
the whole story on illegal immigration, but it is a factor that is to large to be ignored.
It is also one that has gone on long enough without being discussed in a sensible way.
For instance, the relationship between illegal immigration and the drug war.
The federal and state governments involved in fighting the drug war will say that the
connection between the two is simply the fact that drug dealers pay illegal immigrants to
carry a load across the border when they go. This undoubtedly does happen, but other
experts think that most of the transportation of drugs across the border is done by
professionals who do that for a living.
The actual connections are much deeper, and much more subtle; as with all social
problems, history has to be considered, for it is what has made Mexico and Central and
South America so dysfunctional.
For many years after Cocaine, marijuana and other drugs were made illegal in the 1930's the
new drug laws had a very subtle effect. There was not widespread usage of cocaine, which
is the drug we are concerned with here. The farmers which produced the drug, until the
1930's had been dealing with a free, legal market and it took some time for that market to
become corrupted.
In the sixties and seventies there was an explosion of drug use across the country; in the
early seventies, President Nixon declared the first War on Drugs, and that policy was
reaffirmed and strengthened by President Reagan.
These policies had unintended side effects - they drove the price of the drug up in the
market; the more expensive the drug got, the more power and money it gave to the gangs
who now controlled the farming population.
This building momentum led to weakening governments in the drug producing nations; the
US pushed all countries to adopt the same drug policies, and the drug cartels' influence over
the governments and army and police forces became stronger than the governments
themselves, despite our best efforts to help these countries.
There is a direct line between our drug policies and the failed governments and economic
policies of those countries to the south of us. We are not wholly responsible, but our policies
have ensured the destructive influence that would go with any huge illegal industry in a
country which is not very strong to begin with.
It has taken decades for this problem to develop; now we see people fleeing across the
border every day, striving so hard, fighting with death itself to get away what they are leaving
behind as much as what they are coming towards.
Until our policies on the drug war change, there will be little change in the levels of
corruption that are found in Mexico and Central and South America. Until that happens, there
will be little or no real economic development, and the immigration trend will only become
worse. In this situation, as in our energy policy and the study of the influence of money on
the system, we are guided away from the root causes of our problems. The drug war is not
the whole story on illegal immigration, but it is a factor that is to large to be ignored.
It is also one that has gone on long enough without being discussed in a sensible way.