Published: April 08, 2011
Op-Ed Contributor
Mexico's Drug Wars Continue to Rage: 59 Corpes Found in Mass Grave
By Robert Paul Reyes
"Forensic workers have begun identifying 59 corpses from mass graves in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas in the latest atrocity to be uncovered in Mexico's drug wars.
Security forces found the graves on Wednesday while investigating reports that cartel hitmen in the area had been pulling people off buses, possibly in a forced recruitment drive.
The discovery came as tens of thousands of people marched in simultaneous protests held in cities across Mexico demanding an end to the violence. The marches were prompted by the torture and murder of Juan Francisco Sicilia, the son of a well-loved poet, along with six other people with no links to the cartels." Read More
Many Americans dismiss the violence south of the border, they argue that we have our own intractable problems to worry about. But the drug-inspired bloodshed in Mexico can't be divorced from America's love for cocaine and other controlled substances.
Marijuana, cocaine and meth may flow from south to north, but the automatic weapons favored by the Mexican drug cartels flow from north to south. The Mexican drug cartel problem is an American problem.
If millions of Americans weren't addicted to drugs, anarchy and violence wouldn't be endemic in Mexico. The answer is simple: Americans need to just say no to drugs. But this is pie-in-the-sky nonsense, drug addicts will always be with us, regardless of whatever party is setting the drug policy.
The American "war on drugs" is a colossal failure, drug addicts need intervention not incarceration. But even if an enlightened administration sought to rehabilitate drug users instead of throwing them in prison, millions will never give up their precious narcotics.
The real answer is to decriminalize drugs, take away the profit motive and the drug cartels will wither and die.
Let me digress by emphasizing that marijuana is a natural herb and not a drug. Weed should be legalized and as freely available as alcohol or cigarettes. Pot doesn't have the negative health effects of alcohol or tobacco, but it does nave many positive benefits including pain relief and a sense of well-being.
We can't afford to ignore the corpses in mass graves in Mexico, they should shame us into changing our draconian drug laws and getting serious about imprisoning the American gun smugglers who provide the cartels with their deadly weapons.
Follow Robert Paul Reyes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertpaulreyes
Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.
* The views of Opinion writers do not necessarily reflect the views of NewsBlaze
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