Mexicans Are Fed Up with the War on Drugs
By Robert Higgs • Sunday April 10, 2011 11:32 AM PDT • 22 Comments
A few days ago, tens of thousands of Mexicans in scores of Mexican cities participated in public protests against the War on Drugs and the use of the Mexican army as anti-drug warriors. The violence that has accompanied the Mexican government’s attempts to defeat the drug dealers during the past several years has claimed perhaps as many as 40,000 lives. Some cities, especially Ciudad Juarez, across the river from El Paso, Texas, have become virtual battlefields.
All of this would be sufficiently dreadful if it had accompanied legitimate efforts to suppress real criminals. But although the drug dealers have committed murders, robberies, and other genuine crimes, to be sure, the foundation of this entire “war” is the U.S. government’s attempts to suppress actions — possessing, buying, and selling certain substances — that violate no one’s natural rights. Not to mince words, the War on Drugs is completely evil, from alpha to omega. No one who believes in human liberty can coherently support it. That its prosecution should have resulted in death and human suffering on such a vast scale constitutes an indictment of every person who has conducted or supported this wicked undertaking from its outset.
The Mexican people are showing in many ways, and with unprecedented determination, that they are completely fed up with this gringo-prompted war in which, in recent years, they have become the most devastated victims. Governments that treat their people in this way have no legitimacy whatsoever. They deserve to be brought down. And if the people of Mexico bring down Calderon’s government, then peaceful, rights-respecting people everywhere will have reason to cheer and hope.
However, not until the source of this manifest wickedness, the government of the United States, is also brought down will be world be able to believe that justice might be reestablished and human rights elevated to a higher plane. Aside from Puritan busybodies who take pleasure in bullying their neighbors and causing them to suffer, government officials and their palace guards — pandering politicians, the police, the prosecutors, and the prison-industrial complex — are the only real beneficiaries of this horrendous policy. This fact alone justifies its immediate termination. Yet, because the government’s tyrannical apparatus benefits so greatly, it will fight with every resource at its disposal to hang onto this evil undertaking.
Children who encounter something called the Hundred Years’ War in their history books must sometimes wonder what possessed people to keep them fighting for a century. If it seems crazy, however, one need only recall that we are just three years away from the one-hundredth anniversary of the enactment of the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914. An even worse statute, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, as amended, has now been in force for more than forty years, and no prospect of its repeal looms on the horizon. In our eyes the Europeans who continued to slaughter one another more or less continuously from 1337 and 1453 seem like madmen. Future historians may well look back at our War on Drugs with equal incomprehension and dismay.
Tags: American History, Civil Liberties, Criminal Justice, Drugs, Imperialism, Latin America, Law, Liberty, Morality, Personal Liberty, Police, Politics, The State 
Bravo, well-stated!
Speedmaster | Apr 10, 2011 | Reply
Blah-blah-blah, evil, wicked, mean and nasty never changes. Greed for power at every level of every government is sickening. Would that locals doing the protesting did not look the other way while their own local constabulary get killed and driven out of country, simply because the locals are too afraid to stick their neck out and help, rather than blab about it without backing it up with physical force.
Ron | Apr 10, 2011 | Reply
The only way short of a complete financial collapse to halt the absurd and evil drug war is to undermine the money and jobs that require the war’s continual prosecution.
Imagine a Ron Paul administration where the president uses his pardon powers to free all federal inmates whose sole “crime” was selling or buying substances the politicians don’t like. The non-criminals would have their freedom again, the taxpayers would get a break from having to fund the drug busts and lengthy prison sentences, and the pro-drug war parasites would have to find something productive to do with themselves.
Steve Hogan | Apr 10, 2011 | Reply
Ah the 100 Years War – a great analogy indeed
Contemplationist | Apr 10, 2011 | Reply
Mixed feelings for me here. Having seen, up close, the effect of hard drugs on consumers; having seen some of them go from casual use to a coffin (literally, not figuratively), and also having seen, directly, the effect on innocent bystanders of an out of control vehicle driven by a guy high on drugs, I am not very sympathetic to articles that paint just one side of the picture.
Granted, the whole idea of the “war on drugs” is as stupid as the concept of a “war on terrorism”. This undeclared declaration of war on concepts is fundamentally idiotic. It’s phraseology designed for marketing purposes which have no relation to the real problem.
The fundamental cause of the problem lies with the environment which drives consumers to seek a false “haven” by using drugs. My personal opinion is that to the extent that we (the US) as a nation increased the velocity with which we moved towards the fascist socialism we insisted on copying from the former Soviet Union, the old Germany and others, we also increased the velocity at which people found a need to seek “release”. In the Soviet Union, the “release” was the highest per-capita consumption of alcohol on the planet. Over here, we ended up going the drug route.
The philosophical emptiness of the so-called leadership and their sponsored programs, the liberal programs designed to herd human beings into “projects” (as in New York and Chicago) and tenements everywhere, the liberal creation of multi-generational dependencies that strike at the very center of people’s self -worth, based on the clearly racist presumption that “We HAVE to help them get out of their rut. They obviously can’t do it for themselves. Can’t you see they’re _______? (insert any racial or ethnic descriptive phrase); all these things contribute to the formation of an environment that drains a person’s self -worth. Then it’s the pushers who come in, first offering friendship, then a “try”, then the “conversion” of the prospect to a paying “regular”… all this usually financed by honchos high on the political pecking order who find the high ROI very attractive (how do you think they get the money to finance mega-campaigns?).
But the show must go on. It’s always the show. And to those who are hooked on football, baseball, reality shows, nightly “news”… and all the other circus acts which are put on to distract the masses from the real issues, the “War on Drugs” show works. It gives them the impression that their “leaders” (who, by the way, were voted into office by approximately 25% of the voting population – and they still have the hypocritical gall to talk about “enforcing democracy” elsewhere) are actually “doing something”. But the only thing they are doing is getting kick-backs from all the equipment and services vendors who’ve turned this into a very profitable business model based on extracting more and more money from the American tax payer.
So… yes, the “Mexican drug problem” does not exist. What exists is the “American drug problem”.
WE are the nation with the screwed up value systems, the lackadaisical attitudes, the liberal fed claptrap that passes for “philosophy”, the mediocre educational processes, all of which translate into a sick society that has a significant percent of its wealth blown away on the drug use idiocy… and then blows away ANOTHER significant part of its wealth “fighting a war” against the problem created by itself. And, as we always do – after all, we ARE “superior”; you know, “if it can’t be said in English, it ain’t worth sayin’ “ – we insist on exporting our garbage to neighbors near and far.
It really makes you stop and think. How did we get this far off track? What happened to the ideas that Jefferson and the rest of those cool guys incorporated into our structure of government – which was minimalist in nature? They knew that things could deteriorate, so they built in safe-guards. But judges, selling themselves ideologically like camp followers to Napoleonic armies, and politicians, who wanted power and grandeur, and bureaucrats, who wanted power without effort, and other nit-pickers, were able to get into the system’s innards and break it apart. We, being practical folk, tended to shy away from all those political big mouths. It got to the point that about half of us simply didn’t vote – and didn’t care – and today is what we got.
So… what have we got? Well, “…our forefathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation conceived in liberty…” Did it work? Well, look at it this way.
When the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower, their agricultural technology and processes were almost identical to the technology and processes used by ancient Egyptians 5,000 years BEFORE they landed at Plymouth. Some would argue that it was even more backward. But let’s say it was the same. What we see is that in the 5,000 years that transpired from those ancient Egyptians to the pilgrims, the level of technological progress and well-being of the population in general had changed very little.
The came Washington, Jefferson, Hancock, and the rest of the gang, and they came up with this idea of a government that didn’t get into people’s lives. And BAM! In less than 200 years, we had people WALKING ON THE MOON!
Think about it! 5,000 yeas hoeing the ground with rudimentary instruments. Change the government paradigm and progress literally EXPLODES! And in less than 200 years we went from hand-made wooden hoes to lunar landings.
THEN… … … we started blowing it all away. We got stupid. Thought up phrases like “the Great Society”, which really sounded grandiose, but were simply disguised stupid ideas. And we thought up programs like “Medicaid” and expanded others like “Medicare” and “Part D” and other “great initiatives” to “help our people”… but they were really just more stupid ideas. And when we started to realize that we were breaking the system, instead of being honest about it, admitting to the stupidities and fixing it by going back to the original principles… we blamed the people (of course) whom we now had to squeeze more and more to get the money needed to keep the power hungry in power. And the politicians became prostitutes (written with a “w”). and it all went downhill… and started the collapse, the beginning of which we are all witnessing.
And yes, that really is a bunch of “bad stuff”…. But that doesn’t address the fact that you can still get killed on the street by some idiotic user who’s convinced he’s got a “right” to use his drugs because he can “stay in control” and drive while high… whether that’s alcohol, cocaine, grass, opium (yes, they’re still around) or whatever. Because pointing out the real evils which exist in our government’s approach to the problem, and the inordinate amount of resources dedicated to a non-working situation, is not the justification for idiots to drive around doing damage – usually without being consciously aware of it.
So blast away at the idiocy of the government’s ‘war” focus… but also point out the idiocy of using drugs to the point that you do as much harm to innocent people as the government does with its programs.
Tony | Apr 10, 2011 | Reply
I agree, and hope the article is widely distributed.
ralph | Apr 11, 2011 | Reply
Drug prohibition is in any sense as counterproductive as alcohol prohibition was. Both created a monster which didn’t exist in the world before the 1920′s—organized crime. Mexican gangsters have grown so powerful that they rule several regions in the country. And that’s the reason I disagree with your condemnation of President Calderón’s “war”. For Mexico to survive the Government has to deal with these criminals by force. Calderón couldn’t just give chunks of Mexico away to these bastards. But any gains in terms of subduing criminal activity in Mexico will always be feeble as long as the immoral prohibition on drugs in the U.S. remains in place. The U.S: will remain under threat south of the border if drugs prohibition is not repealed.
Alejandro Durán | Apr 11, 2011 | Reply
There should have been a stop put to this a long time ago. Yet automatic weapons just get to Mexico across our Border to the drug cartels.
Danal J Charlton | Apr 11, 2011 | Reply
It must end. That’s one reason I’m supporting Gary Johnson for President.
hardy | Apr 11, 2011 | Reply
I live in El Paso, and this news is hardly mentioned in our local media. In fact, I’ve barely come to know about this event from this very website.
Thank you for this passionate defense of liberty, Mr. Higgs. Unfortunately, with Border Patrol and other government programs paying this city through the Drug War, people here will “protest” the violence and yet wholly welcome it. Even most priests and religious figures seem to embrace this mindless crusade.
Of course, none of them want to lose their “tax exempt” status if they spoke out...
DW | Apr 11, 2011 | Reply
“The war on drugs is completely evil.” That’s one for the books! “Immediately terminated.” That’s the follow-up.
America has long exported its wars. For “security,” to Afghanistan and Iraq. For oil, to Libya. For interference in the substance trade, to Colombia, Mexico . . . who’s next?
The beast is too large, too strong.
Where can we hide?
Forget retaining our God-given rights!
N. Joseph Potts | Apr 12, 2011 | Reply
Amen, DW. Not a peep out of our own propaganda media.The first thing Americans need to realize is that the MSM is a tool of our various masters. The second is there is no real difference between Demopublicans and the Republicrats. These views bring me nothing but ridicule and rejection from the sheeple I’m in contact with on a daily basis.
daddysteve | Apr 12, 2011 | Reply
The facts are, these substances are illegal, whether you agree with it or not. If you do anything else illegal, you get punished. The same goes for drugs as anything else, as long as it is illegal.
Madeleine | Apr 13, 2011 | Reply
Amen Tony. Thank you for the eloquent dissertation on the real cause of the problem—a never ending chain of absurdities from our disconnected leaders. Really not their fault because we get what we deserve through our apathy.
mcbrad | Apr 16, 2011 | Reply
The funny thing about the war on pot users, or non violent tax paying voters as i call them, is that the enforcement of only set of laws is at the root of the problem.
U.S. Patent #663-0507 is the patent for cannaboids and is held by the U.S. Health Department. It states all use of any cannaboids is covered under this patent which is not being enforced. You do not get a patent if you can’t prove it, and the DEA doesn’t have a patent about its so called war against the worlds number one natural resource, Hemp.
So we have two federally funded groups who have a legal right to be protected but only one is legitimate and that is the U.S. Health Department and not the DEA.
mike | Apr 17, 2011 | Reply
Dr Higgs, have you considered the long term consequences of the policies you are proposing? If drugs were legalized, all those law abiding citizens who currently abstain from drug use would become drug addicted homocidal maniacs. Who would protect our women from young men driven into reefer madness? How would state and local police departments supplement their budgets if they were denied the powers of asset forfeiture? Think of all the “correctional” officers would be laid off. What about all those taxpaying Americans who make their living selling barbed wire and concrete? Think of all the prosecutors who be would be forced to prosecute real crimes? How can anyone expect to build a political career doing just that? And what excuse would government have to violate financial privacy? There would still still be IRS but I suppose you support getting rid of that venerable agency as well.
Tim | Apr 17, 2011 | Reply
Saying “the law is the law” is no argument. Law itself is no authority. The only justification for denying a man’s right to life, liberty, or property is if he has violated someone’s else’s rights. Drug use is no crime because its mere use violates nobody’s rights.
Tim | Apr 17, 2011 | Reply
Crime exists only if there is a victim.
Chris Breaux | Apr 20, 2011 | Reply
The only way short of a complete financial collapse to halt the absurd and evil drug war is to undermine the money and jobs that require the war’s continual prosecution. Yes I agree with this. Secure Horizons is a division of United Health Care and offers Advantage plans, Medigap policies and Part D Drug plans in the Medicare market. Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage plans are popular because of the variety of plans offered and having plans that are affordable and benefit rich.
Marc Will | Jun 13, 2011 | Reply