The
United States
shares over nineteen hundred miles of border with
Mexico,
and
Mexico
is fighting for its life.
Drug cartels
are attacking the government and each other for control of border crossings
into the
US,
and thousands of people have died in the fighting.
Some are "soldiers" in the drug
gangs, but many of the dead are law enforcement officers, civil servants, and
innocent bystanders.
While the US-Mexico
border has always been a troubled region – it's been observed that the income
disparity between the US and Mexico is greater than that of any other two
contiguous countries on earth – the strife and suffering occurring there now
has reached a point that cripples Mexico's civic life and damages our own.
Americans are not bystanders in this fight. If only we were. Our role has been far more malign: tens of
millions of Americans use illegal drugs, and together they form the vast market
that has made these cartels so rich and powerful. The drug lords in Mexico have become strong enough to corrupt
officials and command death squads, and they couldn't have done it without us.
I don't use drugs, and I have little understanding of what
addiction is like. If you're addicted to
illegal drugs, all I can offer is what I have observed in myself: that I need many reasons, and not only one, to make
any change in my life. So in addition to
all the other reasons you may have for seeking treatment, think about the good
people you're hurting, and the evil people you're helping, by buying drugs.
And if you're a recreational drug user whose participation
remains a matter of choice, I'd ask you to consider this: doing drugs is no
longer an act of rebellion. Using
illegal drugs is a vote FOR authority figures that are far more unfair, far
more repressive, and far more brutal than the worst cop or teacher you ever met
in high school.
