Jan 10th, 11
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CrawfordOnDrugs has been a bit distracted so far in the New Year.
This week, I’m reporting on the horrific shootings of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a federal judge, a little girl and others in Tucson for People magazine.
Next week, I will be hanging out at drug court and in rehab clinics for an upcoming Phoenix Magazine story.
I’ll try to post something substantive soon: like my thoughts about Sarah Palin’s stupid map that had Giffords in the crosshairs. Or about the loopholes in federal and Arizona law that let any psycho buy an unlimited arsenal of military grade weapons and ammunition. Or more on the drug war that Giffords worried would spill over the U.S.-Mexico border and endanger her constituents.
Until then, here’s to hoping the cognizant majority (that I am certain still exists) can take back our political discourse.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their family and friends.
–AJC
Jun 28th, 10
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A delegation of Obama administration officials met with Arizona state leaders today to discuss border security, pledging hundreds of millions of dollars more in financial resources and increased manpower to fight crime at the Arizona-Mexico border (including 524 National Guard troops). The lengthy report from the White House on the tactics discussed in the meetings (link to PDF below) includes some smart efforts to fight cartel crime, such as a focus on southbound guns and money. But as I read the report, I found myself thinking about another unrelated “drug” story in Arizona, about thousands of mentally ill people who will lose access to treatment and medications because of state budget cuts.
At first blush, these two stories don’t seem connected at all. But for years, we have waged a war on drugs that has all but ignored the root causes of the problem. Year after year, politicians have increased minimum sentences for drug crimes and built more prisons while slashing drug treatment services and social programs that address poverty, mental illness and other societal problems linked to drug abuse. As I read this morning’s Arizona Republic story about the mental health program cuts, I thought about Paula, a woman with bipolar disorder I wrote about for Phoenix Magazine this spring, who would lapse back into self-medicating by smoking crack whenever she didn’t have access to treatment or the right prescription meds. Arizona leaders who are so concerned about Mexicans bringing us drug cartel violence should consider what role they play in fighting drug use — not just punishing drug users — here at home. Treating and caring for those with mental illness is an important part of the social safety net that helps prevent crime, homelessness and drug abuse.
The Obama administration’s Southwest Border Strategy includes a tacit acknowledgment of the role the U.S. plays in the Mexican drug violence. The bloody battle with and between drug cartels that has left 23,000 Mexicans dead since 2006 is funded by money from U.S. drug sales and waged with U.S.-purchased guns. As I wrote yesterday, we can’t expect to get at the problem by targeting immigrants. But targeting southbound weapons and money is smart.
More information:
-Read the full White House report on today’s meetings here. Highlights: The White House has pledged $600 million to secure the Southwest border and enhance law enforcement efforts; additional ATF “Gunrunner Teams” and prosecutors; and 1,200 additional National Guard troops on the border (524 in Arizona).
-Read about efforts by the office of Arizona’s U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to target firearms trafficking in a new border security fact sheet posted last week here.
-Watch the press conference by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today on the increase in National Guard troops here.
Jun 27th, 10
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For weeks I have struggled with what I have perceived as a major disconnect in the political rhetoric surrounding immigration reform. Since the murder of rancher Robert Krentz in Southeastern Arizona this spring, a common logic has emerged: the threat of violence from Mexican drug smuggling means we must secure the border and step up immigration enforcement or pass national immigration reform. This is a logic that has been spouted, albeit with different policy objectives, from state leaders ranging from Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. But I just don’t get it: How does immigration reform or enforcement of any flavor – amnesty or guest worker programs or mass deportations or increased prosecutions – do anything at all to stop drug violence?
Gov. Jan Brewer
Recently Brewer has offered unfathomable explanations about how the rise in drug cartel violence in Mexico is connected with SB1070, Arizona’s new immigration law that requires police to check someone’s status if they have reasonable suspicion the person is here illegally. Earlier this month, she said the law was needed to stop “the beheadings.” Then last week, she made the bogus claim that most illegal immigrants smuggle drugs.
Authorities suspect Krentz’ murderer may have been a Mexican in the U.S. illegally. But more significantly, they suspect he or she was likely tied to drug traffickers. There are a lot of people — immigrants and citizens alike — who are involved in the drug trade, and some of them are violent. Would a mass round up of illegal Mexican immigrants net some with ties to drug traffickers? Maybe. So would a mass round up of U.S. citizens at a mall.
Brewer’s outrageous assertions should shed light on the intellectual dishonesty that has shrouded this entire discussion in recent months. There is no doubt that our nation needs to fix our broken immigration system and enforce immigration laws. But if the problem you are trying to solve for is drug cartel violence, immigration reform is not the answer.
Drug trafficking exists because of U.S. demand and policies. Prohibition of any kind creates a black market that empowers criminal syndicates to flourish. The insatiable demand in the U.S. for illegal drugs makes that black market very profitable. Even if we were able to completely seal the U.S.-Mexico border (which is financially and practically impossible) we would just move the drug problem somewhere else — like our interdiction efforts against Colombian cartels empowered cartels in Mexico.
The violence in Mexico should be a wake-up call for policy changes in the United States. But let’s have an honest conversation that focuses on the right policies that get at the root causes of the problem.
