Mexican Drug Cartels to Receive American Election Gift Again Deborah Morgan - Examiner.com
go to original October 26, 2012

More than 60,000 people in Mexico have been murdered in drug cartel violence. Imagine going to a World Series game and everyone around you in the stadium is dead, brutally murdered so a few groups of drug dealers can sell their products to your fellow Americans.

That is the realistic toll America's War on Drugs has taken from our neighbors to the south. And the U.S. federal government refuses to take any logical action against it.

It is already established that Americans like their drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs are widely abused and even more widely prescribed. Alcohol is a booming business and has been since prohibition ended in the early 20th century. Tobacco sales may be on the decline, but show no signs of ultimate demise.

Yes, America certainly has its vices and no politician anywhere would dare to call for the prohibition of these valuable commodities, despite their potential for abuse or their risk of death. Because there are no Zoloft or Budweiser cartels murdering innocent people in territorial wars. No menthol cigarette bloodbaths. No shoot-outs over who gets to corner the New Year's Eve market on champagne sales.

Why? Because alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical drugs are legal and regulated.

Marijuana, on the other hand, is also widely used in America by patients seeking to alleviate a plethora of medical maladies and by citizens wishing to relax at the end of a hard day's work, rather than going to any one of a million bars nationwide for Happy Hour.

Marijuana is a $400 billion a year business, so no rational person can conclude the only consumers are losers playing video games in the basement. Marijuana users cross every spectrum of the U.S. demographic - from politician (hello, Mr. President) to construction worker... from lawyer to police officer... from stay-at-home mom to accountant... and everyone in between.

The underground of marijuana consumers is a closely-knit yet largely anonymous demographic, representing tens of millions of American voters who no longer want to be criminals for medicating or relaxing as they choose.

How does U.S. marijuana consumption affect Mexico and the horrific violence they are suffering?

Well, although drug cartels traffic cocaine and heroin, too, the majority of their targeted buyers are marijuana consumers.They depend on the "gateway theory" in America, because by providing marijuana - the most commonly used illicit drug in the world - the cartels also have their sales people offer the harder drugs like cocaine and heroin.

And the drug cartels do not want marijuana to be legalized because it cuts into their customer base. With U.S. prohibition against marijuana, the drug wars in Mexico continue and more innocent people die. And that's good for their business.

Drug cartels are thrilled at America's War on Drugs because it just continues to funnel money into trying to take out the drug lords... which, when the U.S. is successful in killing or apprehending one, provides a promotion to the next highest drug leader. And the war rages on...

More people die... Mexico gets scarier, causing more and more to illegally cross the U.S. border... and the blood and guns and drugs continue to flow.

Neither Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama have seen fit to even remotely address the carnage being perpetrated against our Mexican neighbors, nor have they offered any solutions or options to combat the bloodshed. No mention of marijuana law reform or the devastating and costly effects of the War on Drugs was mentioned during any of the presidential debates.

President Obama has only fueled the violence in Mexico by allowing his Justice Department to raid and shut down thousands of state-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries, despite a 2008 campaign promise to respect those state laws. When supply dwindles in America, the cartels cheer their uptick in sales opportunities.

Mitt Romney has vowed to fight marijuana law reform "tooth and nail", despite the mountains of medical, scientific, economic, and states' rights evidence available. The drug cartels would welcome Romney's brand of prohibition, too.

So, where does this leave American marijuana consumption and the rights of U.S. citizens? Where does this leave Mexico, a country who seems to have abandoned any hope of economic prosperity in lieu of running to catch up on mopping blood from their streets?

Apparently - given the heartless silence on the part of Obama, Romney, and our elected leaders in D.C. (who enjoys their own medical marijuana program) - this issue is left in the bloody and eager hands of the cartels themselves.

The Huffington Post and YouGov poll this week on marijuana legalization shows an average of 73% of America voters want legalized marijuana in some form. This would seem to be a gift to U.S. marijuana advocates, a strategic opportunity for whichever presidential candidate is brave enough (and smart enough) to take advantage of it, and a recharge of civil liberties in America.

However, since no 2012 debate moderator or mainstream news outlet - CNN, MSNBC, or FOX News - has bothered to ask Obama or Romney to weigh in on this issue, it appears unlikely that this hugely popular and crucial human-rights issue will play any part in presidential politics.

Gary Johnson, Jill Stein and other third-party candidates largely support marijuana legalization, but no effort on the part of mainstream media has lent any exposure or credibility to those campaigns. Hence, no participation in national debates, no opportunity for large-scale campaign contributions, no platform for national marijuana law reform discussion, and no significant exposure to U.S. voters.

So, despite the marijuana legalization initiatives in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon this election cycle - and the mystery surrounding how a continued Obama administration or a new Romney presidency will handle marijuana legalization - it is obvious the real winners this November will continue to be the violent drug cartels.

And who says America doesn't give back? Feliz Navidad, drug cartels!

Deborah Morgan, also known as The Vocal Citizen on CNN's iReport, is a defender of civil rights and a protector of political integrity. CONTACT: thevocalcitizen@gmail.com or on Twitter @vocalcitizen

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