Steve Kovacs

American Drug Users Are Partially Responsible For Thousands Of Tortures And Deaths In Mexico Yearly



Posted: Monday, April 06, 2009

by Steve Kovacs
The Kovacs Perspective

According to American governmental statistics, approximately 2 million Americans use cocaine and, or heroin regularly and about15 million Americans use marijuana on a regular basis.

Moreover, each year, approximately 40 billion dollars worth of drugs are smuggled from Mexico into the United States , mostly marijuana, cocaine and heroin. The groups, who smuggle them, are called Drug Cartels. There are several main cartels all vying to get their products onto the streets of the world, mainly though, onto the streets of America .

They have to hide from Mexican and American authorities while smuggling because these drugs are illegal on both sides of the border. Consequently, police officers in Mexico are routinely killed so the Mexican cartels can get their products into the United States . Up until recently, in the Mexican city of Juarez , 10 people were being killed each day. The deaths were mostly because of competition between cartels, law enforcement officers dying in the line of duty, and innocents who happened to be in or see the wrong thing at the wrong time. In addition, some innocent people along with cartel members have been, and are still being tortured and beheaded.

The border between Mexico and the U.S. is being patrolled, monitored, and observed to stop drugs from getting into America, but just as with trying to stop alcohol sales during the U.S. alcohol prohibition in the 1920's and 1930's, nothing will work to stop the flow of drugs to those willing to pay for them. Fences, drug-sniffing dogs, camera systems and great law enforcement will curtail it but will never stop it. In the meantime, cartels will continue to bully Mexican and American citizens (they are also making inroads into the heartland of America ). In addition, they will continue to kill in the quest for the money that drugs bring them.

While people are being tortured and killed most drug users in America are not thinking about the fact they have a hand, a small one many say, but an unquestionable hand in the torture and dying. There is no refuting this. In undercover operations, drug cartel members have been heard saying Americans have blood on their hands because the cartels are doing what they have to do, to get drugs to them.

So what do we do? In the overall, large picture of the problem, I don't know. There are smarter minds that can deliberate solutions, which are more specific. The only personal resolution I know is if you are doing marijuana, cocaine or heroin you are indirectly a part in the killing and torture that is occurring, and if you stop using, you will stop having blood on your hands. In addition, this resolution is a great starting point for those dying right now or who will die tomorrow.

Steve is the author of Protect Yourself: The Simple Keys Women Need to be Safe and Secure. He is the host of the Internet Radio Talk Show, The Kovacs Perspective http://www.thekovacsperspective.com/ where he interviews experts in various fields, geared to help and inform. Steve also does on-line current events & political audio commentary.

Steve's background is in law enforcement, security, investigations, teaching and he is also the president of a small specialty investigation company: http://www.allsourcesecurity.com/investigations.htm. Contact Steve any time at:info@thekovacsperspective.com

This Article has been viewed 1,243 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)
» left by Michael Ramzy 3 years 47 days ago.
49 fans.
Well done. I think American drug users play a bigger role in the mayhem in Mexico, since without them the cartels would go . . . where? Europe? Right . . .
Still, illegal drug users won't think about this at all since they only think of that high.
Nice article.
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 47 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

I loved your comment, “Europe? Right…”  I agree with you that most drug users will not give much thought to the facts mentioned.  But who really knows???   Thanks for commenting…

» left by Chiradeep
 3 years 47 days ago.
86 fans. Follow Chiradeep on twitter!
Wonderful article Steve! When people will be responsible for others life? God bless you for this article.
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 47 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

Comments like yours makes writing articles such as this worthwhile—thank you.

» left by Jeff Brown 3 years 47 days ago.
145 fans. Follow Jeff Brown on twitter!

Steve,

 

My wife and I were talking about this very issue. She's from Colombia, and she hates it when the first thing people say is "Oh, yeah, drugs!" They may say coffee, but it's usually drugs. Just like when Hollywood needs some action scenes they think, "Oh, yeah! drug lords in Colombia." She made an interesting comment related to your topic. Colombia wouldn't have its drug problem if all the rich Americans didn’t buy the drugs. She says that few people in Colombia have drug problems. They're too poor to buy them. Ironic, isn't it? Thanks for the enlightening article.

.
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 46 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

 Thanks for writing.  I am sure your wife’s right.  There’s very little disputing that in Mexico, Americans are the main buyers and I’m assuming the same goes for Colombia.  What a shame to lump an entire country such as Colombia to just drugs when they have so much more to offer and contribute.  I appreciate your comment!

» left by Linda DeWitt
from Oregon 3 years 46 days ago.
67 fans. Follow Linda DeWitt on twitter!
Great article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to resolve the drug problems once and for all.

Linda D
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 46 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

Boy, it would be great resolving the issue!  Maybe one day...thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.

» left by Anonymous
 3 years 46 days ago.
This is how the problem has taken shape as I've watched it escalate over the past forty years (and I'm far from alone):
 
- Cocaine, heroin and marijuana are illegal.
 
- People continue to use cocaine, heroin and marijuana, as they have for many decades, in spite of the government telling them they aren't allowed to.
 
- Making and keeping drugs being illegal has been a boon to South and Central American drug cartels, and trade in the illicit poppy has profited terrorists (or so the DEA tells us...and the DEA, it must remembered, must some how justify its own budget because in the end, its employees have a paycheck to protect).
 
The solution is to make all drugs legal, and try some other way to prevent drug abuse. From where I am sitting, reading your article and the many like it, ad infinitum, is that it is not the drug use itself which is the real killer, but instead the black marketing of the drug. Cocaine and heroin cartels would be instantly undercut if the people using these substances (and by your own admission, people are using them, and if observation of the past hundred years is a reliable indicator, people will continue to use them for the next hundred years) could get them over the counter. No machine guns, no bombs, no terror, no billions of dollars to the Medellin, Al Qaeda, etc., etc.

-g
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 45 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

Your point is well spoken and your solution is certainly an option, one that many are hoping for.  If people want to go that route, in my opinion, they ought to go out and exercise their right to try to make the changes they want; by working to change public opinion and laws that are presently in place.  Thanks for commenting on the article.

 

 

» left by Nancy Daniels
 3 years 45 days ago.
Steve,
 
I am so glad you wrote this.  Only last week I heard about Phoenix (I think it was this city) that is witnessing many murders because of the drugs -- much like we are seeing in Mexico and it concerns me.  Unless something is seriously done to prevent what is happening, it will continue to get worse.
 
Thank you for a job well done.
 
Nancy
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 45 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

Thanks for writing Nancy.  Yes, I’ve been hearing that drug related (dealers etc.) crime is trickling over the border into the U.S.  You know…I have no idea what solution is finally going to work one day to stop this problem.

» left by Teresa Ortiz
 3 years 45 days ago.
188 fans.
HI Steve,
 
Great points. I wish the solution was as easy as just stop using. But it's far beyong -- There are people who will never stop being greedy so they will not stop selling the drugs - then you have those who are hooked of the hard drugs. Their life is a mess, they have lost all hope, therefore, the last thing on their mind is the fact that they are partly responsible for innocent death's. By the time they are hooked, they have already lied, cheated and stolen. It is a vicious cycle of greed and despair, each feeding of each other. As I mentioned before, it all goes back to the heart of man. I think I am going to write about it. Your articles always bring me back to this :-)
 
Blessings to you! Teresa
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 43 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

Thanks Teresa,

Maybe that’s the true solution, changing the heart of people.  You have a good heart, keep on doing what you are doing—I’m sure your changing hearts for the better—all my best Teresa.

» left by Anonymous
 3 years 43 days ago.
An interesting article, Steve, thanks for writing this one! Just as interesting are the various viewpoints of readers. 
 
Personally, I fail to see how legalizing drugs in America will reduce, combat, abolish-call it what you'd like-crime, deaths, and drug cartels. What's wrong with America? Where have our values, morals and ethical standards gone? Legalizing drugs in America will, in essence, condone drug use among American citizenry--I'm shaking my head as I think about this. Legalizing drugs in America will open up a free market for what researchers and the like know IS fact--the damaging effects they leave behind (I'll make an assumption I do not need to elaborate in this area). Ah, to legalize drugs--now THAT would be Capitalism at it's finest.
» left by Anonymous 3 years 41 days ago.

Thanks for your comment—it seems that many, if not a majority yet, want marijuana legalized — so I believe, it has a good chance for legalization in the near future (next 10 years).  However, I believe the opinion of most people in regards to hard drugs is much different.  I don’t know what will eventually work to keep people from using and abusing drugs, not to mention the violence that goes hand in hand with it.  Someday, someone may find the way to go...the solutions…maybe you!  Thanks for writing.

» left by Anonymous 3 years 34 days ago.
Yes drug use is a fact. What will legalizing it change, then, you ask (and you did ask)? Firstly, it takes the criminality out of what is intrinsically a human sickness, no more abominable than alcoholism, or even cigarette addiction. The only reason these people are criminals at all is because, well, there is a law against their particular addiction, but perhaps not against your addiction of choice.

Secondly, and most of all, legalizing drugs undercuts the traffickers. You implied that people would continue to sell drugs no matter what? Well, how about if the value of that product were reduced to, say, what coffee and tobacco are? What are the statistics related to violent "coffee" or "cigar" cartels, I wonder? When is the last time the news reported violent criminal activity in Phoenix over a cup o' joe? The difference? Prohibition.
» left by Susan Thom
 3 years 42 days ago.
179 fans.
hi steve,
 
"the love of money is the root of all evil" it's really as simple as that.
 
marijuana has been around forever, and so far, there are no statistics saying smoking it causes one to lose control, as in driving a car, such as a drug such as alcohol does.
 
i think it's all backwards. it's legal to drink in a bar, and as long as you handle yourself well. you keep getting drinks, get in your car at the end of the night, and kill a whole family on the way home...but it's legal.
 
a plant such as mairijuana is less harmful it seems, with many of the same results as being on some prescription drugs-forgetfulness, etc., however heroin is an evil that has taken millions because of it's stronghold on the masses, who forget what they're doing, share needles, get HIV, and then suffer when they come down with it in it's last stages.
 
i think the key is, there is no key.
 
when people begin to realize their self esteem, their "feeling good", their pride, comes from within, and not from what they ingest, drug consumption will go way down, although, i don't foresee that happening. some people take vacations to escape, some go on retreats, some smoke cigarettes, some have a few drinks to unwind, and some do drugs. why they do drugs is the key element that needs to be addressed.
i quit drinking 16 years ago, because i knew i was using it as a crutch, a destructive one at that. i had to do a lot of soul searching and reading and changing, until i felt better sober, than not.
if we could address the mechanics of doing drugs, maybe we could make some headway. (it's all in the head:)
thanks for sharing,
my best regards,
sue thom
» left by Steve Kovacs 3 years 42 days ago.
96 fans. Follow Steve Kovacs on twitter!

Thanks for writing Sue.  I believe that to come to any type of real solution to drug or alcohol abuse really must come from within people themselves.  Possibly someone enlightening them, helping them find different healthy diversions etc. on a large scale is the answer.  Who, what or how, I have no idea!

We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.