In an house on suburban long island, a group of 20 somethings warm up by the fire and snort some cocaine. Their actions reverberate for the worse for thousands and thousands of miles.
It is estimated that the trafficking of drugs from South America through Central America, Mexico, and arriving in the United States, is worth a whopping $13 billion a year. The economist estimated that retail drug sales(illicit) in the United States is $60 billion. Add these two statistics together, and one can infer a connection between drug trafficking and Americans’ illicit drug consumption.
And Mexico is the final point in transit before final delivery to the United States, making it an integral piece to successfully place the products on the market. It is no secret that Mexico has a long history of corruption and poverty. The corruption is not the exclusive cause of poverty, but it would not rash to assume that it is a significant contributor.
Of course, the steely, unforgiving force of poverty is what causes so many Mexicans to abandon their homeland. They flee from it like one would from a powerful predator. It is, in its own way, a form of persecution; watching your child wither away from malnutrition is a tragedy of the highest order.
The source of Mexicans’ unfortunate plight cannot be grounded into an easy categorical list of causes. It goes way back, but undoubtedly, its remarkably bloody past and its proximity to its powerful neighbor in the North are part of the core. However, I contend that Americans’ illicit drug use, at least within the past 20 years, has significantly increased the amount of unauthorized migration to the United States and here is why:
Quickly visualize the effect that dropping $13 billion dollars in front of poor Mexicans that have no other hope to obtain financial stability for themselves and their family. (they don’t have to be poor, actually, it can be anyone, but the poorer an individual is, the faster they would jump at the money) It’s quite simple; many will grasp at that money with delight in their eyes. Thus, all of a sudden these same people are exponentially wealthier in very short amount of time. A problem, however, is these ill-gotten gains violate Mexican law. The solution: pay off poorly paid police, military, and other government officials. Therefore, government corruption rises. Many officials whose duty is to act in the best interests of Mexico’s people will now be more likely to act solely to preserve their considerable financial gains from illicit drugs, even if it is directly against the peoples’ interest. Without the peoples’ interests in mind, the government, then, does not focus on addressing the already existent poverty, and then, like a uncontained wildfire , its reach expands.
Americans, by flippantly using illicit drugs, create an germane environment for poverty to flourish and blaze its destructive path in Mexico and beyond. Ironically, many Americans who consistently lay all of the blame on individual Mexicans and others Latinos for coming here illegally surely are illicit drug users, or have been at some point. I suggest that those people give themselves lashes for the unpatriotic effects of their actions.
Seriously, though, if there is one reason not to use drugs, it should be that that use has and will continue to destroy human lives–both here and south of the border.
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