The Bloody Routes of Drug Trafficking

As long as it continues to be a lucrative business, force will never be a solution. Because they can silence many voices, because the can kill without the least remorse, because they can buy so many weapons and favors, because they can hide and launder their illicit earnings in tax havens…

The price of drugs has no deterrent effect whatsoever. Those who fall into the immense trap of addiction will find the money they need at all cost: conflicts with family, friends, theft… Their excruciating habit can’t be cured with military operations but rather through appropriate medical treatment. This is a public health problem, not a security one. But the United States persists in restricting the offer without restricting the demand.

As with alcohol and tobacco, this matter has deep pathological repercussions, and broad campaigns must be conducted to educate potential consumers and to duly alert society, so the people will know what they are up against before commencing to use drugs. And, as with those affected by tobacco and alcohol, they should then be treated in the appropriate healthcare installations. We must appeal to the responsibility of society as a whole, because this is a drama that progressively affects us all.

If we observe what is happening in Afghanistan, the source of 90% of all heroin, in Colombia… and in the countries of the “great Latin American avenue”, such as Central America and Mexico… we will reach the conclusion that this immense and bloody network can only be dismantled by reducing drug prices.

And, once again, a United Nations that is strong and endowed with the necessary authority is essential for meeting this terrible challenge.

I wish to add my voice to those of others who like Carlos Fuentes (How many murders has Mexico sustained in the fight against drug trafficking?) wisely and knowledgeably offer their advice in this matter. But the drub barons are resisting because like Al Capone they know that if prices drop their sinister business will soon dry up.

Drug Trafficking: Enough is Enough!

Like alcohol and tobacco, the consumption of drugs is one’s personal responsibility. The harmful effects of consuming drugs must be made known. But as Araceli Manjón recently underscored, prohibiting drugs has been an enormous error, creating mafias that threaten the security of entire nations, traffickers that become murderers, and drug addicts who turn their lives and those of their families into an immense tragedy.

“Prohibition” was a failure. When prohibition was lifted, the Al Capones disappeared.

In May of this year I wrote a blog recommending decriminalization, as did the former Spanish President Felipe González a few days ago, amid much media attention.

In my May blog I wrote: "...given the dimension of drug trafficking and its economic and criminal impact, drug consumption affects society as a whole".

A large part of Afghanistan’s problems –and those involving the Taliban- would disappear if suddenly cultivating opium became unprofitable. 90% of the world’s heroin comes from Afghanistan. And each hectare of opium poppies yields 13,000 dollars... when cultivating grain earns less than 500.

The same would occur in Colombia and other American countries: if cocaine prices were to suddenly drop, the mafia violence generated by drug trafficking would finally come to an end.

Europe should lead this great decision, which some oppose in good faith, while others do so to defend the immense benefits they obtain... with no thought for the destruction of personal lives and families... and without having to listen to a guilty conscience, since they long ago sold their souls.

With this, as with so many other questions, we must take a radically different approach. We must consider the matter without prejudice, without taking up immovable positions and rejecting a priori any suggestion of change.

Yes, decriminalization, so that drugs will cost no more than a package of cigarettes or a bottle of wine. And the immediate closing of tax havens, which I recently supported (blog--3.05.10). Both are difficult measures due to the immense benefits they generate, and due to the inertia that prompts our “stable society” to reject any change of course.

Without drug trafficking and without the tax havens that support it, the world would suddenly be a better place.

Let’s awaken from our long slumber and raise our voices to make this happen, through Internet and all of the means at our disposal: drug trafficking, enough is enough!

Drug trafficking must be done away with, once and for all

Drug trafficking is an authentic and gravely serious threat to world stability and, after so many years, we now have a worst-case scenario: trafficking in drugs is now accepted as a “collateral effect” of the economic system, of our imbalanced and confused global leadership that has made the marketplace the protagonist of world politics, replacing democratic principles.

As long as there is demand, there will be offer. The high price of drugs doesn’t prevent those who first seek them, and then need them, from obtaining them. They will do everything imaginable (and unimaginable) to get the dose they require.

As is the case with alcohol, drugs should be available to those who decide to consume them, at affordable prices, very cheap. This would rapidly put the drug mafias out of business. It would be a decisive blow, which would erase one of the greatest blights on the face of the earth. I sincerely believe that this would be the only way to eliminate drugs. It has already been shown that they cannot be eradicated by force.

A huge anti-drug campaign should be launched, with the collaboration of all of the communications media and the participation of civil society, to convince people not to use drugs.

Some may object, as I as a neuroscientist did years ago, that this would risk increasing drug consumption... But that’s not true. At all levels the traffickers are already making drugs readily available in the streets to consumers who are progressively younger and more gullible.

Drug addiction produces very negative health effects, especially neurological damage that affects the will and in the lives of drug addicts... and their families. I have seen so many families destroyed, impoverished, ruined in all senses of the word, by drug consumption. And ultimately, given the dimension of drug trafficking and its economic and criminal impact, drug consumption affects society as a whole.

We must combat drug addiction with the same efforts that we have dedicated to the consumption of tobacco, and with the influence we use to convince society to combat climate change, poverty or AIDS. This is a huge challenge. The welfare of many human beings depends on a radical rethinking of this problem, which should not be considered an irremediable “affliction” of today’s world.

Drug users should not be stigmatized, but rather involvement must be sought from all governments, which to date have consented trafficking on a supranational scale, and which have shown themselves incapable of closing down tax havens once and for all. As long as there are tax havens, there will be trafficking, international crime and mafias. From the richest and the most powerful to the poor neighborhoods and alienated ghettos, all are ultimately emissaries of this evil capillary system.

We must help addicts rebuild their lives, to take responsibility for themselves, to be themselves again, so that they can fully enjoy the mystery of their existence. And drug traffickers must be brought before the courts or, better still, we must make them disappear by rendering their “merchandise” worthless.