Pubdate: Wed, 31 Aug 2011
Source: Centre Daily Times (PA)
Contact:  2011 Nittany Printing and Publishing Co., Inc.
Website: http://www.centredaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/74
Author: Jonathan Lynch

U.S. POLICIES PROVE FATAL

The article describing the horrific massacre in Monterrey, Mexico, 
failed to note an important aspect of this story for U.S. readers: 
our complicity.

The drug war wreaking death and destruction just south of the border 
is fueled by drug prohibition and lax gun control.

The majority of profits feeding the Mexican mafia derives from the 
sale of marijuana to U.S. markets. This is profitable because 
marijuana is illegal, just as rum running was profitable during the 
era of alcohol prohibition.

The mafia uses these profits to buy powerful weapons that are readily 
available in the U.S. I lived in Colombia during the cocaine wars of 
the 1980s and saw firsthand the devastating effects of the toxic 
combination of the U.S. drug war and gun policy on that nation.

Over the years the drug cartels have moved their operations steadily 
northward, and they are now on our doorstep.

As we continue to incarcerate citizens for possession of small 
amounts of marijuana and continue to deregulate the sale of powerful 
weapons, we should be conscious of the collateral damage these 
policies cause for our Latin neighbors and, increasingly, for our own security.

Jonathan Lynch Boalsburg
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom