Pubdate: Thu, 15 Aug 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Alfredo Corchado
Note: Alfredo Corchado is bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News in 
Mexico City and author of "Midnight in Mexico: A Reporters Journey 
through a Country's Decent into Darkness."

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IN THE U.S. WILL NOT END VIOLENCE in Mexico

IF only it was so easy - legalize pot and Mexico's bloody nightmare 
would end. It won't.

As a correspondent for The Dallas Morning News I've had a front-row 
seat to the massacre in my homeland, Mexico. Like many other 
colleagues, I've witnessed Mexico's descent into darkness as brutal 
cartels continue to fight each other for plazas - parlance for 
illicit corridors that lead north with, among other products, tons of 
marijuana for the insatiable, biggest market in the world: my adopted 
homeland, the United States.

As I've witnessed the collapse of institutions in a blood-soaked 
nation, and seen so many in my own profession forced into censorship, 
threatened or killed by powerful cartels, I too have asked the same 
question: Why doesn't the U.S. just legalize this stuff, just like 
the states of Washington and Colorado, so we can put the nightmare behind us?

Lately, I've read how the South American country of Uruguay became 
the first nation to legalize the production, distribution and use of 
marijuana for its people. Even here in Mexico City, I've seen how the 
issue has become a topic of debate in Congress and among business and 
academic leaders who suddenly view the issue through a different prism.

Sure, Mexico is a pretty conservative country and the population 
remains largely opposed to the mere idea of legalization. A poll by 
Sin Embargo showed that 48 percent oppose legalizing marijuana, and 
just 13 percent approved.

Even so, in a country where more than 100,000 people have been killed 
or disappeared since 2006, the debate is healthy.

What really led to so many killings? Was it U.S. demand? And if so, 
is that why I often think of the double standard when I'm traveling 
along the U.S.-Mexico border? I find myself wondering why the U.S. 
spent so many billions of dollars and built so many miles of fences 
to keep people out, and yet it can't keep illicit drugs from seeping north.

As I walked the streets of Nuevo Laredo recently and crossed that 
bridge to the United States, the issue became clearer: Lost in the 
debate of whether to legalize marijuana is Mexico's virtually 
nonexistent rule of law.

In Nuevo Laredo the cartel that changed the game is called the Zetas, 
founded as a paramilitary group that quickly grew into the most 
horrendous criminal organization.

The images remain fresh: bodies hanging from bridges like pinatas; 
heads rolling next to mutilated arms and legs; body parts strewn on 
highways, discarded like trash, some etched with the letter Z; and 
mass graves containing the remains of migrants who died with their 
dreams of finding a better life north of the border.

It wasn't just illegal drugs that drove these people crazy for 
profit. In fact, less than half of the proceeds came from drugs. Much 
of their money came from kidnappings and extortions. They do it 
because they can.

I have witnessed a remarkable change in attitude in the past few 
years among some Mexicans, especially those hit hard by the violence. 
There is now a willingness not to just blame the United States for 
all their troubles, but to also point the finger at themselves.

More than 200 years after Mexico became a nation, history has finally 
caught up. Mexico hasn't been able to build judicial institutions 
that work. Less than 5 percent of homicides are ever solved. 
Corruption permeates society like an institution.

This isn't just about a commodity drug, but about those reflectors 
that shine along the dividing line between legality and illegality. 
It's about rule of law.

In other words if it's not marijuana, it will be something else.

Alfredo Corchado is bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News in 
Mexico City and author of "Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey 
through a Country's Descent into Darkness."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom