Readers respond to the drug cartels’ impact on our communities
Address the demand for drugs first
A vacuum can only exist in a closed system. In an open system — like we all live in — any void is filled by suppliers of whatever the void is missing ....
We Americans like to blame others for our self-generated problems (such) as the foreign and domestic illegal drug suppliers and undocumented workers entering our country. If we did not demand the cartel’s foreign and domestic drug supply and a labor force for less than minimum wage, would these supplies exist? I know that I can blame my excess weight on an oversupply of empty calories being made available to me in the marketplace, but would these empty calories be available if I did not create and support that market? Most probably not — but damn I do enjoy them. Herein lies the real problem.
So build the walls, write about the suppliers — cartels and coyotes — blame the foreign countries, but remember with respect to the root of these issues these are really only the “alternative facts” that we Americans now seem to enjoy stating to cover our own shortcomings. Until we Americans address the demand/the markets the suppliers will not go away — they will thrive on our ever-continuing and seemingly increasing demand. WALTER PEARSON Rio Rancho
Put the border wall money to better use
The article “The Cartels Next Door” is shocking. With the border issues and lots of political concerns it is obvious this is a life-threatening issue.
Why spend billions of dollars for a wall? The projected money to build a wall could be better used within the border states for other programs. Why can’t Congress call up the National Guard in the border states that have this issue and have them work with the Border Patrol, on a rotating basis, to guard our borders?
National Guard: “A state military force that is subject to call by the state or federal government in emergencies.” Is this not an emergency? CLAUDIE P. THOMPSON
Rio Rancho
Leave drug stories to Don Johnson
The Journal’s “shock and awe” pieces on the cartels endemic to the drug trade are, unless meant to simply reassert that there are “bad hombres” on both sides of the border, yesterday’s news at best; at worst, they’re simplistic reductions of a multifaceted issue of socioeconomics and international policy. Were you pining for the days of Don Johnson’s youth, or was there actually something you hoped to contribute above the eternally exhausted fetishizing of hot-blooded mafiosos?
Competition among criminal organizations isn’t news, and international drug policy isn’t Supply vs. demand
a spectator sport by which you simply count bodies or kilograms seized and leave it to the policy-illiterate to draw their own conclusions. Did it occur to you to provide context for the crime and violence on both sides of the border, or did you actually believe that a series of Game of Thrones inspired drugland pieces, minus the innuendo and utterly devoid of suspense, would make for good entertainment? Until you’re ready to report in-depth, most readers will find better value in 1984 reruns of “Miami Vice.”
“It is accepted law enforcement wisdom that illegal drugs drive crime in communities.” Again, old news — but, true. It’s also accepted wisdom that illegal drug trade is driven by poverty. Maybe you could do a follow-up piece on what Gov. Susana Martinez intends to do, or not to do, about poverty in New Mexico as part of our domestic war on drugs. You could even follow up with a piece on how a wall on our border will do nothing to uproot poverty in Mexico — call in another UNM expert! Maybe, if you wanted to get really deep, you could investigate how trade agreements impact already impoverished campesinos in Mexico looking for a crop that will make them enough money to put food on their tables. Proper news!
But please leave the drama to Don Johnson! He drives a
Ferrari and has far better sex appeal than your front page ever will. We already know there are cartels next door. The sensationalism is not needed, particularly in this political climate. DAVID DIAZ Albuquerque
Drugs make New Mexico number one
Wow! New Mexico is a prime corridor for Mexican gangs pumping drugs into the United States? Finally, something we are Numero Uno at!
Free and open borders, right? Just what we ordered. More crime, more gangs, more drugs. We love violence. Isn’t that what we watch constantly in our movie theaters and on our TV screens? Now we may even help it along by voting to legalize marijuana, too. There really aren’t enough deaths from DWI criminals on our streets.
This is a recipe for chaos, and that is just what we are getting.
Enough already! DOROTHY DRAKE Albuquerque
Why drugs are used should be looked at
My husband and I appreciated your excellent series on the Mexican drug cartels ... in the Albuquerque Journal. They are certainly a terrible problem for Mexico, destabilizing the entire country with violence, crime and corruption. The narcotics they deliver into the United States are also undermining our own country. The cartels are simply supplying a demand. If we can cut off that demand, the drug cartels will go bust. How do we stop the demand? Should the United States legalize drugs and sell them from regulated entities? Should we have widespread treatment of drug addicts? I don’t have the answer. I would not like to live in a nation of zombies spaced out on drugs.
To me, a major question that isn’t being addressed is why so many people in the United States and elsewhere are taking drugs. Why are they so demoralized and receptive to trying drugs? Peer pressure? There is a lot of influence from family and friends that gets young people started down the road to dependency. Others turn to drugs when their prescriptions become too costly or don’t treat their pain.
I fear we are becoming a society of lotus eaters that will undermine the moral fiber of our country. Do we need to institute a national program that gets youth involved with doing something constructive for a year after they finish high school? Something like national service ... that would steer youth into constructive lives such as military service but with nonmilitary options.
Drugs are a complex issue that I hope you will look into and write another investigative series for the Journal.
DOROTHY AMSDEN Los Alamos
Access to drugs should be destroyed
Thank you for this series that (began Feb. 12). I read “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic” last year and was stunned at the devastation caused by the opioids prescribed here and followed up by Mexican suppliers when prescribed drugs become unavailable. It has become a scourge on our homeland. Chimayó figured prominently in that book.
It’s a dark and sad report, but these drugs will be a downfall to our way of life lest the access to these drugs is destroyed and the factors that lead to addictions are rectified . ... MARY ANN EDWARDS
Santa Fe
Time to shift to drugs as medical issue
The series “The Cartels: Next Door” is old news and could have been written seven years ago. Little has changed. The Mexican cartels continue to be a major distributor of illegal drugs in the United States. The series points out arrests of cartel bosses and successful drug busts. However, what has changed are cheaper and stronger drugs along with the increase of heroin users and drug-related deaths. The series simply confirms the failure of the “War on Drugs” that began during the Nixon presidency in 1971. Billions have been spent each year for aggressive law enforcement to negligible effect.
The series seemed to blame dealers on the drug epidemic when it is supply-and-demand economics. As long as the demand for drugs is present, drugs will be made available through cartels, gangs or any other form of distribution.
It is about time for a paradigm shift from addressing substance use as a law enforcement matter to dealing with it as medical/societal issue. Taxpayer money can be better spent on treatment programming, research to develop more effective treatment modalities, and research on pain control that does not involve the use of medications. Harm-reduction techniques can be employed such as needle exchange programs and supervised injection sites that would reduce fatalities and engage problem users in adopting a healthy lifestyle. STEVE EPSTEIN Albuquerque