Death and Drugs

Today's Plano Star Courier, December 28, 2017, described in its front page article how a 17 year old boy from Plano West, Brett Adkins, was shot dead in Irving while selling marijuana [1].  That is one death.  Last year over 20,000 people died in Mexico from drug related violence.  This last statistic is from Mexico’s Record Violence Is a Crisis 20 Years in the Making by  MAX FISHER and AMANDA TAUB (New York Times, OCT. 28, 2017).  This New York Times article says this year, 2017, is on track to set a new record for drug related deaths in Mexico.

This article describes how Columbia drove their drug cartels out of their county, but they just moved to Mexico.  Now the ordinary people of Mexico are suffering from violent crime.  This article says, "Drug trafficking required resources and infrastructure that the new groups lacked, leading many to turn to kidnapping, theft and extortion. Predatory crimes spiked.  Ordinary Mexicans, once bystanders to the conflict, became its targets at a moment when the state had left them vulnerable."

This article, Mexico’s Record Violence Is a Crisis 20 Years in the Making , says that wide spread corruption and incompetence in the Mexican police, judges, mayors, and governors has crippled any effort to combat drug related violence.

I wonder if the marijuana that killed Brett Adkins came from Mexico?  I also wonder whether Americans quitting  illegal drugs from Mexico would save 20,000 Mexican lives per year.

I believe Americans using recreational drugs are killing Mexicans.  Certainly corruption and incompetence in the Mexican government leave the people of Mexico suffering and dying.  But if Americans quit using drugs, drug trafficking to America would stop and the drug cartels would be out of business.

Why has no politician from Mexico or the U.S.A. tried to shame Americans for killing Mexicans with their self-centered drug consumption?  Do they think Americans are shameless?  Americans need to be reminded that when they use marijuana, cocaine, or heroin that they are essentially murdering Mexicans.  I have been waiting for years for someone to speak up.  Why do I have to say it?  Why the silence?

Robert

1. Plano teen shot in drug deal gone wrong  by Kelsey Samuels
http://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/news/plano-teen-shot-in-drug-deal-gone-wrong/article_daebff44-ea5d-11e7-a8ff-87650b562ed2.html