Not just our southwestern states but the world is alarmed at
the escalating crisis on the US Mexican border. Mexican drug trafficking
organizations have been reported in 230 or more US cities, as far away as
Boston and Anchorage, much less Atlanta and of course in our border cities.
President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton have declared our
administration’s intention to help Mexico with money, manpower, and technology,
putting $400 million alone into sophisticated electronic to carry our
surveillance of those bringing drugs across on the border.
But not only US citizens consume the heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and
marijuana brought in by drug trafficking organizations. Drug abuse in Mexico is
soaring as well. Unfortunately, Mexico’s Social Development Minister Ernesto
Cordero Arroyo reported in Rome recently that the economic downturn “makes it
difficult to strengthen public finances of [our] states so they can combat
organized crime, not just in Mexico, but in general.” Mexico spent $6.4 billion
in 2007 and 2008 fighting drugs while the US spent a great deal more. Mexico
has sent thousands of army troops to substitute for local police in embattled
Ciudad Juarez, the city that lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso.
What about the people really funding the crisis? Both Obama and Clinton have
admitted that we must reduce drug demand inside the United States. Increasing
US drug rehabilitation capacity and the effectiveness of our US programs is one
factor. “But we should really beef up drug prevention and education, and do it now, both
here and in Mexico,” says Clark Carr, President of Narconon International, a
network of more than 130 rehab and prevention centers in 50 countries.
“We must look longer term,” says Carr. “Sometimes one must respond to force
with force, to drugs with interdiction, but prevention is the long term winner
and also cheaper.” For example, he cites that the Amarillo Texas Prevention
Impact Index recently reported that frequency of student marijuana use is down
11% and 79% of students say they harm themselves if they smoke pot. “That is
present and future drug demand reduction,” Carr says.
“Exactly so,” says Marisela Espinal, a drug education specialist and executive
of Narconon Mexico, a drug rehabilitation center based north of Mexico City.
“That is why we are here now in Juarez. We are getting an estimate of what we ourselves
can do to help these children and their teachers and parents.” Espinal reports
that Narconon Mexico and the international office in Los Angeles hope soon to
start delivering substantive drug education in Juarez and elsewhere along the
border. “Help the children. That’s the way to go.”
To find out more about this subject, visit the website for the international
offices of Narconon at:
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