Jose Cruz

Drug Prohibition Era of 1971 - ?

Discourse Analysis:
In my discourse analysis, I chose to emphasize the ongoing problem of the war on drugs. I managed to compare the alcohol prohibition era from 1920-1933 to what is going on now. I stated that the alcohol prohibition era was handled accordingly by legalizing and taxing alcohol. During that time, mobsters were infamous as well as powerful. Their power came from selling illegal alcohol, mainly in large cities of the U.S. I specifically used that example in order to justify a reason to legalize drugs in this era; an era of "drug prohibition."
As I did my research, I found out that the war on drugs effects everybody. Whether your are the drug dealer, the consumer, the law and even the tax-payer living in an urban community. In a country where drugs are ubiquitous, it is almost impossible to not be effected as a citizen. Violence is key, for as violence is the ultimate effect that the war on drugs leads to. In the article "War on Drugs a Trillion Dollar Fail" by Branson, explains how the war on drugs costs more than a trillion dollars a year to combat it. It also states that it takes about $30,000 a year to house an inmate in the U.S for a drug charge.


The U.S Needs to Take Responsibility:
American politicians have apologized to Mexico for the violence that the war on drugs have created in that country. Bill Clinton recently apologized to Mexico for the ongoing violence in that country. “I wish you had no narco-trafficking, but it’s not really your fault,” “Basically, we did too good of a job of taking the transportation out of the air and water, and so we ran it over land." I apologize for that." (Clinton) During the Pablo Escobar reign in the 80's and early 90's, cocaine was very popular and was smuggled through the Caribbean into the U.S. The U.S. managed to close that "gate," which lead to the creation of drug lords in Mexico smuggling drugs through land.
 During an interview with Mitt Romney, he said that the U.S. needs to take responsibility for violence in Mexico, for as the drugs being handled and smuggled to the U.S. only fuel the use and overdose of Americans. It is a fact that Americans are the #1 drug users in the world, and that most illegal drugs are produced in Latin America. 

Drug Lords:
Drug lord after drug lord have been terrorizing and manipulating the country of Mexico for years now, and the operation of capturing them and killing them isn't stopping anything nor helping. Colombia had a similar experience back in the 80's and early 90's when cocaine was the most popular drug in the world. Pablo Escobar, an infamous Colombian drug lord is rumored to have made about $25 billion dollars from cocaine selling. Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, was part of Forbes magazine billionaires list with a net worth of $1 billion dollars. The violence is evident in Latin America, drug lords will keep terrorizing and getting wealthy as long as Americans and Europeans have the lust for illegal narcotics.

Latin America:
Today Mexico continues to produce a large source of cannabis as well as methamphetamine. Colombia as well as Bolivia and Peru, continue to produce cocaine in order to feed the billion dollar market of illegal drug trafficking and feed the largest consumers for illegal narcotics around the world, mainly Europeans and Americans. This black market only results to violence, as it is well known. Central America has been hit dramatically over the past few years with violence. As the South American drugs travel through, into the U.S., it is clear that violence will erupt in that particular area.

Solution:
There may not be a solution to the war on drugs, but there are alternatives in which can help reduce the violence. In the video "What You Should Know About the Drug Prohibition" professor Dills manifest that the war on drugs should be handled similar to the prohibition of 1920-1933. Which is to legalize and tax drugs, create laws that would provide legal smoking ages (Laws) and education campaigns that would educate the public about drugs, mainly the potential hazardous effects that drugs would create; in order to discourage or reduce the usage of drugs. Dills also makes a great argument saying that "prohibiting the production or consumption of a substance does not eliminate its use."
Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize marijuana. Perhaps the legalization of marijuana in Uruguay as well as in Washington, Colorado, D.C. and California, it will encourage the legalization and taxation of marijuana in the whole U.S. That way it will remove some of the tension and violence in Latin America and it will help reduce the money being spent in combating a part of the war on drugs.