America Invented Global Narcotraffickers
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, June 4, 2021
Make no mistake, I openly advocate for the wholesale legalization, taxation, and regulation of cannabis similarly as is done for beverage alcohol — though I have not always. And yet, as a licensed healthcare professional, I am under no misguided notion that there are genuine scientific considerations to be had.
Like many others, this is not a simple matter, per se — it is as complex as we human beings, with myriad matters which “Just Say ‘NO!’” has never, nor will ever, satisfy. Science and understanding is not advanced by the word “NO!”
Similarly as well, there is practically no disagreement that historic American jurisprudence on the matter not only had its genesis with deep roots in racism – which remains to this day – but has almost single-handedly created the global criminal cabal of narcotrafficking enterprises that have now become international terrorist organizations. It has now become a matter of national security, and not just for the United States. Global security is predicated upon addressing these concerns.
Jesus Malverde is a mythical figure, allegedly born as Jesús Juárez Mazo on December 24, 1870, just outside Culiacán, the state capital of Sinaloa, whom is said to be the “patron saint” of “narcotraficantes” (drug traffickers), and is known by his devotees as “el ángel de los pobres” (the angel of the poor).
According to legend, he was a lifetime resident of Sinaloa, an historically poverty-stricken area which is now recognized as the de facto headquarters location for a bloodthirsty global narcotrafficking cartel bearing the state’s name, which is infamous for their nefarious misdeeds, cold-blooded murders, and other heinous acts.
The legends, which vary widely, typically assert that Malverde was a “Robinhood” type character, who stole from the wealthy and distributed to the poor. In reality, narco-money has significantly revitalized Sinaloa, and to a large extent, reinforced ancient customs, including the veneration of folk saints as Jesus Malverde.
It is, in fact, fueling the civil sociopolitical upheaval in Central American nations such as Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, etc., which is led in large part by MS-13, Barrio 18, and other ruthlessly murderous criminal gangs, often in conjunction with corrupted political leaders in collaboration with similarly corrupted military and civil police cohorts. There’s little wonder that any peace-loving people would escape, seeking refuge, literally fleeing for their lives from such conditions.
It also warrants noting that Central American civil & political unrest affects our nation economically, and, that the Census Bureau reports that in 2020, the value of exported goods & textiles to South & Central America was $130.46B, while imports to USA were valued at $90.678B.
And even in our southern next-door-neighbor Mexico, narcotrafficking criminal cartels have embarked upon a murderous mission of openly and wantonly assassinating political candidates, elected officials, and civil police officers. We have long known that, like termites, those narcotrafficking pests have tunneled and burrowed subterranean networks across our shared border to access their easiest and preferred market.
But we can – and should – largely deflate their efforts by legalizing, taxing, and regulating cannabis. Canada has done so, as has Uruguay, and Mexico is on the verge of the same. Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, and other nations have significantly relaxed their nation’s cannabis prohibitions, either by decriminalizing possession, or establishing broad medical use programs. Yet in America, Prohibition history is literally repeating itself – this time with much greater intensity, and more lethal results.
Domestically, our nation’s federal, state, and local prisons and jails are more tightly packed than sardines in a tiny tin can, with equally disastrous results. Mass incarceration has become an unsustainable effort by virtue of the ongoing and escalating costs associated with its maintenance, diversion from our economic base, theft from and decimation of families, and more. There are much better uses to which public tax dollars could – and ought – be put.
Again, this matter – problems wrought by and through cannabis prohibition – is as complex as we human beings, and its effects are not simply confined to just one area, though its roots are established from one common, pernicious and persistent problem — racism.
Our problems are of our own making.
Our solutions to them will be, as well.
For additional information, see:
• Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations; Congressional Research Service, report R41576, Updated July 28, 2020, by June S. Beittel, Analyst in Latin American Affairs
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R41576
-and-
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf
• Mexico – Overseas Security Advisory Council, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Department of State
https://www.osac.gov/Country/Mexico/Detail
• The Violent Rise of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) – TRACKING CARTELS, INFOGRAPHIC SERIES, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland, College Park
https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/JointCOEProject_TrackingCartels02_CJNG_ResearchBrief_June2020.pdf
• Narcotrafficking Organizations in Mexico; Recent Central American History, A UVM Collaborative Student Research Project, University of Vermont, Burlington
https://blog.uvm.edu/sosten-centralamerica/2020/05/16/narcotrafficking-organizations-in-mexico/
• https://www.history.com/topics/crime/history-of-drug-trafficking
• Narco-Trafficking: What Is the Nexus With the War on Terror? The Whole of Government Approach – Applying Full Spectrum Capabilities in Dismantling Transnational Illicit Networks and Corruption Nodes in the Crime-Terror Continuum; by David M. Luna, Director for Anticrime Programs, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Miami, Florida October 8, 2008 — ARCHIVE, Information released online from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009
https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/110828.htm
Warm Southern Breeze 
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