About two weeks ago, Mexican authorities intercepted a record 134 tons of weed in Tijuana. They burned it - seen in the photo above. (You can read more about it here.)
Tuesday, statewide voting on Proposition 19 in California rejected legalization of marijuana-- but not by a large margin (54% voted against legalizing it).
I have friends who enjoy smoking, who draw inspiration ("thinking outside the box") from smoking, who view marijuana as no more harmful than cigarettes. It shows up on their camping trips, after parties, in the back yard.
I vividly remember posters on the walls of our elementary school and even a few anti-drug campaign cartoons that offered terrifying depictions of what pot would do to your brain, your life, your relationships, and your perceptions of the world around you. Horror, dude. Absolute horror. In contrast, what I see of marijuana among friends and neighbors isn't so scary. They smoke, they talk, they have normal-seeming lives. It is widely claimed that marijuana possession is unevenly prosecuted, with the brunt of arrests falling on young African American men. (Note: none of my recreational weed-smoking acquaintances who happen to be white have encountered law enforcement around this issue.) What is truly frightening, however, is the criminal web of money and violence that surround the drug. No, it's not scary in the way that heroine or cocaine are, but when I think about the industry, about hundreds of lives lost directly or indirectly in its fiery wake... it's sickening.
"Marijuana destroys slowly but thoroughly was the consensus," writes David Foster Wallace from a Narcotics Anonymous group in Infinite Jest.
I don't tout some kind of naive, drug-free pride (solid D.A.R.E. graduate that I am...), but neither do I want a detached anything goes attitude about something that is, when it comes down to it, destructive. Aside from medical and legal arguments against marijuana, I've begun to wonder whether people who smoke recreationally have considered the use of marijuana as a justice issue? It's not so absurd. People consider purchases based on animal rights (change meat/ dairy/ egg- buying habits) and human rights (watch out for sweatshops and exploited laborers). The drug trade is killing hundreds and hundreds of people, particularly along the border of the U.S. and Mexico. Why participate?
These aren't particularly well-formed thoughts here, but I was moved by the drama of that photo and its back story. I'm filled with sorrow when there's another drug- or gang-related death (and string of deaths) in places like San Diego, Tijuana, Juarez, etc. I'm tired of it being a low-key, joked-about issue. As with so many areas relating to Mexico, I'm frustrated by a lack of holistic, critical thinking. Where are my fellow liberal arts grads with economic and international relations know-how!? Let's talk about jobs and money and drugs and people and assumptions that cross the border every day, and let's stop pretending we're not all bound up in their causes and effects.
