The United States possesses a fascinating history pertaining to substance abuse. Even though there are many theories as to why substance abuse exists in the United States and why that substance abuse is taken to the extreme, there is one theory that greatly stands out above the rest. The United States is too protective and puritan in many ways. This is not a statement meaning to disrespect the United States; however, it is a relevant comment to explain why such a substantial rebellion from the youth in the 1960’s transpired with regard to substances and culture in general. Additionally, it is also why the 1920’s were called the “Roaring 20’s.” What these two generations wanted was the right to experiment with the forbidden. What the forbidden ended up entailing in many cases was drugs and alcohol. After Prohibition was lifted, the United States saw a new enemy emerge after the 1960’s and that was the drug substance that was much more powerful than alcohol in many respects. What these drugs ended up turning into was a forbidden substance called Cocaine that everyone wanted to try in the post 1960’s era. What people did not realize was the dangers associated with using this drug until it was too far engrained in American society in order to be eradicated completely. Cocaine is a poster child of a drug that America inherited as a result of the successful production in South America that it tried to combat and ultimately, failed to keep out of the hands of their citizens. This paper will explore how Cocaine was presented to the American public and why it took off so well with the younger generation. Additionally, this paper will explore how the media and law enforcement tried to combat the spread of this drug through using marketing and strategic methods; however, in spite of these efforts, Cocaine still became a major force within the United States.
When Cocaine unfortunately became popular in the United States, it is true that the government did not help the efforts to quash the trend by making it more forbidden. What is meant by this statement is that the government essentially made Cocaine more glamorous when Regan declared the alleged “War on Drugs,” (Drug Policy Alliance, 2016). What this “War on Drugs” did was to facilitate more crime and actually, more Cocaine getting into the United States, (Drug Policy Alliance, 2016). The reason that this transpired was as a result of the drug cartels that were primarily established in Colombia, (Drug Policy Alliance, 2016). As the United States became more restrictive, then the measures that the Colombian drug cartels used to get into the United States. Drug mules or creative smuggling methods were commonplace, (Drug Policy Alliance, 2016). Additionally, those who were dealers were essentially involved in a violent crime to get the Cocaine to sell and to keep it from being looted by second hand dealers, (Drug Policy Alliance, 2016). This cycle created vicious mechanism to get the Cocaine to the end user who wanted to purchase it in America. (Drug Policy Alliance, 2016).
What is important to understand about Cocaine’s spread in the United States was that its popularity and appeal sprouted from it being forbidden, (Narconon, 2016). The media by playing up the “Drug War” inspired curiosity about the substance that had previously been legal and uninteresting to the general public, (Narconon, 2016). This highlights an important factor about the American media It is flawed. Having seen a great deal of the world, I have seen a great deal of media outlets and the United States has one of the worst because the way that the United States media spins stories for objectives that end up backfiring and fostering ignorance of the American public on many key world issues. Additionally, the United States media ends up making something such as the “Drug War” fascinating and interesting to the public. And what happens as a result? The youth or adults want to try the Cocaine to see what the fuss is about. Or the entrepreneur wants to find a way to get in on the dealings with the cartels in order to generate a profit. While this sounds fictitious, it did in fact happen and it caused a great deal more crime pertaining to how Cocaine arrived at and was sold in the United States.
An important aspect of the United States’ involvement with the effort to eliminate Cocaine from being brought and sold in the United States was that they actually attempted to infiltrate Colombian soil in order to catch those who were in the cartels, (Frontline, 2016). The major issue that became an international debate was the United States’ power to propose to the Colombian government the prospective of extraditing the cartel members to the United States, (Frontline, 2016). This caused even further violence in Colombia because it made the government at odds with the cartels that controlled the organized crime within the country, (Frontline, 2016). This problem became so severe that there were many kidnappings and assassinations in and attempt to gain control and keep the United States out of Colombia’s affairs pertaining to extradition, (Frontline, 2016).
What ended up happening as a result is that the American media also portrayed this as another war-like propaganda, which naturally caused more curiosity to grow. This caused more legislation within America to pass and arguably, made the cartels more powerful because there were more restrictions and thus, more creative criminals. Had the United States perhaps legalized these drugs and taxed their proceeds, they would have possessed the wealth of the cartel members and cut off their power source, (Reisinger, W., 2006). This would have surely reduced the crime overall because how these corrupt organizations thrive is through legislation that fosters the wealth that funds their nerve center. Without this, the cartel ceases to exist.
When discussing the issue of Cocaine, the ironic aspect pertaining to this entire discussion is that the cartels still exist today; however, they have switched jurisdictions. One of the most prevalent areas for drug trafficking now is in the northern border towns of Mexico such as: Nogales, Cuidad Juarez, and Tijuana, (Frontline, 2016). These locales have now taken over due to Pablo Escobar’s influence in establishing the drug trafficking that transpired within Mexico for ages, (Frontline, 2016). It was through these rings of cartels that Pablo Escobar became even more powerful, (Frontline, 2016).
What is important to reflect upon regarding Cocaine within the United States is the impact that it both caused and is causing on United States citizens. For example, those United States citizens who were not educated properly in their schooling to stay away may have tried Cocaine and became addicted. Additionally, there are also United States citizens who know the dangers of trying Cocaine and still do so anyway out of curiosity that is a result of what the media has portrayed Cocaine as. That being said, there is absolutely less violence pertaining to the illegal trade and distribution of Cocaine than there was previously. This is important to celebrate in that clearly something that the United States or the Colombian government did really did work. However, the problem of Cocaine still exists within the United States.
Today, some of the major problems that the United States faces pertaining to Cocaine is the overcrowding of our prisons for drug charges in general. These prisoners are locked away for many years when they are arrested with either dealing or buying Cocaine. The American public pays to keep these individuals behind bars when arguably, many of them are not as dangerous as murders. The individuals that the United States wanted were the leaders of the Colombian drug cartels, not the common dealer what merely reported in their former hierarchy. All of these factors show that the United States does still have a long way to go on their policy and legislation of how exactly to deal with the problem that Cocaine causes in their society. However, it is important to note the obvious: violence has decreased, less youths are trying cocaine, and there is less “dirty money” tied up in money laundering schemes to facilitate the moving of drug money.
References
Drug Policy Alliance. (2016). A Brief History of the Drug War. Retrieved from: http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war/.
Frontline. (2016). The Colombian Cartels. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/business/inside/colombian.html/.
Narconon. (2016). History of Cocaine. Retrieved from: http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/cocaine-history.html/.
Reisinger, W. (2009). The Unintended Revolution: U.S. Anti-drug Policy and the Socialist Movement in Bolivia,” California Western International Law Journal (San Diego, CA: California Western School of Law, Spring 2009) Volume 39, Number 2, pp.261-262.
