Gypsy Jan
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Most Border Drug Arrests Involve U.S. Citizens, Report Says
From Fox News Latino
"Most of the people whom the U.S. Border Patrol finds with drugs are U.S. citizens, said a new report based on data of border arrests.
The report, which examined data from 2005 to 2011, show that in more than 40,000 drug seizures where police reports identify a suspect, U.S. citizens
were involved 80 percent of the time, said the report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
The report said that the number of U.S. citizens the Border Patrol catches carrying drugs is rising "with three times more caught in 2011 than in
2005."
The report cited several reasons for rising U.S. citizen roles in drug smuggling, among them an ailing U.S. economy, and medical marijuana laws in
this country. Another reason for the rising involvement is that drug traffickers are seeking them out as recruits, hoping that they will attract less
attention at the border, the report said.
"Being an American, being upper-middle-aged, that's who they target," the report quoted an unidentified U.S. citizen from Texas as saying. "For one
thing, it's a lot less suspicious for the Border Patrol."
Another U.S. citizen interviewed in jail said he was amazed by how easy it was to get through checkpoints with hundreds of pounds of marijuana.
"I was amazed at how ineffective it was," the report quoted the inmate, Todd Britton-Harr, 36, as saying about the U.S. immigration checkpoint. "What
(U.S. law enforcement is) doing is not putting a dent in what (drug traffickers are) doing."
Bitton-Harr, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, did his first smuggling in the spring of 2010, according to the report. He told the CIR researchers that
for each drug run, he smuggled loads of between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds of marijuana valued at about $100,000.
The report suggested that the Border Patrol tends to make an extra effort to note when those arrested in drug busts are Mexican nationals.
Border Patrol officials told CIR that those who smuggle large enough amounts to be considered traffickers are mainly from Mexico. CIR, however,
refuted that contention, saying that its review of the Border Patrol's records showed "a U.S. citizen is more often caught with large amounts of drugs
than a non-U.S. citizen."
"They can be recruited anywhere - at parks, bars or schools, through friends or relatives," the report said, attributing it to Howard Campbell, a
professor at the University of Texas in El Paso.
Campbell added that along the border, "drug trafficking is such a normal activity that people are so desensitized to it. It's part of the way of
life...and part of the way people think about the world."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
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The MORE Arrested ...................
The Better.
In a perfect world, those arrested would then face "Midnight Express" incarcerations.
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
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An enormous waste of time and $$$ this drug war is.
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Bajaboy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
An enormous waste of time and $$$ this drug war is. |
Yep, I really wish the cops would have left the meth house next door alone...instead they raided it and found 2 pounds of meth inside. Not only that
but they were making it, too.
Are you seriously suggesting we legalize meth?
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5901
Registered: 7-18-2011
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
An enormous waste of time and $$$ this drug war is. |
Yep, I really wish the cops would have left the meth house next door alone...instead they raided it and found 2 pounds of meth inside. Not only that
but they were making it, too.
Are you seriously suggesting we legalize meth? |
ABSOLUTELY NOT. I think we should fight this war smarter. Meth is on my "use government resources to investigate/destroy labs and track shipments"
list.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
An enormous waste of time and $$$ this drug war is. |
Yep, I really wish the cops would have left the meth house next door alone...instead they raided it and found 2 pounds of meth inside. Not only that
but they were making it, too.
Are you seriously suggesting we legalize meth? |
ABSOLUTELY NOT. I think we should fight this war smarter. Meth is on my "use government resources to investigate/destroy labs and track shipments"
list. |
Define smarter....but yes, meth, along with a number of other drugs, are destroying so many lives and communities.
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J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
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Mood: Easy Does It
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Start at the TOP STOP THE MONEY AND THE DRUGS WILL STOP 
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Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
An enormous waste of time and $$$ this drug war is. |
Yep, I really wish the cops would have left the meth house next door alone...instead they raided it and found 2 pounds of meth inside. Not only that
but they were making it, too.
Are you seriously suggesting we legalize meth? |
ABSOLUTELY NOT. I think we should fight this war smarter. Meth is on my "use government resources to investigate/destroy labs and track shipments"
list. |
Jon, follow the money.
Our government does not want to shut down drugs in the U.S. As Hillary noted in her statements in Mexico City that there is too much money in it to
legalize.
Too much money to launder, to pay for enforcers, judicial, private prisons...think of Oliver (god-bless ollie) North flying in 60%-70% of U.S.
consumption product for two years to government or private landing fields and law enforcement told to stay away from the delivery's.
Too much money made in U.S. to shut it down or legalize.
Here's Menken's latest take on it locally:
"Almost Factual News
Sinaloa drug cartel names U.S. Attorney Duffy its Woman of the Year
Medical marijuana opponent recognized for her work in ensuring the stability of the cartel's lucrative drug-import business.
Walter Mencken, February 28, 2013
SITTING IN WHAT I WOULD PROBABLY DESCRIBE AS A BEAUTIFUL AND EXOTIC LOCATION WERE IT NOT FOR THE BAG OVER MY HEAD, MEXICO - Last night at its annual
Awards Gala and Nosy Journalist Slaughter, the Sinaloa drug cartel awarded U.S. Attorney for Southern California Laura Duffy its coveted Woman of the
Year award.
"Ordinarily," said a cartel spokesman from somewhere behind me, "we give the award to the year's top-performing mule. Last year, it was Gloria Esteban
Sanchez, who managed to get 15 heroin-stuffed condoms over the border in a single trip. Of course, we had to give the award posthumously, since one of
the condoms ruptured in her lower intestine. But even so - the 14 condoms we recovered from her corpse easily shattered the old record of nine."
"And then there was the time we gave it to Catherine Zeta-Jones for her heroic performance as a cartel widow who takes up her husband's title in
Traffic. So fierce, so beautiful - like a deadly jungle cat. Never mind the Oscar - Catherine really earned the ring that year." (The spokesman was
referring to the golden ring emblazoned with a marijuana leaf given to each year's winner, pictured above.)
"But this year, in this time of historic change with regard to national attitudes toward our best-selling product, it was clear that we had to think
different, think bigger picture. We had to recognize someone whose tireless efforts have done so much to ensure that marijuana continues to be the
province of criminals like us, and not some kind of regulated, taxable medical product. We had to do something to let Laura Duffy know how grateful we
are for her ongoing and vigorous support."
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J.P.
Super Nomad
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YUP that says a lot. We are just peeing in the wind with the war on drugs.
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 7-18-2011
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Friends, all I'm saying is we are losing. Big appetite. Not going away.
How are we doing now?
Who has a winning idea? I'd like to hear it.
Start at the top and it'll stop? Wow. I'm open to admit when I'm wrong but I need some evidence.
How do you change human nature and desires?
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5901
Registered: 7-18-2011
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
An enormous waste of time and $$$ this drug war is. |
Yep, I really wish the cops would have left the meth house next door alone...instead they raided it and found 2 pounds of meth inside. Not only that
but they were making it, too.
Are you seriously suggesting we legalize meth? |
ABSOLUTELY NOT. I think we should fight this war smarter. Meth is on my "use government resources to investigate/destroy labs and track shipments"
list. |
Define smarter....but yes, meth, along with a number of other drugs, are destroying so many lives and communities. |
Smarter is stop wasting money on that weed stuff. I don't smoke it (marijuana) BTW. Focus on Meth, Crack, Heroin. Get people help. Find meth labs
and shut them down. Focus on the stuff that truly kills and damages people.
Having said that, this will be an issue until we can find the cure to "people wanting a piece of non ordinary reality".
If we think we can stop drugs from coming across the border we are fools.
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Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
Friends, all I'm saying is we are losing. Big appetite. Not going away.
How are we doing now?
Who has a winning idea? I'd like to hear it.
Start at the top and it'll stop? Wow. I'm open to admit when I'm wrong but I need some evidence.
How do you change human nature and desires? |
“The Top” is so well insulated that it is impossible to get through. The debacle of the senate hearings into the drugs for guns and absolute lack of
judiciary process has shown the futility of that method.
You bring up an excellent point of frustration though; I don’t think there is anything that can be done.
Steinbeck said something to the effect that if you wish to control a population or destroy a country give them everything they want. I so see that in
our consumptive society.
My last trip to BA I was fascinated by the ominous warnings and photos on every package of cigarettes. This has been talked about in the U.S. since
the days of Dr. Koop (correct?) our Surgeon General, yet never implemented because of the strength of a private interest group, the tobacco lobbyists,
who are not ever going to agree to that program. Or the oil lobbyists, or the gun lobbyists, or the…follow the money.
I brought back about a dozen different cigarette packages from Mexico with their dire warnings and graphic photo’s and gave them to a physician friend
of mine. She was impressed and commented on the country taking a progressive stance toward better health for their citizenry, and commented that if
she would show these to her smoking patients that it would make no difference to them, a one-shot showing, they need to be hammered with it and
Americans are not going to be hammered with a non-money issue as it would take money from the tobacco people and the health providers and the casket
makers,…
For some reason I think about our pharmaceuticals here in the U.S. also, the most expensive in the world. In TJ I can buy the same product by the same
U.S. manufacturer in the same packaging only in Spanish for 1/3 or ˝ the cost. Same stuff.
I’m afraid I am not a very good father figure to my two sons’. I smoked, drank, caroused, did drugs, have been in numerous lock-up’s for one reason or
another and they did not follow in my footsteps. I’m a failure. They are well educated, no smoke, no drugs, no drink, no jail-time,…That’s where it
has to start I think, with the children so that they do not follow us down our path to oblivion.
Thanks Jon that was a neat ‘think’ session for me.
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