American Teens Recruited by Mexican Drug Cartels

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America's Third War: American Teens Recruited by Mexican Drug Cartels

By Kris Guti

[OneLight]

First it was just street corner dealing, now being a mule. As it is written, 'For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil". Flash a few hundred or thousand in front of broke kids and they dream big.

[Burning_Ember]

First it was just street corner dealing, now being a mule. As it is written, 'For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil". Flash a few hundred or thousand in front of broke kids and they dream big.

This.

[other one]

I don't think the US general public has the stomach to deal with this problem. It will have to get pretty bad before "We the People" are going to do what it will take to stop this.

[Guest -RadicalMan-]

This is nothing new. During prohibition kids were used to "mule" illegal liquor. Since the early 70's kids have been used to "pedal" illegal drugs...as the college students were in the 60's. During the 70's on up to present both teens and young adults have been used to move drugs. The figures here only represent a small portion of what is actually being done. Texas is not the only state with the issue and El Paso is certainly not the only point of entry here.

Our government is overwhelmed by the problem and has no real working solutions. The solution many have offered is beginning to sound better and better. Pull our troops out of "missions" they can not effectively fight, bring them home and have them reassigned to the southern border. Bring about effective legislation with no possibility of probation...a solid prison term with no parole for American citizens participating. For illegal aliens to the US my suggestion is to send them to Afghanistan and Iraq an let them do the fighting there under the "watchful eye" of the respective governments!

[Guest TheChief]

"For illegal aliens to the US my suggestion is to send them to Afghanistan and Iraq an let them do the fighting there under the "watchful eye" of the respective governments!"

Sounds like a good path to citizenship to me...

[Guest]

This is an article written by John Stossel earlier this month. It's not necessarily my opinion, but it does address two major issues in our society today. Mr. Stossel is a Libertarian.

One key to getting past the race issue in America is to end the war on drugs. John McWhorter says it's the most important thing we could do.

Cato's Letter features a lecture by McWhorter in which he calls for an end to the war on drugs. (It's really a war on certain people.) McWhorter, the former Berkeley linguistics professor and now senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, specifically indicts the war on drugs for "destroying black America." McWhorter, by the way, is black.

The "main obstacle(s) to getting black America past the illusion that racism is still a defining factor in America" are, he says, "the strained relationship between young black men and police forces" and the "massive number of black men in prison."

And what accounts for this? Prohibition.

"Therefore, if the War on Drugs were terminated, the main factor keeping race-based resentment a core element in the American social fabric would no longer exist. America would be a better place for all."

McWhorter sees prohibition as the saboteur of black families. "It has become a norm for black children to grow up in single-parent homes, their fathers away in prison for long spells and barely knowing them. In poor and working-class black America, a man and a woman raising their children together is, of all things, an unusual sight. The War on Drugs plays a large part in this."

He also blames the black market created by prohibition for diverting young black men from the normal workforce. "Because the illegality of drugs keeps the prices high," he says, "there are high salaries to be made in selling them. This makes selling drugs a standing tempting alternative to seeking lower-paying legal employment."

This has devastating consequences. The attractive illegal livelihood relieves men of the need to develop skills that would provide stable legal incomes. To those who argue that there's a shortage of jobs for black men, he says that is refuted by the black immigrants who thrive in America. "It is often said that because immigrants have a unique initiative or 'pluck' in relocating to the United States in the first place, it is unfair to compare black Americans to them. However, the War on Drugs has made it impossible to see whether black Americans would exhibit such 'pluck' themselves if drug selling were not a tempting alternative."

One poisonous byproduct of prohibition and the black market, McWhorter says, is that going to prison is a now "badge of honor." "To black men involved in the drug trade, enduring prison time, regarded as an unjust punishment for merely selling people something they want (with some justification), is seen as a badge of strength: The ex-con is a hero rather than someone who went the wrong way." This attitude did not exist before drug prohibition.

Would cheaper and freely available drugs bring their own catastrophe? McWhorter says no.

"Fears of an addiction epidemic are unfounded. None such has occurred in Portugal, where the drug war has been significantly scaled back." How about damage to the culture?

"Our discomfort with the idea of heroin available at drugstores is similar to that of a Prohibitionist shuddering at the thought of bourbon available at the corner store. We'll get over it."

He enumerates the positive results from ending prohibition.

"No more gang wars over turf, no more kids shooting each other over sneakers. ... (P)eople who don't sell drugs for a living don't much need to kill each other over turf. ... (T)he men get jobs, as they did in the old days, even in the worst ghettos, because they have to."

To the majority who say that there are better and less risky ways to address the troubles of young men in black America, McWhorter replies:

"(T)he question we must ask is: What do you suggest? ... Community centers? Take a look at the track record on that. Or is it that we have to try a lot of things all at the same time? Well, what else have we been doing for 40 years, and where are we now?" Credit

[Guest -RadicalMan-]

My comments were not directed at any specific group of citizens...only toward the illegal drug traffic...which if they are participating in should be prosecuted in the same manner as any other citizen. My comments related to the solution for both citizens and illegals remains the same.

[Believer112]

I have a brother in law that lives in Juarez and he told me that the Mexican teens get paid $200 a week. Thats about four time the wage of an unskilled factory worker.

[wyguy]

American teenagers are being recruited by Mexican drug cartels to carry drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hey, be happy that a few lazy American teens actually have jobs.

Just kiddin'