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OPINION/LETTERS
Drug interdiction a failure
"Welcome to the Heartland - of Drug
Traffic" (Dec. 14 Nation/World) reinforces harmful stereotypes about Mexican
immigrants without shedding light on the complex problem of teen-age drug use. The
Mexican border has been increasingly militarized in recent years, while the drug problem
has deepened.
Building an impenetrable wall between Mexico and the United States is a
bad idea for many reasons. First, it is impossible. No U.S. drug enforcement
has been in the least bit effective in keeping out drugs on any frontier, and most of all
not on the Mexican border. Second, the long-standing border interchange continues to
benefit the people of the United States. Third, militarizing our border steals
resources that are badly needed elsewhere.
Drug use among American teens grows out of a climate of despair, as
ever fewer young people contemplate a happy future. Many young people have little
hope of ever having jobs that pay above poverty wages. Drug use thrives where there
is no hope.
Our long-range interest is in strength and stability in Mexico, but our
national policies have contributed to poverty and hopelessness there. Restructuring
of the Mexican economy done in large part to meet U.S. government demands, has ruptured
the social contract between the Mexican government and the Mexican people.
The vast majority of U.S. citizens have nothing to gain and much to
lose with the growing instability in Mexico. Increased drug traffic is part of the
fallout. Policies of our own government have exacerbated drug problems.
-- Deborah Fink,
222 S. Russell, Ames.
The Des Moines Register
Sunday, December 21, 1997, Page 7AA.
letters@news.dmreg.com
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