CITIZEN AGENDA
The cat, rat, and the hammer 27 May
Lorenzo Meyer. 10
The "new policy" of President Obama in relation to drugs is not new.
seems to be that Mexico tried in 1930 but then fought Hammer Washington We could have been advanced policy against addiction, but the United States we stopped dead 70 years ago and today they are the ones who present themselves as innovative. A little anecdote illustrates what happened to Mexico with an imaginative attempt to administer the drug. In trying to rescue a cat that had cornered a rat, but someone threw a hammer so badly that instead of hitting the rat hit the cat, the result was that the cat never came back to try to catch rodents. However, in 1930, Mexico began developing its own innovative policy in relation to drug use, with a focus not entirely different from what the president proposed today Barack Obama but a hammer fired from Washington in 1939 was the innovator not to try again. The theme in his speech on May 20 before the U.S. Congress, President Felipe Calderón congratulated the U.S. for its recent initiative to reduce drug consumption in their country, the largest applicant of these illegal products. If Calderon had come to the story, he would have noted that Obama's approach had precedents in Mexico. Although, of course, that would not square with its current policy on the subject, which remains attached to which Washington has traditionally encouraged abroad: priority to combating drug production and distribution, which has led to violent alley
end where we are today. The project was frustrated Cardenismo
an environment conducive to imagine ways to improve the situation of the majority classes
. However,
power disparity between Mexico and the North
neighbor and a bilateral relationship and
affected by the 1938 oil expropriation, and had stretched the most of the variables that were shaping
led authorities to
health of our country
abandon their attempts to design its own policy against drug addicts
, one that, while
combat the production and transfer, put the emphasis on control and treatment of addiction
. The Mexican project was the brainchild of Dr.
Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, head of the Substance Abuse Division
scholar
effects of marijuana on the conduct of
addict. From his research concluded, contrary to the assertions
Harry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of
Narcotics (FBN)
the United States government, that this substance, by itself, not
turned its users into insane or
least led them directly to follow
violent criminal behavior. Salazar Viniegra not only attacked the prevailing
ideas on a plant that is considered evil
but he supposed
could also be useful in the textile industry,
but went further. To prevent drug addicts
"the" vicious "- actually becoming criminals in their eagerness
get money to buy narcotics
a market controlled by drug traffickers
market still small-it
same as doctor who signed prescriptions for several addicts
source their drugs from pharmacies, ie, in the legal market. His
idea was that the state should be organized to provide
small doses of drug to drug-route
Hospital substance abuse, for example
while they did participate
in a rehabilitation process (Luis Astorga, The Century of drugs, 1996, pp. 43-46, 50-55). Decriminalize
supervised individual consumption of substances such as marijuana, heroin and cocaine
might have opened the door
a kind of positive relationship between authorities and drug
and had ended the relationship between them and the
drug traffickers. This would not have solved the problem
same as not resolved the
of alcoholism or smoking, but have allowed
manage it less violent and more constructive than it finally was. Mexico, to complete its revolution-ary change,
became one of the countries most
problems presented
drug policy designed by the United States, whose foundations were
agreements
Shanghai and The Hague in 1909 and 1912, respectively, and whose goal was to eliminate
drug combat and prohibit the production and marketing of drugs
. Therefore, from 1930
FBN
press handled through diplomatic and public to Mexico,
until he managed, among other things, that in August 1939
Salazar Viniegra was fired as head of policy toward
drug addicts and replaced by someone
lines followed demands by
Washington (Encyclopedia of the New American Nation
, Narcotics Policy). Mexico has revived the idea of \u200b\u200bdecriminalizing
using minimum amounts of drugs, but that is no longer
central policy and has the audacity
of the original proposal that was Salazar Viniegra
state controller
consumption of user who also sought to rehabilitate. Obama's proposal in document of 127 pages the U.S. president
presented last day 11, entitled "National Strategy for Drug Control
, 2010" (National Drug Control Strategy
, 2010), states that each
8 000 days for the first time Americans consume any banned drug and
are in danger of joining the 20 million fellow citizens
already using such substances
and
which 7.6 million are hard drug addicts.
avoid this "first time" or cut that behavior in its early stages is the focus of a new political
considers drug use a biologically based illness
like
alcohol. In the introduction to the
Obama noted that while the government keeps its decision
combat drug production and drug trafficking
, especially in the southern border, has
ordered the agency responsible for
Drug Policy, ONDCP, to redesign its focus on the areas of prevention and treatment of addictions
those who
request. To this, the U.S. president called
balanced approach. According to the appendices,
total spending in Washington in its fight against drugs, and it will amount to 15 thousand 552 million dollars in 2011
, 36% will be devoted to
areas of prevention and treatment, which in reality
is only a modest increase of 0.6% compared
2009. However, this approach highlights
campaigns conviction and rehabilitation, as
goal is not only blood and fire to end the
structure
suppliers but also attack the heart of the market for illegal drugs
the demand side, reducing the illicit market
clientele. The modest proposal is also
quantitative terms, it seeks to reduce the universe of consumers
only
15% in next five years, especially among young people and users
systematic.
The central idea is to prevent addiction by continuing
traditional policies to combat the production and marketing of drugs
inside and outside the United States
but at the same time, creating or reinforcing the
information and early detection of substances
use leading to addiction, increasing the quality and quantity of
programs to treat addicts and -
individual treatment, family and community-
well as the development of substances which
medical programs may offer to replace
the drug itself. Conclusions Obviously, a conclusion has to do with costs
limited sovereignty.
In this case, U.S. pressure prevented Mexico
try a policy that would allow patients
drug addiction
survive without falling into a relationship of dependence upon crime organized.
Second, the
that Mexico would take Obama's approach to
rethink its own scheme
drug policy and reconsider the possibilities
prioritize decriminalization and treatment over the traditional approach
United States imposed the world in the past. Finally, Dr. Salazar Viniegra
had supported the approach of President Obama,
had considered a personal triumph over
the dogmatic and unimaginative Anslinger,
that after his long stay in front of the BNF,
left a legacy to the fight drug supply to the heart of the national strategy and international
Washington in
expense of nonviolent alternative:
erode demand via
State as an educator and controller.
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