December 3, 2012         John W         John W's previous articles 

Of concern to all of us: the hard drug world

Most of us know of someone who has taken hard drugs, and many of us know of someone who has died from hard drugs

This is an issue of concern to all citizens of all countries.
It's an issue that should concern Church leaders.
It should be in the basket of urgent Church issues, together with poverty, unemployment, climate change etc. These are issues affecting all of the human family. These are issue the Church should be taking action about

This Wikipedia article may make a few unsupportable claims, but it is worth reading for a general background. Many other articles are available when one Googles "international drug cartels"

Six days each week I visit prisons. I see many hundreds of men permanently damaged - physically and psychologically - by drugs. I see many dozens of "mules" (from African and Columbia especially) and hundreds of "small fish", who have been caught selling drugs, many of them also drug users. I see not a few "big fish" who have been caught in possession of huge amounts of drugs....in two cases more than 500 kilos of cocaine!

Many of the damaged "men" are teenagers, aged 15-20. Many others are in their 20s. 

Many of the small fish are people who themselves or through others
make drugs available outside secondary schools and in internet bars.
Secondary students all over the world are a major target of the drug people

Most of the drugs are produced by poor people - in countries like Afghanistan and Columbia - where more money can be made from drugs than from ordinary food crops. This is an issue in itself: the links between poverty - injustice - bad government - corruption - growing drug crops

One of the countries where drugs have recently had a cancerous effect is Mexico. Communities which used to live in peace are now full of strife since the drug cartels infiltrated large areas of the nation.
The second half of this video about Mexico is a wake-up call to what can happen to any nation if it lowers its vigilance against hard drugs....and allows conditions in which the hard drug world thrives: corruption, poverty, injustice etc.
This NCR report from Mexico finishes with these challenging words from Benedictine Sr Anne Shepard:

I don't know where to go with this experience.  A start is to share it with you.  I promised the women in Torreon, both the sisters and the ones who came to the center, that I will contact the media about the need to get the stories out about the violence in Mexico.  Many sections of the country are dominated by thugs that are armed by us and who get their money from us.  Studies have projected of the multi-billion dollar drug industry that a large percentage of the profit stays up here in the States.
Do we as North Americans have any responsibility to these our neighbors?  Again, how do we expose the atrocities?

For "North Americans" we can read any nation in the world.

What can we do about all this?

As usual, for every issue, the first step is prayer....keep this issue...keep Mexico (a new president two days ago...may he be blessed!) in our prayers

With a usual second step: stay informed ...make the effort to follow this issue in the media....and help others do the same

...for the sake of our own children...and children right around the world