The magnitude of the destabilizing threat of trafficking in illegal narcotics was vividly brought home with the recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on emerging global threats by Mr. William F. Wechler, deputy assistant secretary of defense in the United States and an internal Justice Department report leaked to Mexico’s El Universal this week.
Mr. Wechler said that when we discuss the transnational nature of this threat, this includes criminal activities that take place outside as well as within the United States. “The drug trade is inherently associated with creating instability” and is “often a localized funding source for insurgent and criminal groups.” He went on to say that the drug cartels had extensive operations within the United States. The Justice Department report indicated that Mexican drug-trafficking organizations have affiliates in at least 1,286 U.S. cities, with 143 reporting directly to cartel leaders.
The murder and mayhem associated with the operation of the drug cartels along both sides of the Mexican border with the United States has escalated to the level of a major conflict with the death tolls rivaling those of declared wars.
Besides the deaths caused by gang warfare and terrorist activities, there is the corrosive effect of bribery of public officials and ordinary citizens leading to a general breakdown of law and order and a distrust of government. This is a recipe for social chaos and an ultimate collapse of civil governance.
The authorities in the United States are concerned about their ability to combat the growing influence and reach of the drug cartels and the implications of an ultimate collapse of civil governance to the south of their border.
Closer to home we have a sense of the growing influence of narco-traffickers and their impact upon our societies. In some instances the illegal drug trade dwarfs the legitimate economic activities of some of our neighbors to the west and the corruption of the law enforcement agencies has reached alarming proportions.
Senior officers of the Barbados Police Force are concerned about the high level of crime in Barbados related to illegal narcotics trafficking and indeed the statistics are alarming. These statistics however only tell part of the story as they relate to specific acts of criminality. What is not recorded is the pervasive corrosiveness at all levels of the society through bribery, pandering to greed and intimidation. It is this cancer that left unchecked would destroy our society, ruin our economy and savage our quality of life.
There is probably no greater danger to our national security that we face than that of the illegal trade in narcotics. If it is such a grave threat to the security of the United States imagine the long term consequences of its impact on our society.
No single institution of government or civil society can address the scourge of the illegal trade in narcotics and the attendant destruction of people’s lives through addiction or by encouraging people to engage in criminal activities.
It is time that we engage in national consultations to specifically address the problems of narcotic addiction and trade and its threat to our national integrity and our economy. We have had a number of successes at blunting some of the effects of narcotic trafficking but I sense that this is but the tip of the iceberg.
What we need is an open discussion about the nature of narcotic addiction and its dangers as well as the appropriate and enforceable anti-narcotic legislation that can be enforced in such a way as to not bring the law into disrepute. At the same time we must develop an action programme that will gain the enthusiastic support and participation of the general population.
Now is the time for action before we reach the tipping point that so many of the Mexican towns seem to have crossed.
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