Hispanics continue to bear the brunt of US drug policies – The Dallas Morning News

Last Monday, a drug cartel killed 13 policemen in the state of Michoacn. The following day, on the 15th, a shootout in Guerrero left 15 people dead, including a police officer. On the 17th, a violent gun battle erupted this time in Sinaloa between cartel gunmen and Mexican security forces, who briefly captured one of El Chapo Guzmans son, only to release him immediately to avoid more violence.

This latest wave of terror in Mexico reminded me of something President Donald Trump said last month at a rally in New Mexico that we Hispanics understand the drug crisis better than other people. At the whole center of this crisis is the drugs that are pouring in, and you understand that when other people dont understand it.

Hes right about Hispanics understanding the drug crisis better than others, but not for the reasons he claims.

What we Hispanics understand is that the war on drugs has failed on both sides of the border. What we understand is that Hispanic communities in the U.S. and in Latin America have borne the brunt of U.S. drug-related policies and practices.

What we understand is that the guns the cartels use to kill innocents and intimidate communities come from the U.S. What we understand is that drug addiction in the U.S. is putting billions of dollars into the pockets of cartels, giving them the means to kill and disappear anyone who gets in the way of their profits.

There are plenty of stories about the opioid crisis in the U.S., but few connect the large-scale drug addiction to the never-ending war on drugs fought in Latin America. The U.S. demand for drugs is the reason my hometown in Guerrero is surrounded by poppy fields. It is the reason a port in Michoacn is a key entry point for chemicals used by the cartel to produce synthetic drugs.

The war on drugs in Mexico has been supported by the United States including the Trump administration through the billions of dollars in funding, training of soldiers, and provisions of military aircraft, weapons and vehicles to the Mexican government, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It has turned Mexico into one of the most violent countries in the world. In 2018, there were 35,964 homicides in Mexico, a 12% increase from the year before.

Our lax American gun laws and inadequate gun control have placed weapons of war, such as AR-15s and AK-47s, in the hands of drug traffickers. Seventy percent of guns recovered from criminal activity in Mexico come from the U.S., according to a PBS News report, a country that has produced more than 150 million firearms in the last 33 years.

The drug war has also led to an increase in migration. This year alone, an estimated 508,000 people from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have fled their homes and headed north, according to the Congressional Research Service, many seeking refuge from drug-related violence. In August, migration from Mexico surpassed that of Central America. After the descent into further chaos from last weeks violence, there will be even more Mexican families fleeing their homes.

The drug crisis is something that we Hispanics understand because our communities on both sides of the border have suffered from it. In the U.S., most Hispanic families arent dealing with drug cartels and turf wars, but with different sorts of problems. The drug war has increased racial profiling, with Hispanics targeted disproportionately. We, along with blacks, are more likely to be convicted of drug use and possession than white people. Disparities in incarceration rates for drug offenses have led to 80% of people in federal prison and almost 60% of people in state prison being black or Latino, according to data gathered by the Drug Policy Alliance. The immigrant community is the most vulnerable, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, with drug violations, however minor, leading to 40,000 deportations a year.

Hispanic Americans, they understand, Trump said at the rally in New Mexico last month. They dont want the criminals coming over the border. They dont want people taking their jobs, they want to have that security, and they want the wall. They want the wall!

But he is wrong. In 2018, a survey from the Pew Hispanic Research Center showed that 75% of Latinos opposed the border wall. We dont want a wall, because we understand, even if he doesnt, that a border wall wont keep drugs from entering the country, since most of the drugs are brought in through U.S. ports of entry. In fiscal year 2019, 210 pounds of fentanyl, 244,377 pounds of marijuana, 11,362 pounds of cocaine, 661 pounds of heroin, and 13,441 pounds of meth were seized at the ports, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In 2016, Americans spent $150 billion on those last four drugs alone, according to RAND Corp.

No border wall will solve this problem. What will stop the influx of drugs is for our political leaders to help put an end, once and for all, to the demand that fuels the supply of drugs in the country. We dont need a wall. We need health care, social and educational policies that work.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, every day, more than 130 people in the United States die as a result of overdosing on opioids. The drug epidemic is a public health crisis that is costing the U.S. billions of dollars a year from loss of productivity, crime and health care costs, but Hispanic communities are paying a higher price on both sides of the border.

Trump said we Hispanics understand the drug crisis better than others, and we do, but for the War on Drugs to finally end, it is crucial that everyone on this side of the border understands it as well, starting with our president.

Reyna Grande is a Mexican author living in the U.S. Her most recent book is A Dream Called Home. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

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Hispanics continue to bear the brunt of US drug policies - The Dallas Morning News