Talking
about drug legalization in Puerto Rico is somewhat of a taboo topic, which some
individuals consider it as cynical, because they consider it as a measure that
it just can’t happen because the addict population, crime rate will increase
and the society will become ethically corrupt. However, over the past months,
the topic of drug legalization has been proposed by some politicians, such as
Rafael Bernabe, former candidate running for office for the PPT. He stated
during a debate: “We should take the addict out of the drug dealer, which means
that we have to give him what he needs, making him leave out of the “punto” and
will give us the opportunity to help him while choking the drug dealer. Such
drugs as marijuana should be legalized, this is because we could regulate it
such as tobacco (which is far worse as a substance). It is ridiculous sending
people to jail for smoking marihuana, while there are tobacco users and it’s
completely legal” (SUAGM, 2012).After Bernabe’s statement, the topic of drug
legalization has been discussed all over the island and some individuals are
considering it. The main reason for legalizing drugs is because it could reduce
the crime rate, giving a perspective of treating the addict like a patient
instead of a criminal, such as the case with alcohol and tobacco addicts. Other
conservative sectors such as former Governor Luis G. Fortuño and elected
governor Alejandor García Padilla have
condoned the proposal and have stated
that the only option is to keep on with the “war on drugs”. They have stated that they will continue with
the “Mano Dura (Hard Hand) policy” which means that they will keep treating the drug problem the same way. Is legalizing illegal drug substances a way
to reduce crime or even stabilize the violent increase of crimes? In my
opinion, the government should legalize certain drugs, such as marijuana and
provide the drugs free of charge in hospitals to eradicate drug dealers in the
streets, causing the government to focus on the addict, rather than the drug
dealer in order to decrease crime.
First
of all, to identify the main problem in Puerto Rico, we should look at the
statistics, not because to justify our solution, but instead to question if our
current system is working, if not, the problem is more powerful than the
current solution. In Puerto Rico, the rise of the crime rate in the past decade
has increased by a 65.76%, with 45.1% related with drugs, and 80% of homicides
are related with drug trafficking (El Nuevo Día, 2011). In 2011, homicides in
PR were 1,136 which means that if we calculate an approximation, 908
individuals were killed because of a drug related problem (El Nuevo Día, 2012).
The United Nations’ report titled “Drug World Report” stated that the drug
problem is related to countries in current development, also the use of drugs is
closely related to crimes committed, and the biggest issue is that illegal drug
substances are more easily acquired by minors rather than the legal substances.
The truth is that Puerto Rico is a territory in an economic depression which
relates to countries in development. With such numbers we can see that our
current system has failed on all of the aspects, such as reducing crime and taking
the drugs out of the reach of the youth and reducing the addicts in PR. Around
100,000 individuals are drug addicts in PR and 70% are users of opiates such as
heroin (El Nuevo Día, 2012). As responsible individuals, we have to look for
other options that could resolve our problems, even though they could be
extreme alternatives. To do this we have to look at similar problems in the
past and see how they were solved.
If
we look at the history, the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in 1919
lasted until 1933, but what is curious is that the movement against alcohol
prohibition occurred by the time of the great depression, where the drug lords
such as Al Capone exploited the illegal alcohol industry, earning around 60
million dollars a year, where corruption, homicides and bribes happened at a great
scale. This event relates to the situation of Puerto Rico because the most
affected class is the marginalized class and the working class. This problem is
happening all over again in Puerto Rico, where the labor force in Puerto Rico
is only a 39%, the crime increase is around
65.76%, and the security in Puerto Rico just gets lower every time, and
the drug problems are marihuana, cocaine and heroin, while in the 1920’s in the
USA was alcohol (Tyrell, 2009). How did the government solve the problem in the
1920’s and 30’s? It’s relatively shocking, but they legalized alcohol and took
profit out of the sales of alcohol. This practically caused the collapse of
white collar crime related to illegal substances at that time. However, times
has changed because alcohol is no longer a drug traffic problem, but we have
other types of drugs that are illegal and it seems that we’re repeating the
1920’s-30’s all over again. To solve such problems the United Nations
recommended: “First, develop an integrated approach; and second, focus on
prevention, treatment, alternative development and the promotion of fundamental
human rights (UNODC, 2012).
When
we talk about legalization, we’re talking about the approach of making a
substance accessible to anyone but with certain regulations appointed by the
government. This implies that if a substance is legalized, the product has to
be processed correctly, pay taxes and put restrictions to some individuals,
like age, health conditions, etc. The approach towards drugs should be one of
control, rather than prohibition. One of
the main points outlined in the report of The United Nations in the case for
the world drug problem was that : “Drug
control means restoring the balance and paying greater attention to the health
side by reducing overdoses, psychiatric problems and the incidence of
infections such as HIV and hepatitis. Prevention, treatment, rehabilitation,
reintegration and health all have to be recognized as key elements in the
global strategy to reduce drug demand”
(UNODC, 2012). We have to consider that we have to take a different approach
towards drugs, because the war on drugs is not working in any sense, rather
it’s expanding even more, the approach should be focusing on the patient and
not on the dealer, but to get rid of the dealer, we have to legalize and/or
medicate. As we explained before, the case of Puerto Rico, is evident that the
“War on Drugs” it’s not working. Our situation is that the 80% of homicides are
related to drug trafficking, we have around 100,000 drug addicts in the island.
Also the president of the alliance managers of the Ricky Martin Foundation, César
Rey said that the access to drugs is easier to drugs than alcohol for minors of
age, and sadly there are more places to sell illegal drugs (called “puntos”) than public schools. He also
stated that in the last report of the
Puerto Rico Police Department estimated that there are 1,600 “puntos” while having 1,423 public
schools in the island, that means that it’s easier to find a drug dealer in the
island than a public school (El Nuevo Día, 2012). For these reasons there has
to be a change in our drug policy. Back in the 1920’s and 30’s the problem was
alcohol in the USA, in 2012 is illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and
heroin, if the USA solved the problem of alcohol with legalization, Puerto Rico
should not be an exception to take such measures like legalization of illegal
substances.
If
we look from an aspect outside of our country, there have been countries that
have tolerated drugs, and their crime rate is extremely low such as the
Netherlands. The Netherlands has a homicide rate of 163 per year, and the
population is around 17 million (Elsevier, 2011). We’re talking about a country
that has almost 5 times our population and the homicide rate is almost ten
times lower than ours. Even though the
approach for legalizing drugs is not very widely accepted in other countries,
some scholars believe that if drugs are legalized, the consumption will
increase due to the ease of access, and therefore the impact on society could
be adverse (Bretteville-Jensen, 2006). It is
quite true that the consumption will increase because it’s more accesible to
anyone and they will not have any prosecution by the government, not only that
but that means that it could induce a complete change in our perspective as a
society. Same as alcohol, the drug dependent user could increase and at the start
of legalization, everyone will try to consume it. However, what’s different
from being illegal, is that the person that is interested in the product can
buy it only if the person meets with the requirements to have it, such as age.
If the person gets addicted to the substance, he would be completely treated as
a patient, like alcoholics or tobacco users. In some other perspectives, the legalization
of drugs implies that the implementation of legalization could lead to drop the
crime rate, smugling, and could affect positively the economic development of
the country because they take the product out of the subterrenean economy (Gunnlaugsson,
2010). As a result, if we have the power to
implement a new law related to this case, it should be inclusive in the aspect
on how to apply it efficiently in the government and not an exclusive approach
in the aspect of product and marketing. In simple words, if drugs are
legalized, they should not be advertised and the government has to provide
information on how harmful the drug could be such as today with tobacco and
alcohol, but also, the government will have the power to put taxes on the
product.
There are some examples of how such systems had worked for
the past decades. In the case for
tobacco in Puerto Rico, the substance is legal, but cigarrete advertisements on
television are not accepted, since it could inffluence children to be attracted
to them and try to consume them. What’s positive of this type of view is that
the substance is legal, taxed by the government, restricted to certain ages and
there is no illegal traficking of
tobacco which doesn’t bring any crime related problems. The focus of
legalization of illegal subtances is due to the exponential increase of crime
around the word. Even with all of the efforts of the government, in the United
States there’s a murder rate of 31,000 deaths from drug related causes in 2007,
and only
41.5% of all cocaine and 25% of all marijuana was intercepted globally in 2007 (Jenner, M. S., 2011). This means that the war on
drugs for almost six decades has not worked nor will it seem to improve in the
near future. We have to create a system in which the perspective of the user
that abuses f the substance should be treated as a medical condition rather
than as a criminal. There have been countries such as Portugal that has
decriminalized drugs and treated the user as a patient and in a period around
10 years, the HIV cases have dropped by 17% and it’s the least consuming
country of marijuana in the European Union (Greenwald, G. 2009).
A
curious aspect of drug trafficking is that the places where exportation of
these illegal substances occur are actually the places classified as “third world countries”, and
the main consumer countries are actually located in North America(44%) and
Europe (33%) (UNODC, 2012). Basically, the production of illegal substances
comes from outside our territory and their production and exportation is
relatively easier in comparison to the USA and PR because the governments in
which the substances are produced are inefficient on regulation and the
security is far less effective when it comes to comparison to our countries. If
legalization occurs in our country, the system of production will increase
exponentially inside our territory, not also that, but we can tax, regulate and
improve the quality of the product, which the user will be less affected with
the substance and children will not have access as easy as being illegal,
because there are no such regulations on the sale while it’s illegal.
There
are different types of drug policies around the world, but in my opinion, there
has to be specific models for specific places. In the case for Puerto Rico, around
70% of the drug users (around 70,000) are addicted to opiates, in most cases, heroin.
Heroin is a substance vastly used by
intravenous administration, which means that the user has to use biomedical
tools and could harm himself or contract diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis C or
any type of infection that could invade by the use of needles. That’s why I
think in the case of heroin, the best way to confront this problem is the model
used in Switzerland, which consist of medicating heroin in a purified and clean
environment, provided free of charge to the addict in hospitals. The point of
providing heroin free of charge is because heroin is a strong drug that if not
in a purified condition, is more harmful than it should be and could induce the
person to act in desperation, be it stealing, killing, etc. If the government
provides it free of charge, the person is not in need to find the money to pay
for the substance and the government could focus on his condition, rather than
taking him to jail and just releasing
him after a few months with no significant change. If we do that, the drug
addict will not have the need to buy the substance illegally and the drug
seller will have no profit, therefore no job, which eradicates any drug related
crime. The same happens with cocaine, a strong substance that should be
provided by the hospital because of its hyperactive properties and lack of
purification.
The
case for marijuana is vastly known for its pros and cons. Marijuana has some
properties such as cannabidiol, canabigerol and other substances which could
relieve pain, intraocular pressure, and reduce anxiety. These substances are
being used in some states such as California, Washington, New Jersey, and
fifteen other states that have regulated marijuana for medical purposes. When
it comes into problems with the conservative sector is for recreational use,
like we explained a few moments back, some individuals are concerned of how it
would change all of our sociologic system, but what comes into question is: “Is
it worth having so much crime just for a drug which could even have positive
effects?”. The studies by the United Nations established that the use of
marijuana is increasing and it will not seem to stop. Political reporters such
as Jay Fonseca are recommending the legalization as a tool to reduce crime and to
generate tax income to help the economy in Puerto Rico due to our
condition. We have to reanalyze and see if having illegal substances is
actually the best way to fight addiction. Let’s look at Portugal, Netherlands,
and some states of the USA and see if legalization is the correct choice.
On
August 6, 2012 people voted for the legalization of marihuana in the states of
Washington and Colorado (Ferner, 2012). Was this actually a wise choice? It’s
certainly not a taboo discussion anymore in those states, but when will it no
longer be a taboo in PR? Drug legalization
in Puerto Rico and the United States is needed, not only because it could
reduce crime, but it would also help the addict who’s in need. The perspective
of legalization is focused on helping individuals, rather than punishing them for
a condition that could be associated with the surroundings of their society,
family, etc. It’s been proven by our own eyes, that the crime rate in Puerto
Rico is increasing and we cannot fight it anymore with more policemen and more
weapons. Our approach should be that of taking the individual away from the
drug seller and putting them into rehabilitation, and giving them what is
really needed and not substances that don’t actually help at all (such as
methadone). In the case for methadone, there has been studies published by the
New England Journal of Medicine, and they have concluded, that heroin addiction
treatment has kept more addicts to the treatment than methadone, which is more
cost effective to the government and to the patient, due to the retention of
the patient in the treatment (Oviedo, 2009). Sadly, our political system has
made addicts into criminals, which is a type of discrimination to our neighbor
in need. Our politicians should stop thinking for conservative sectors that
discriminate on social status. We need to change our perspective of unkindness
and bring compassion, instead of hate, we should give love, instead of agony,
we should bring help; if we’re not willing to do so, we will only destroy
ourselves very slowly and live in fear with our brothers and sisters. Let us be
the ones that wants to unite instead of polarize our conditions and have a
focus of respect and harmony for a better society and country.
Hoy día nuestro enfoque es disfrutar de una forma autoflagelada o buscar una profesión mediante estudios, que no nos importa saber qué en específico aprendemos. Es increíble ver jóvenes de 18 y 25 con aspectos y condiciones de gente de 40 diciéndo que "la estoy pasando cabrón", cuando la realidad es que llegan a su casa a vomitar el alcohol, como si la felicidad y el futuro positivo llegara bajando del cielo o en una botella de Vodka. También es increíble ver personas que por solo tener un título académico se creen dueños y señores de la sociedad, olvidando que morirán de igual forma que un vagabundo. En este mundo hace falta una cosa, esa es (en mi opinión) humildad.
Siempre nos quejamos de porqué las cosas están malas; que si el trabajo, las relaciones amorosas, la familia, los estudios, etc. Pero la realidad es: "Qué estamos haciendo para resolverlo?". Queremos una maestría en ciencias sociales, pero no queremos ver la calidad de nuestro alrededor; queremos ser médicos, pero no podemos darle ni un plato de comida al drogadicto; gastamos $50 en una noche en bebidas, pero no damos $1 a la cruz roja o a un deambulante; queremos que cambie nuestro país, pero no estamos dispuestos a fiscalizar a nuestros líderes o incluso adentrarnos en la política. Cómo queremos crecer, si el mayor problema de todos somos nosotros mismos?
