GUATEMALA CITY - In the three years since President Alfonso Portillo assumed office, Guatemala has emerged as one of the principal corridors in the hemisphere for U.S.-destined drugs - a new battleground in the war on drugs where the traffickers are winning. Where once there was little organized criminal activity, intelligence sources say, Guatemala now has five key "mafias" that have joined forces with Colombian and Mexican cartels to move drugs - primarily cocaine - by land, air and sea. "Guatemala is one of the largest cocaine transit countries in the world," Paul Simons, acting assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said this week. "Perhaps as much as 200 tons of cocaine passes through Guatemala every year en route to the U.S. market." [continues 1054 words]
If the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) was doing a bang-up job of wiping out dangerous drugs, perhaps bringing someone in from the outside would be a bad idea. But MBN is not doing a bang-up job. In fact, drug use of all types is epidemic. Ask any police officer or assistant DA about crack and meth. They will tell you that buying drugs is as easy as getting into your car and driving slowly around certain known street corners. [continues 385 words]
In a recent TV documentary on youth problems, a counselor in youth problems said "Beer is the number one drug of youth." Some would not classify beer, when drunk in moderation, a beer or two a day with meals, as a drug, but as a food. They tell youth that children should not drink. Many youth turn this rule around as an equation and say drinking makes them adult, as in: "Look how adult I am. I am drinking beer." They find a way to get a six-pack and go out onto the highway and make fools and corpses of themselves. With apologies to the still-grieving un-named families, I would like to present one situation. [continues 571 words]
