U.S. Scourge Spreads South Of The Border

U.S. Scourge Spreads South Of The Border Essay, Research Paper U.S. Scourge Spreads South of The Border ____________________ A Written Final Project Presented to Professor Larry Herzog San Diego State University ____________________ MAS 355 The U.S. Mexico International Border ____________________ by Leo P. Dano Jr. December 02, 1996 In a recent newspaper article written in the San Diego Union Tribune called ?U.S. Scourge Spreads South.? A very disturbing fact was opening drug doors just south of our own community, which is why I chose to do an in depth study of the easiness of drug purchase in our southern neighbor. It’s not new news but a overwhelming growth in the usage of drugs, especially Rohypnol. “The Mexican border town called Tijuana across from San Diego,

California, once was a famous as a playground for drunken sailors and college students. Today, authorities on both sides of the border warn, it has turned into a gangland run by a growing number of ruthless cartels that sell drugs. It is no longer just marijuana (pot), but a growing problem with other types of drugs like Heroin, Crystal Methamphetamine, and Cocaine.” I recently visited the neighbor city of Tijuana and rode in a Tijuana taxi and was immediately met with a taxi driver named Jose, a Tijuana taxi driver in an open-necked, baby blue silk shirt, he sizes up the tourists trudging off the footbridge from the United States. ?Taxi, sir? You want pharmacy? I get you a good pharmacy,? he urges, stepping from a line of beckoning taxi drivers in big belts and straw cowboy

hats. ?Good prices! No prescriptions!? Do I look like I want drugs?! I didn’t even solicit the business. I almost felt weird because this is exactly what I was planning to do my paper on. Soon he is nosing his long yellow Oldsmobile through scruffy streets choked with pharmacies. I asked for Somas-a drug that gives the user a feeling of drunkenness without all the liquor, and illegal in the United States. In less than 45 minutes I was able to purchase the drug right over the counter. Of course, I didn’t actually purchase the drug, but kindly told the pharmacy that his price was too high. This just goes to show you how easy it was to get an illegal drug just 30 minutes from SDSU. And instead of being sold by gun-toting drug traffickers, it is available in much of Latin America

with a doctor’s prescription–often easily obtained. It appears to be crossing the U.S. border via booming pharmacies in cities such as Tijuana. The sudden popularity of the drug (Somas) has returned the spotlight to Mexico’s border drugstores, which for years have done a thriving business with Americans but have recently exploded in number with the Tijuana residents. ? Tijuana residents are nearly twice as likely to have used an illegal drug as Mexicans nationwide.? Drugs are not only a problem with our poverty ridden society here in U.S., but with a lot of our middle to upper class are now being the focus of drug usage. In a recent news broadcast, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, and other well to do communities are being hit with a heroin craze with our youths. I

couldn’t believe people would actually want to stick a needle in their arm for joy and pleasure. It is no longer the sniff, smoking of drugs but a whole new trend of slamming (using needles to induce a drug). Even the worldwide scare of Aids doesn’t keep the drug of heroin from society. Dirty needles also scar the arms of the heroin addict for life. ?At the municipal jail, inmates detained the night before for minor infractions such as loitering or fighting in public pull up their sleeves and bare arms covered with needle tracks.? Rohypnol is another nightmare for every parent in America which is another easily obtained drug in the pharmacies in Tijuana. This is the drug also known as the ?date-rape drug,? which has been televised many of times. But unlike heroin or cocaine,