A Valentine's Day Message of Hope, Peace and Love

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Happy Valentine's Day

Bonne Saint Valentin

Feliz Día de los Enamorados

Buon San Valentino

Alles Liebe zum Valentinstag!

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North America for Americans - Friends and Neighbors

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The United States, Mexico and Canada - 500 Years of Shared History

Nearly three and a half years ago I wrote an article calling for a North American for Americans that outlined a program to unify the United States, Canada and Mexico through a comprehensive treaty to share and protect each other in the areas of energy independence, human rights, economic collaboration, agriculture production and safety and justice for our citizens.

Since our discovery 520 years ago the three North neighbors have grown up and evolved in ways that will forever keep us tied together culturally, economically, politically and from a national security standpoint.

We have thousands of miles of common borders and millions of people have moved back and forth between these three nations. In spite of our differences, there is much that binds us together. Yet these closest and most consistent of allies have never embraced a policy that can serve the benefit of all three neighbors.

Our problems are common from economic stability to natural resource management, from national security to energy independence. If we shared resources there are numerous ways the three could benefit from the relationship.

Even our national priorities are similar. We all seek energy independence, security for our citizens, quality health care, better education, improved human rights, freedom to achieve success without financial or cultural discrimination, and the ability to pursue an American Dream.

We complement each other in ways we seldom appreciate. Canada has excess oil and we have excess natural gas. Mexico has oil but needs better health care, education and economic development. All three have abundant natural resources and the ability to share those resources and make all of us independent in a variety of ways.

Our problems are often ignored by politicians but obvious to compassionate citizens. Since I wrote the article nearly 45,000 innocent Mexican citizens have been brutally murdered in drug wars along the border with the USA. They were caught in the crossfire of criminal elements intent on controlling the huge illegal drug trade in the United States.

For some odd reason the number of Mexican deaths seems to have been ignored by the American media and politicians. So let us put it in perspective. Our total military deaths in Iraq, 1,887, and Afghanistan, 4,484, is 6,341 over the past decade. In less than half that time SEVEN TIMES as many Mexicans, 45,000, have been killed in a war for control of our southern border. Included are men, women and children, not soldiers.

We should be ashamed of such a travesty taking place under our very noses. Of course there is corruption in Mexico, just like on Wall Street and in Washington, DC. America is founded on the principle that crime does not pay and criminals should be hunted down and locked up. Why do we turn a deaf ear to the American crime that has settled just across the border to avoid the reach of our laws?

Immigration, or illegal immigration is another common problem between neighbors. If we helped Mexico develop an economic development program that provided fair wages and benefits to Mexican workers, there would be no need for them to cross the border illegally to seek a better life in America.

Much of the economic pressure on America comes from foreign dependence on oil and the price manipulation of crude oil and gas in world commodity markets. While we have reduced oil dependence to about 50%, largely because of the reduced use of gasoline in America due to the recession and economic instability, we still import 50% too much.

If congress and the president had the guts we could be energy independent already as the combined oil and natural gas resources of the US, Canada and Mexico are more than sufficient to meet all our energy needs for now and the future.

Obama blocked off shore drilling, has not supported natural gas development, and rejected the Keystone pipeline from Canada, three ill-advised moves that have undermined the hopes for US energy independence. It is time to get real. Our economy and our high standard of living, the envy of most nations, depends on abundant energy at reasonable prices. We have neither.

Our first economic concern should be energy independence from foreign control and manipulation. There must be an American strategy that includes our neighbors to the north and south, Canada and Mexico. Between the three (USA, Canada and Mexico) we have more than enough reserves of oil, natural gas and alternative energy capacity to meet our needs forever.

Between the three we have the technical skills, exploration capacity, financial resources and the spirit of freedom needed to create our own cartel to meet our future needs, to control inflation which is now driven by oil prices, to offset problems in one area (hurricanes) with increased production in another area (Canadian shale reserves), and to finally gain independence from foreign manipulation.

There should be no more Dubai's financed with the blood money from American consumers. In the future the horrendous transfer of wealth from the Americas to Arab and other nations including hostile energy producing nations, must stop, keep the massive wealth in America.

If the United States, Mexico and Canada decided our shared interests were far more important than our differences, that our heritages are bound together through generations, that our borders touch and that if the citizens of all three countries had good homes, good health and good jobs, there would be no need for illegal immigration, then we could all live in peace and harmony.

Well the money we wasted buying inflated oil could have accomplished just that and isn't it about time we used that money to do some good for the Americas? Stop pointing fingers and building walls and work together. Mexico and Canada have incredible oil and natural gas reserves like the United States. We all have a need and desire to help each other grow. And we sure don't need the rest of the world to interfere.

Years ago when we passed NAFTA our biggest mistake was not that it went too far, it didn't go far enough. Oh we moved jobs to Mexico and US manufacturers saved money, but at what cost? We didn't protect the workers down there like we protect them here. We didn't make sure the people of Mexico got a better standard of living, decent homes, food and housing and a better education for their children.

Maybe it is time we stepped back and did it right. Maybe we need an agreement based on a shared interest in creating energy independence for all three nations. One that assures that excess profits are invested in the people, in their standard of living and quality of life. Maybe we should stop glamorizing the excesses like the development of Dubai and start focusing on the real world which is the people living in our three countries in substandard conditions with inferior education and jobs in the wrong place.

Do our politicians acknowledge that gasoline prices have doubled since Obama was elected? Because of that our recession has been exasperated. How about the fact the American public knows what to do and have reduced the use of gas dramatically so they can afford to survive. We have seen the greatest decline in gas usage in history?

Do our politicians know while they spit out ideas like machine gun bullets and fail to take any action on anything, the people have said enough is enough and stopped driving so much, turned down the thermostats, got rid of the gas guzzlers, and reduced the amount of travel and entertainment?

Something is terribly wrong with the system. All the nuclear reactors in the world and all the alternative energy in the world will not overcome corruption in the marketplace, unfair business actions, malicious price manipulation of the futures market, and the evil intentions of oil speculators. Still the price of gasoline continues to rise.

Nuclear reactors, contrary to the vast experience of McCain, are still dangerous. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were not jokes nor movies, they were real. I was at TMI for the multi-billion dollar clean up of that "harmless" accident. If $5-7 billion is harmless what is the world coming to? As for Chernobyl, I met the kids that were victims of radiation poisoning, the kids that must remain in the hot zone for life because they can contaminate other people. Of course a full life for many of them was about 10-12 years.

Of the radiation that was released by Chernobyl, over 70% fell onto the population of Belarus resulting in 800,000 children in Belarus and 380,000 in the Ukraine being at a high risk of contracting cancer or leukemia.  It will be another 24,000 years before the land is safe and the children no longer suffer.

Since the disaster there has also been an increase of 800% in the incidence of cancers in children living near to the reactor plus there has been a dramatic increase in the rate of babies born with substantial physical disabilities. Babies born limbless, deformed and with severe brain damage.

Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline and other groups in Britain help deprived children living in heavily contaminated areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster (primarily Belarus and Ukraine) by bringing them to the UK for a month-long respite holiday where they benefit from, among other things, clean air, good nutrition, physical safety and an environment free of radioactive contamination. I met the kids in Scotland. Is was estimated the month long holiday extended the lives of the children up to a year.

There is an accident in the Ukraine, in Eastern Europe, and sheep die a thousand miles away in Scotland. Land from nuclear testing over the years is a dead zone for hundreds of years. Nuclear waste at our nuclear plants sit stored at the plants, vulnerable to terrorist attack, because congress cannot get a nuclear disposal facility built. When a nuclear plant wears out, and they do just like everything else, the plant must be decommissioned and that cost is now more than the cost of building the plant in the first place. Nuclear has a role but must be used with great caution.

On the other hand, there are known reserves of oil and gas in North America sufficient to meet the our needs for 300 more years. We are not running out of oil tomorrow. The price manipulation of oil has nothing to do with the supply and demand, the normal supply and demand. Off shore drilling, even the very limited Alaskan drilling, can only help us be more independent. But we need refinery capacity to make the various types of gas and oil we need if we get the crude locally.

Together the three nations should develop and implement a long term North American Energy Independence plan that makes all known and unknown reserves available to the producers including the Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific deep water reserves, the limited areas in Alaska that should be developed, and the many other known reserves in the countries.

As new territory is made available for drilling refining capacity must be expanded in the Americas to produce the products we need. There must be substantial incentives for alternative energy efforts but we must not be so foolish as to think alternative energy can meet much of our current and future energy needs.

Significant savings can be generated by energy conservation programs. For example, energy savings of 50% or more can be made in our older housing stock. Multiply that by a few hundred thousand homes and a real dent in energy demand can be realized.

A meaningful partnership is needed between the three bordering nations, the energy companies in those nations, the conservation and alternative fuel companies in those nations, and the building code enforcement authorities in those nations. Such a partnership will protect and create jobs, stop foreign trade deficits, stop the transfer of wealth to Arab nations, and stop the out of control oil and gas prices.

Beyond that an economic partnership can raise the living standard in Mexico, end illegal immigration to the USA, ensure long term economic development in Canada, and provide the citizens of all three countries with better education, food, housing and security. Such a partnership can also end the senseless killing of tens of thousands of innocent Mexicans caught in the crossfire of America's drug war.

Isn't it worth the effort to make this happen? Won't this prove to the world that America is not only our brother's keeper but partner as well. Don't you think our closest neighbors and long term partners who helped build America should share in the goodness and glory of America? Together we have a chance to change history.

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The Mystical and Mysterious Land of Mexico - Our Forgotten Friend and Embattled Neighbor

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As a journalist I have always been intrigued by the perceptions Americans have of our Southern neighbor the nation of Mexico. It always amazed me that so much of what Americans believed was influenced by the movies and news and so little by reality and the truth.

Though I was born and raised in Iowa I was fortunate to have relatives living by the Rio Grande River in Mission, Texas, just across the border from Mexico. My parents loved to take the family on trips and we spent many vacations down in the bottom of Texas where Mexicans always outnumbered the Americans.

Later when I went to college at the University of Arizona Tucson was less than an hour from Mexico and for those of us without a large allowance a trip across the border to Nogales or camping in Mexico on the Gulf of California was far less expensive. We even had the annual spring break ritual when tens of thousands of college students from Arizona to California schools would set out down the coast of Mexico and party until we ran out of money.

Even in those days we were warned of the dangers of banditos, the corrupt federales, and to beware of the water and food though the cheap tequila was always a much bigger threat. When you think about tens of thousands of rebellious teenagers invading the quiet villages of the Mexican coast I suspect they were warned about us as much as we were warned about them.

I even drove through Mexico from the border to Monterrey, the industrial city, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Acapulco and made it back safely. As students we drove with thousands of kids from Arizona down the Gulf of California to beach villages of Puerto Libertad, Guaymas and Mazatlan and seldom had a problem unless we caused the problems.

There were always dangers, about the same you might encounter in any metropolitan area in America if you got off the beaten path. But I was not a party animal and spent much of my time trying to learn about the Mexican people. I was fascinated by the rich and ancient history of the people and the hundreds of different Mexican Indian tribes I met along the way.

Back in Iowa most people were aware of Mexico only from the Walt Disney movie The Alamo, or the struggles for Independence by settlers from the Republic of Texas. Little was taught about the struggle of the people of Mexico against foreign invasions.

The Spanish invaded Mexico in 1519 and conquered an area from Mexico to South Carolina to San Francisco on the West Coast before they were through. Great Britain took part of Mexico in 1763 and part of Mexico was under French and part under Spanish rule in the time of Napoleon.

Through this period many European monarchs survived only because of the tons of gold they stole from the Mexican native Indians and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Mexican natives. It was the stolen wealth of Mexico that transformed Spain from a bankrupt nation to the most powerful kingdom on Earth at the time of the Spanish Armada. By 1821 the Mexicans declared independence from the Europeans but war broke out in the Texas territory which led to the fall of the Alamo in 1836 and Texas Independence the same year.

Four more military campaigns were fought between the Mexicans and Americans from 1846-48 before Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the fighting. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861 Great Britain, Spain and France all invaded Mexico in hopes of being in position to invade the USA if Lincoln lost the war for the Union. By 1863 France gained control of Mexico, Great Britain settled for Canada, and Spain was sent packing.

During the same time the first Mexican civil war took place and ended when American troops drove the French out of Mexico in 1867 and settled claims with Mexico. This was the first time our two nations helped each other and began a series of positive steps to be good neighbors. A second Mexican Revolution took place from 1910 to 1920 and there was American intervention until the outbreak of World War I. When World War II broke out Mexico joined the Americans in fighting the Germans and Japanese.

By 1995 America again came to the aid of the Mexicans when we saved them from a banking crisis that threatened to bankrupt the nation. Throughout the development of the United States Mexican migrant workers crossing the border were always a vital and welcome contribution to the development of our vegetable and fruit crops and agricultural production. As our industrial and manufacturing industries expanded illegal immigrants crossed the border to work.

And here we are today, again faced with a dire problem in which the Mexicans are fighting a brutal war against drug cartels to stop the illegal flow of drugs into America. This is really our war, not theirs as the cartels would not be in northern Mexico if not for the American drug trade.

Make no mistake, the brutal consequence of the war is that over 28,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug battles the past couple of years along the Mexican border leaving the peaceful towns and villages in a state of war and terror. Compare that to the 5,771 American military deaths throughout the entire Iraq and Afghanistan wars. That means FIVE times as many Mexicans have been killed defending our borders from drug cartels than our military deaths fighting terrorism halfway around the world.

Our political response has been to build a wall along the border to keep the bad guys away from us, to shield us from the carnage, and to ignore the horrors and massacre being inflicted on the Mexican people for our problems. What is taking place right under our noses is a massacre that should shame the most powerful nation on earth, a bloodbath being inflicted upon an innocent people who are just trying to help us out again.

Part two of this story will provide a detailed overview on how we can correct this tragedy and rebuild the relationship with the people of Mexico that reflects our common bond throughout our history as defenders against the Europeans and others who have threatened our freedom, and how we can be partners in seeking economic and energy independence in the world.
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Feliz cumpleaños México. ¡Viva México!

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Today Mexico celebrates their 200th anniversary and all Americans should celebrate with our Southern neighbor.  Please take the time to watch the videos pesented and enjoy the BBC photos of the celebrations that are taking place throughout the Mexican nation.

As someone who spent nearly every year visiting Mexico when growing up we need to be reminded that there are many common values and shared visions we have with Mexico. In times of troubles such as the drug wars currently having a tragic impact on that nation, remember it is an American problem as well and they are courageously fighting our battles for us.

¡Viva México!

 

Please watch these videos...

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The American War Machine - Is There a Way Out?

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This is the first time we have engaged in war, make that two wars, when we have already declared an end date for both wars. In Iraq, the forgotten war, this August President Obama has declared all American troops will be withdrawn from combat and security will rest solely with the Iraq forces. This is the same country that had an election four months ago and there is still no government seated.

How can a government that cannot even agree on a government ever hope to agree on a military policy when the three major factions in Iraq live in fear of each other? The Muslim Shi'ite and Sunni factions continue to undermine peace efforts with their brutal opposition to each other while the Muslims do agree that the Kurds in Northern Iraq remain a threat to stability. Three factions with decades of hatred and fear of each other are expected by Obama to bury the hatchet and make peace.



Perhaps we should review the experience in these wars. In Iraq, where we will give up a combat role in August, there have been over 4,000 American military deaths. The most any one month was 25 in the month of September 2008. During the war estimates on civilian deaths range from over 118,000 to over 1 million, not a good sign for any hope for peace between the competing forces. There are about 85,000 US troops in Iraq now and all other foreign troops in Iraq have been withdrawn.

In Afghanistan Obama has tripled the troop strength since being elected President and there are now over 100,000 in the country. He has pledged to start removing troops-in July 2011, a year from now. However, the deadliest month in terms of American military deaths was just this June 2010 when 60 Americans were killed. Afghanistan also is now the longest war in American history as it enters it's tenth year of combat.



Afghanistan has long been known as the graveyard of empires. The most powerful forces on earth including the Americans and Soviet Empire have all fought in Afghanistan where the Taliban have a long term strategy, just wait until the super powers tire of the combat and leave, then the Taliban can retake the countryside.

Even Pakistan, an emerging nuclear power and ally of America whose cooperation is critical to any success in the Afghan tribal regions, where Osama Bin Laden has been hiding for nearly a decade while waiting for the US to abandon the Afghan people yet again. Our president's declaration that we will begin to withdraw next year looms as a point of confusion for all Afghans and nations of the region in terms of the American commitment to help bring about permanent change.

So in light of these circumstances how can we pull out of both wars when the wars will most likely still be in progress? Or is the threat against Israel so strong that we must keep soldiers in the region for as long as there is a threat of war between the Israeli's and Muslims such as Iran? Perhaps that is the underlying reason why we are still fighting the twin wars.



Redeployment of overseas forces

As I said in an article last June 3:

We have over 2.5 million defense soldiers and civilian employees but only 1.1 million are in the USA. Since about 100,000 are in both Iraq and Afghanistan that leaves 1.2 million DOD employees all over the rest of the world. There are over 735 American military bases outside the USA including 38 large and medium size facilities. At the height of the British Empire in 1898 they had 36 bases spread out around the world and at the height of the Roman Empire in 117 AD they had 37 major bases. Of course they were both trying to conquer the world. We aren't supposed to be conquering the world so get rid of the excess bases.



Maybe the president should stop playing world policeman and close the majority of the overseas bases, leaving only those absolutely needed for national security, and set up a network of domestic bases along the border with Mexico. We already have the troops and are paying to keep them outside the country. Why not set up border bases in Arizona, New Mexico, a couple in Texas and maybe one more in Southern California?



Perhaps the presence of thousands of American troops might help stop the flow of illegal drugs and the human trafficking of illegal immigrants? It might even help Mexico reduce the massive death rate in the border communities, a fact that has cost over 22,000 lives in the past couple of years. This is one of the darkest elements of the border traffic and is a plague to Arizona and the other states.

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AMERICA'S COLLECTIVE NATIONAL TRIP

I never thought I would get the chance to do this article but there is no doubt that truth changes here in America and it is about time we take another look at the facts. The subject is marijuana use in America and the facts are this; over 100 million Americans have tried marijuana and 14.8 million use it monthly. Over 40% of all high school age kids have tried it.

Now for comparison purposes, there are three recreational drugs in America, alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs including marajuana.

Results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Office of Applied Studies (OAS)

Alcohol
Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2007 survey (51.1 percent). This translates to an estimated 126.8 million people, which was similar to the 2006 estimate of 125.3 million people (50.9 percent).





More than one fifth (23.3 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking (having five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the 30 days prior to the survey) in 2007. This translates to about 57.8 million people, similar to the estimate in 2006.

In 2007, heavy drinking was reported by 6.9 percent of the population aged 12 or older, or 17.0 million people. This rate was the same as the rate of heavy drinking in 2006. Heavy drinking is defined as binge drinking on at least 5 days in the past 30 days.

In 2007, among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate of binge drinking was 41.8 percent, and the rate of heavy drinking was 14.7 percent. These rates were similar to the rates in 2006.

The rate of current alcohol use among youths aged 12 to 17 was 15.9 percent in 2007. Youth binge and heavy drinking rates were 9.7 and 2.3 percent, respectively. These rates were essentially the same as the 2006 rates.

Tobacco
In 2007, an estimated 70.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) users of a tobacco product. This represents 28.6 percent of the population in that age range. In addition, 60.1 million persons (24.2 percent of the population) were current cigarette smokers; 13.3 million (5.4 percent) smoked cigars; 8.1 million (3.2 percent) used smokeless tobacco; and 2.0 million (0.8 percent) smoked tobacco in pipes.

The rate of current use of any tobacco product among persons aged 12 or older decreased from 29.6 percent in 2006 to 28.6 percent in 2007, but the rates of current use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, and pipe tobacco did not change significantly over that period.





Between 2002 and 2007, past month use of any tobacco product decreased from 30.4 to 28.6 percent, and past month cigarette use declined from 26.0 to 24.2 percent. Rates of past month use of cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco were similar in 2002 and 2007.

The rate of past month cigarette use among 12 to 17 year olds declined from 13.0 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2007. However, past month smokeless tobacco use was higher in 2007 (2.4 percent) than in 2002 (2.0 percent).

Illegal Drugs
In 2007, an estimated 19.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug during the month prior to the survey interview. This estimate represents 8.0 percent of the population aged 12 years old or older. Illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or prescription-type psychotherapeutics used nonmedically.

The rate of current illicit drug use among persons aged 12 or older in 2007 (8.0 percent) was similar to the rate in 2006 (8.3 percent).




Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug (14.4 million past month users). Among persons aged 12 or older, the rate of past month marijuana use in 2007 (5.8 percent) was similar to the rate in 2006 (6.0 percent).

In 2007, there were 2.1 million current cocaine users aged 12 or older, comprising 0.8 percent of the population. These estimates were similar to the number and rate in 2006 (2.4 million or 1.0 percent).

Hallucinogens were used in the past month by 1.0 million persons (0.4 percent) aged 12 or older in 2007, including 503,000 (0.2 percent) who had used Ecstasy. These estimates were similar to the corresponding estimates for 2006.

There were 6.9 million (2.8 percent) persons aged 12 or older who used prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs nonmedically in the past month. Of these, 5.2 million used pain relievers, the same as the number in 2006.

In 2007, there were an estimated 529,000 current users of methamphetamine aged 12 or older (0.2 percent of the population). These estimates were not significantly different from the estimates for 2006 (731,000 or 0.3 percent).

Among youths aged 12 to 17, the current illicit drug use rate remained stable from 2006 (9.8 percent) to 2007 (9.5 percent). Between 2002 and 2007, youth rates declined significantly for illicit drugs in general (from 11.6 to 9.5 percent) and for marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, LSD, Ecstasy, prescription-type drugs used nonmedically, pain relievers, stimulants, methamphetamine, and the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana.

Did you really check out the statistics? Alcohol was used by 126.8 million people 12 and over, tobacco was used by 70.9 million people 12 and over, and illegal drugs were used by 19.9 million Americans 12 and over. Of the latter 14.4 million used marijuana. Over time 100 million people have used marijuana.

The cost of illegal marijuana is staggering with a study by Jon Gettman, Ph.D. indicating that Americans spend nearly $113 billion annually on the drug. We also spend $10.7 billion in law enforcement to control the drug before the stimulus and new drug enforcements efforts by the Obama Administration. In other words our government loses nearly $31.1 billion in lost tax revenue to illegal marijuana and spends $10.7 billion trying to stop it, about $42 billion a year.

That is only the beginning of the cost however. The majority of the drug is grown in South America and Asia and smuggled into the states. Along the Mexican border over 6,000 Mexicans have been murdered in drug wars in the past year alone. Tens of thousands of people in other countries have been murdered over the years supplying the US with pot.

Yet the effects of marijuana are nearly insignificant compared to the physical and psychological damage inflicted on us from legal drugs sanctioned in America, alcohol and tobacco. If you threw in the abuses in the prescription drug use here you would find billions more in wasted money. We know all these legal drugs kill and cost us billions of dollars in medical costs.




So why not legalize marijuana? The benefits now substantially outweigh the risk. Marijuana is the only natural drug of the three sold in a natural state. Where it has been legalized in places like the Netherlands, the use by the public has dropped significantly below the rate in America. In fact in Columbia where it is grown the drug use is a fraction of the American use.

Not only would legalization eliminate the $10.7 billion in law enforcement costs, money that could be better used chasing the criminals in suits whose actions cost us trillions of dollars in losses, but the $31.1 billion in lost tax revenues could pay for a lot of deficits in states and a lot of new initiatives nationally.

Marijuana could be grown in America putting tens of thousands of acres into productive, tax generating use, land currently sitting idle and generating no property tax revenue. States that lost significant property taxes with the loss of tobacco crops would have a way to recover the losses. Thousands of lives in Mexico would be saved every year by eliminating the drug smuggling and drug wars involved in distribution.




When we tried to prohibit the sale of alcohol in America it backfired and we should have learned our lesson. We allow the sale of tobacco which has hundreds of chemicals added to it to make us addicted to it and the government still can't stop 126.8 million people from using it. The last three presidents of the United States have all admitted to using marijuana. There would be a great sigh of relief from all the countries trying to stop the flow of marijuana into America and we would be saving thousands of lives a year. How about we use common sense and finally legalize it and put billions of dollars to work for us?

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