Power vacuum fuels vicious drug war
 

A gang member sniffs in a cloud of cocaine dust as he cuts the drug with other substances.

By Karl Penhaul
CNN

 
MEDELLIN, Colombia (CNN) -- A young man with tattoos covering one arm rolls hundreds of marijuana joints in the half-light of a shack, perched on a hillside in a Medellin slum.
A 9mm pistol and a .38 revolver lie on his work bench. An old battery-powered radio blares out the salsa music classic, "Todo Tiene Su Final" or "Everything Comes To An End."
"I'm getting calluses on my tongue rolling all these spliffs," he laughs, telling me has enough marijuana for about 1,000 joints. He and his comrades plan to sell them for about 50 cents apiece.
A few doors away, two other gang members have raided their mother's kitchen for soup plates, drinking glasses and a blender.
They've just taken delivery of a kilogram (2.2 pound) brick of pure cocaine. Their job now is to cut it and package it in gram bags to peddle on street corners they control.
A female gang member shows up with two more bags, one containing powdered caffeine and the other lidocaine, a dental anesthetic used to dilute the pure cocaine.
They mix business with pleasure. Every now and again one of the gang members pulls off the top of the blender and breathes in a cloud of pulverized cocaine.
One of them coughs and keels over in the kitchen. Seconds later, he's back on his feet snorting cocaine off a spoon.
"Breathing that cocaine cloud mellows me out so I need a line to take me back up," he says.
Standing in the background, snorting lines of pure cocaine off a pocketknife is the gang leader, a man in his mid-20s. His cohorts call him "Chief."
He tells me they'll sell the heavily cut cocaine for $1.50 a gram. Higher purity powder goes for about $4 a gram. That's much cheaper than the $50 or $60 a heavily cut gram costs on most U.S. and European streets, according to estimates from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
I agree to conceal Chief's true identity to protect him from the police and rival gangs. As we chat, he dismantles a small caliber pistol.
"Around here the only law is the rules of the street," he explains. "The rules don't change; they always will be the rules, here or anywhere else."
A trusted source, who made the introduction for me, tells me Chief is a "total animal living on borrowed time," who has earned so many enemies he cannot risk stepping outside the few hundred square yards of his home turf.
"I'm only human, of course I get afraid," he says. "Afraid my life will end suddenly before I can do anything to get out of this war."
Since the time when undisputed cocaine king Pablo Escobar held sway here, the "northeastern commune" district has forged a fearsome reputation as a recruiting ground for drug cartel hit men and violent gang wars.
Medellin is once again in the grip of a vicious drug war. In January to September this year, city authorities say the murder rate has more than doubled with almost 2,000 killings.
Officials at the Medellin public prosecutor's offices say the vast majority of victims were shot, likely victims of rival drug gangs and cocaine capos.
That makes Medellin as dangerous as Ciudad Juarez, the frontier town dubbed Mexico's most dangerous city as a result of the ongoing cartel war there. Authorities in Juarez say killings are up from last year and are hitting record highs.
Colombian authorities estimate there are around 130 street gangs -- known as "combos" -- in Medellin, totaling some 6,000 members. Their only real loyalty is to the money that drug capos dole out to hire a gang's services.
Capos will supply them with drugs to retail on street corners and occasionally issue them weapons to take on rival gangs loyal to another crime boss.
Until earlier this year, Medellin's drug underworld was ruled by the so-called "Office of Envigado," named after a district of the Medellin metropolitan area. The "office" was a syndicate of the top cocaine bosses who agreed on the basic rules of doing business in the area. They shared smuggling routes and acted as the ultimate enforcers if cartel members reneged on deals or debts.
But the "office" has been ripped apart by infighting. Some senior members were arrested, some of those already in jail were extradited and others cut cooperation deals with U.S. authorities. That left the lower ranks fighting to fill the power vacuum.
It's an internal battle that is still raging.
"The ones fueling this war are the ones from the other side. They've f***ed up Medellin," Chief says. "They're from Medellin but they're traitors."
"They want to get control of all Medellin so they're shooting up one gang then another. They're getting paid to fight. These are wars between the big capos and we're paying the price out here on the streets," he adds.
Chief and his allies have stopped rivals intruding on their turf by strictly enforcing what they call "street rules." A day before our meeting, Chief says he helped bury one of his friends who had been gunned down when he ventured into the heart of Medellin with a girlfriend.
"I couldn't even bear to take a look inside the coffin," he began explaining. "We don't really know who did it. But it was that crack head girlfriend who persuaded him to go down there. So we killed the bitch.
"You see that's street rules. You have to answer for our friend and the only way you can do that is pay with your life," he says.
Chief shies away from questions about which cartel boss is bankrolling his gang. But clearly somebody has been supplying them with guns. They pose with a Czech-made .22-caliber rifle and an assortment of semi-automatic pistols -- as well as the wholesale supply of drugs they then sell on the streets.
My conversation with Chief is interrupted when another gang member arrives at the improvised drug den. He mumbles to his boss that a local man has been beating up his wife. Chief authorizes his underling to go and thrash the accused man with a pool cue.
"I don't think we need cameras for this one please," he requests.

As I get ready to leave I have one last question for Chief: I want to know if he ever had any dreams.

"I've tried to get out of this but it's never quite worked out," he says. "I'd like to sail away in a sailboat. Alone and far away."

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/world_news/int_ap_tijuana_attacks_kill_at_least_21_in_mexican_border_cities_20090916837_2870781

Attacks kill at least 21 in Mexican border cities
15 people were killed in three separate shootings
Updated: Wednesday, 16 Sep 2009, 8:38 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 16 Sep 2009, 8:38 AM EDT

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - Firefighters found six bodies inside a burning car in Tijuana, and 15 people were killed in three separate shootings in another northern Mexican border town besieged by drug violence, authorities said Tuesday.

Near Mexico's southern border, meanwhile, the bullet-ridden bodies of eight men suspected to be drug traffickers were found in a Guatemalan frontier town.

In Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, four bodies were found in a burning compact car's seats and two in the trunk, according to a police report Tuesday.

The victims' identities and the motive for the killings were not released, but the Mexican city is on a major route for drugs heading north and has recently seen a wave of violence between warring gangs. The bodies were found Monday night.

In Ciudad Juarez, gunmen killed five people at a car wash Tuesday evening, including two brothers who owned the business, said Vladimir Tuexi, a spokesman for the regional attorney general's office.

On Monday night, gunmen opened fire inside a Ciudad Juarez hardware store, killing the woman who owned the store and four other people, including a 19-year-old man, the office said. Minutes later, an armed gang killed five men riding in a pickup truck.

Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is Mexico's deadliest city with more than 1,300 killings so far this year. The city is in the midst of an intense turf battle between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels.

Officials held a ceremony for 1,200 Mexican army soldiers who were being withdrawn from Ciudad Juarez. The troops were part of a contingent sent there earlier this year to fight crime while the city trained more police officers.

The military has trained 1,027 police officers for the city, which now has a police force of 3,025 officers, about a third larger than its previous size.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 troops to drug hotspots since taking office in 2006. Drug violence has since surged, claiming more than 13,500 lives across Mexico.

The bodies in Guatemala were found in the San Marcos region, which has become a major transit point for cocaine shipments that often are left at sea to be picked up by local traffickers and smuggled into Mexico.

Police spokesman Juan Choguix said the eight men were suspected of being drug smugglers.

Guatemala has been increasingly plagued by drug violence mirroring Mexico's gang wars. Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has blamed the drug trade for many the 6,200 homicides that occurred in the Central American country last year.

In Mexico's northern state of Zacatecas, which has seen the increasing presence of the Gulf Cartel in recent years, a convoy of gunmen opened fire on two government vehicles that were heading to an event to pick up state Gov. Amalia Garcia, her office said in a statement.

The governor was not in the vehicles, and it was not clear if she was the target. The government blamed organized crime for the attack.

Zacatecas is a largely rural state that has seen a rise in cartel activity. On May 16, 53 inmates escaped from a prison with the alleged complicity of guards. The Zetas, a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf cartel, supposedly participated in that jail break.

In the northern city of Hermosillo, the federal police announced the capture of Ignacio Paez, accused of controlling a drug trafficking corridor in Sonora state and charging migrant smugglers for traveling through the area.

you know what's also going to stop the violence? 
Stop doing drugs

LOL true that, and even if they legalize it these South American countries will have problems.  Goodbye 3,000% profit margins.  It is only worth that much because it is illegal.  When it is legal these people/ countries that allow it are no longer needed.  Anyone can grow a Coco or Weed plant.

you know what's also going to stop the violence? 
Stop doing drugs
[image]

-matt479

Are you going to force people to stop doing drugs yourself? Because that would neccessitate violence.Or would you rather hire street thugs (police officers) so you can take away people's right to do what they want with their own bodies? Doesn't that cause violence?

People have been doing drugs for thousands of years, you're pretty delusional if you think you are going to stop it.

In fact, many children these days are taking dangerous pharmaceuticals because their school teachers don't like their attitude. How you can possibly rationalize sending one group of people to jail who are using natural substances while practically forcing another group of innocent children into taking chemical drugs on a daily basis is beyond me.

LOL true that, and even if they legalize it these South American countries will have problems.  Goodbye 3,000% profit margins.  It is only worth that much because it is illegal.  When it is legal these people/ countries that allow it are no longer needed.  Anyone can grow a Coco or Weed plant.

-brye

Those countries will be much better off when we legalize because right now those 3,000% profit margins are going towards paramilitary operations in order to gain more control over their land and make more money. That money you believe is helping them is not going towards the best interest of the citizens of those countries.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/217942

Welcome to Potopia

A nine-block section of downtown Oakland, Calif., has become a modern marijuana mecca—and a model for what a legalized-drug America could look like. Why the stars are aligning for the pro-weed movement.

Pot Propaganda

A look at decades of pro- and anti-marijuana media

On the corner of Broadway and 17th Street in downtown Oakland, nudged between a Chinese restaurant and a hat shop, Oaksterdam University greets passersby with a life-size cutout of Barack Obama and the sweet smell of fresh marijuana drifting from a back room. Inside, dutiful students flip through thick plastic binders of the day's lessons, which, on a recent Saturday began with "Pot Politics 101," taught by a ponytailed legal consultant who has authored a number of books on hemp. The class breaks for lunch around noon and resumes an hour later, with classes on "budtending," horticulture, and cooking, which includes a recipe for "a beautiful pot pesto." There are 50 students in this class, the majority of them Californians, but some have come all the way from Kansas. In between lectures, the university's founder, Richard Lee, 47, rolls in and out on his wheelchair greeting students, looking the part of a pot-school dean in Converse sneakers, aviator glasses, and a green "Oaksterdam" T shirt.

Locals refer to the nine-block area surrounding the university as Oaksterdam—a hybrid of "Oakland" and the drug-friendly "Amsterdam," where marijuana has been effectively legal since 1976. Nestled among what was once a rash of vacant storefronts, Lee has created a kind of urban pot utopia, where everything moves just a little bit more slowly than the outside world. Among the businesses he owns are the Blue Sky Coffeeshop, a coffeehouse and pot dispensary where getting an actual cup of Joe takes 20 minutes but picking up a sack of Purple Kush wrapped neatly in a brown lunch bag takes about five. There's Lee's Bulldog Café, a student lounge with a not-so-secret back room where the haze-induced sounds of "Dark Side of the Moon" seep through thick smoke and a glass-blowing shop where bongs are the art of choice. Around the corner is a taco stand (Lee doesn't own this one) that has benefitted mightily from the university's hungry students.

An education at Oaksterdam means learning how to grow, sell, market, and consume weed—all of which has been legal in California, for medicinal use only, since 1996. For the price of a half ounce of pot and a couple of batches of brownies (about $250), pot lovers can enroll in a variety of weekend cannabis seminars all focused on medicinal use. But "medicinal" is something of an open joke in the state, where anyone over age 18 with a doctor's note—easy to get for ailments like anxiety or cramps, if you're willing to pay—can obtain an ID card allowing access to any of the state's hundreds of dispensaries, or pot shops. ("You can basically get a doctor's recommendation for anything," said one dispensary worker.) Not all of those dispensaries are legally recognized, however: there's a growing discrepancy over how California's laws mesh (or don't mesh) with local and federal regulations. But Oakland is unique in that it has four licensed and regulated dispensaries, each taxed directly by the city government. This past summer, Oakland voters became the first in the nation to enact a special cannabis excise tax—$18 for every $1,000 grossed—that the city believes will generate up to $1 million in the first year. Approved by 80 percent of voters, and unopposed by any organization, including law enforcement, the tax was pushed by the dispensary owners themselves, who hope the model will prove to the rest of California that a regulated marijuana industry can be both profitable and responsible. "The reality is we're creating jobs, improving the city, filling empty store spaces, and when people come down here to Oakland they can see that," says Lee, who smokes both recreationally and for his health, to ease muscle spasms caused by a spinal chord injury.
The arguments against this kind of operation are easy to tick off: that it glamorizes marijuana, promotes a gateway drug, leads to abuse. Compared with more-serious drugs like heroin, cocaine, or even alcohol, studies have shown the health effects of marijuana are fairly mild. But there are still risks to its

consumption: heavy pot users are more likely to be in car accidents; there have been some reports of it causing problems in respiration and fetal development. And, as the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow, put it recently, there are a number of medical professionals, and many parents, who worry that the drug's increased potency over the years has heightened the risk of addiction. "It's certainly true that this is not your grandfather's pot," says Mark Kleiman, a drug-policy expert at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Nevertheless, like much of the country, Oakland is suffering economically. The city faced an $83 million budget deficit this year, and California, of course, is billions in the red. So from a public-coffers perspective, if ever there were a time to rethink pot policy, that time is now. Already in Sacramento, there is a legalization measure before the state assembly that the author claims could generate $1.3 billion in tax revenue. And while analysts say it has little hope of passing (it faces strong opposition from law enforcement), the figures prompted even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger—who's vetoed every marijuana-related bill to come across his desk—to proclaim, "It's time for a debate." On a federal level, marijuana is still illegal—it was outlawed, over the objections of the American Medical Association, in 1937. But in February, Attorney General Eric Holder stunned critics when he announced that the feds would cease raiding medical-marijuana dispensaries that are authorized under state law. "People are no longer outraged by the idea of legalization," wrote former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown in a recent op-ed. "And truth be told, there is just too much money to be made both by the people who grow marijuana and the cities and counties that would be able to tax it."

Presently, 13 states allow medical marijuana, with similar legalization campaigns underway in more than a dozen others. And a number of cities, such as Oakland and Seattle, have passed measures making prosecution of adult pot use the lowest law-enforcement priority. Now Lee, along with an army of volunteers, has begun collecting signatures for a statewide legalization measure (for Californians 21 and over) that he plans to place on the November 2010 ballot. Backed by former state senate president Don Perata, he's already collected a fourth of the needed 434,000 signatures, and pledged to spend $1 million of his own funds to support the effort.

In California, where voters rule, getting an amendment on the ballot doesn't take much more than a fat wallet, but the amount of attention Lee's campaign has received has drawn attention to just how far American attitudes have changed over the past decade. In April, an ABC/Washington Post survey showed that 46 percent of Americans support legalization measures, up from 22 percent in 1997. And in California, a recent Field Poll showed that 56 percent are already on board to legalize and tax the drug. "This is a new world," says Robert MacCoun, a professor of law and public policy at UC Berkeley and the coauthor of Drug War Heresies.  "If you'd have asked me four years ago whether we'd be having this debate today, I can't say I would have predicted it."

The fact that we now are debating it—at least in some parts of the country—is the result of a number of forces that, as MacCoun puts it, have created the perfect pot storm: the failure of the War on Drugs, the growing death toll of murderous drug cartels, pop culture, the economy, and a generation of voters that have simply grown up around the stuff. Today there are pot television shows and frequent references to the drug in film, music, and books. And everyone from the president to the most successful athlete in modern history has talked about smoking it at one point or another. "Whether it's the economy or Obama or Michael Phelps, I think all of these things have really worked to galvanize the public," says Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the coauthor of a new book, Marijuana Is Safer; So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?"At the very least, it's started a national conversation."

That conversation, in some sense, has always existed. In 1972—a year after President Nixon declared his "War on Drugs"—the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse urged Congress to decriminalize possession of marijuana for personal use. That never happened, in part because marijuana regulation has always been more about politics than actual science, say advocates. But these days, the masses, at least in California, seem to be heading toward, shall we say, greener pastures. "This is sort of the trendy thing to do right now, but I also think there's an expectation that the time has come to simply acknowledge the reality," says Armentano. "Hundreds of thousands of Californians use marijuana, and we should regulate this commodity like we do others." It's a fight that's heating up. And the pro-pot crowd in Oakland is ready to light the way.
With Jennifer Molina
© 2009

Well how these countries react to what America does is yet to be seen.  I am for the legalization of certain drugs.  I don't want any of my stoner buddies going to jail.  Humans are weak creatures, they get addicted to drugs and at that point it does not matter if it is legal or not.  They will lie, cheat, steal and that is just to the people they care about.  I have experimented my share and have had a good times.  I have also seen friends of mine throw away there lives (not from jail time, from over use).  I have seen parents bankrupt themselves trying to get their daughter through heroin rehab.  Only to watch her start using again.  So it hurts more then the user.  Or my other buddy who killed an old lady being all fucked up behind the wheel.  He is still in jail and his daughter was too young to remeber him and does not know what he looks like.  She's 5.

I am just glad I was able to learn from other peoples mistakes instead of them learning from mine.  But I guess that is called Darwinism. I am not holy'r then now I drink like a fish sometimes (way less often then college) and I'm quiting smoking right now.  Those are two very bad drugs that are legal.........

In parts of England they are giving heroin to heroin addicts. For free. A safe, steady supply, 97% pure, better than anything sold on the street.

It is reducing heroin use by 75% and reducing heroin related crimes by 66% in these areas.

It costs 3 times as much to keep a person in jail than to give them these treatments in England. If heroin were legalized, it would cost almost NOTHING for heroin.. in fact addicts could buy it themselves with pocket change instead of having to rob people. If we took away minimum wage laws, then more businesses and individuals would be willing to hire people who are not very productive and don't give them back minimum wage productivity in return. So if we took away minimum wage laws there would be jobs that would pay them enough to support their addiction until they decided to quit.

99% of people surveyed said that they would not use heroin if it were legal. That means we are only protecting 1% of society with these laws, to the detriment of everyone.

There is no reason for heroin to be illegal for the 1% who choose to do it when it clearly causes so many more problems than it solves.

I am not advocating drug use, I am advocating individual liberty as a solution to our social problems which are caused by government intervention.

 

Wow... great comments at the bottom... http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/20/govt%E2%80%99s-latest-action-on-medical-marijuana-first-step-in-legalizing-pot/

[media]

In parts of England they are giving heroin to heroin addicts. For free. A safe, steady supply, 97% pure, better than anything sold on the street.
It is reducing heroin use by 75% and reducing heroin related crimes by 66% in these areas.
It costs 3 times as much to keep a person in jail than to give them these treatments in England. If heroin were legalized, it would cost almost NOTHING for heroin.. in fact addicts could buy it themselves with pocket change instead of having to rob people. If we took away minimum wage laws, then more businesses and individuals would be willing to hire people who are not very productive and don't give them back minimum wage productivity in return. So if we took away minimum wage laws there would be jobs that would pay them enough to support their addiction until they decided to quit.
99% of people surveyed said that they would not use heroin if it were legal. That means we are only protecting 1% of society with these laws, to the detriment of everyone.
There is no reason for heroin to be illegal for the 1% who choose to do it when it clearly causes so many more problems than it solves.
I am not advocating drug use, I am advocating individual liberty as a solution to our social problems which are caused by government intervention.
 

-surfbeachsighting

How is England giving heroin to heroin addicts not government intervention?  But if it is working I am all for it.  I think we are arguing parallel points here.  I am for the legalization of drugs if that is the result that fixes the most problems. I just dislike most drugs and what is does to people recreational or medically. 

I also agree with individual liberty, plus as I have said before........the more people out in society, cracked up, coked up and fucked up - the easier it is for me to get a job or a promotion.  Took it up party peeps!!! lol

Did you mean "toke" you fvking square? Damn you are soooo unhip.

Did you mean "toke" you fvking square? Damn you are soooo unhip. [image]

-mofo

LOL Did you mean "fucking"???  Who's square now!!!

Dude... I was being cool and replacing the u with a v, then dropping the c.
It's what all the cool kids do nowadays.

You are a square man.

So uncool... sigh... what-ever!

How is England giving heroin to heroin addicts not government intervention?  But if it is working I am all for it.

-brye

You're right, the government shouldn't be giving away heroin, but the reason why addicts in England cannot afford the heroin themselves is because it is illegal and that drives up the cost significantly. This means the addicts have to commit crimes to support their habit, so instead the government has created an alternative to more closely replicate what it would be like in the free market where addicts could support their habits inexpensively... in this case, free, which does more closely replicate what they would be spending if it were legal. The shitty thing about heroin is that it destroys your red blood cells, and so after it is done making you feel all good, you suddenly feel ill..literally sick to your stomach... and you want more heroin.. so you do it some more so you stop being sick and it works magnificently.. except it is destroying more red blood cells, so the next time you come down your illness is worse and it lasts even longer... so you do more heroin and the cycle repeats. Basically turning your blood into water. That's why legalizing would bring about a shift to opium, because people could grow the white china here in the states and have some nice opium, and it would be cheap... it's really nice and the side effects are relatively few, though addiction is greater than cannabis. Right now opium is very rarely available even though quite a few people would buy it occasionally if they could. Heroin is more available because it is easier to import as it is much more potent and costs more $/lb.

So if more people were doing opium, they would get addicted, in a sense, but they wouldn't become ill when they quit so they would be less likely to hurt other people or commit crimes. They wouldn't have to do it in dens, so it would be more recreational, maybe more of an evening thing like cannabis is for many.

Heroin is literally a weapon. Those who control our government are using it against people in our inner cities, just like they did when the CIA was importing cocaine and selling it to thugs on the streets of Compton. The CIA was taking the proceeds from the drug sales and buying weapons for paramilitaries in South America that supported our corporate and oil interests. The Mujahadeen used heroin against Russia in the 80s and now the Taliban is using it against U.S. soldiers.

"The Taliban isn't just using heroin as a cash crop, they're also using it as a weapon. They're hoping to cripple U.S. forces by getting them hooked on cheap drugs, a strategy that the mujahideen employed against the Soviets in the 80s. Now Russia consumes more heroin than any other nation."

http://airamerica.com/liveinwashingtonwithjackrice/blog/10-20-2009/taliban-using-heroin-weapon-video-audio/

Wouldn't you know it..the US has a patent on medical marijuana cannabinoids.. wtffucksickle

The Health and Human Services Division of the federal government holds a patent for medical marijuana. The patent, "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants", issued October 2003[133] reads: "Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia…"[168]

Assignee

• The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6630507.html

Just curious... when did they file this? Is there a date?