I finished watching the series El Chapo (2017-2018) yesterday, which tells the story of the still ongoing life of one of the most successful drug lords of modern times named Joaquín Guzmán. The first season turned out to be the strongest, the second weaker, and the third was only bearable thanks to the storyline of Conrado. But we are not talking about cinema right now, but about drugs.
Throughout the entire film, illustrating the last 20 years of modern history, the corrupt government of Mexico is fighting the number one enemy of the state. In the confrontation with Joaquín, the less corrupt but no less treacherous and deceitful DEA (American Drug Enforcement Administration) also actively participates. In the end, our hero, whom we get to know during the film, is captured, extradited to the US, and handed over to the hands of a just American court. Justice prevails, and… American teenagers stop using methamphetamine!
The filmmakers do not tell us about this even in the final credits, where it is solemnly announced that Joaquín killed between two and three thousand people during his professional career. They do not mention it, probably because the arrest of El Chapo is of little concern to teenagers, and finding where to buy methamphetamine doesn’t bother them at all. The statistics show that, despite the active fight against drug trafficking, drug consumption is increasing, and the mortality rate from drug overdoses is twice as high in the US as in any other developed country, such as Europe.
I don’t have exact statistics on the situation in Ukraine, but from the writings on the walls of buildings in any major city, one can infer about the situation in the market: drugs are quite in demand. Regular arrests of drug dealers do not prevent buyers from finding the product they need… from new drug dealers.
Want to know my opinion? I consider punishing the producers hypocritical. After all, many of those who caught El Chapo, extradited him to New York, and will soon judge and lynch him, are his clients themselves. They, as representatives of the entire country, openly express only half of the public’s interests. However, in reality, society wants two things simultaneously: 1) narcotic euphoria and 2) to punish those who sell it.
The second interest is openly and verbally expressed, while the first is done secretly and with money: the volume of consumption of illegal drugs only in the US exceeds 100 billion dollars per year. We vote with our dollars and hryvnias for drug production, while openly persecuting those who produce them. The number of people who use drugs at least once a year is approximately 275 million people, which is about 5.6% of the world’s population aged 15 to 64.
If we truly want El Chapo to grow cotton instead of cocaine and synthesize gouache instead of fentanyl, let’s all together… stop using drugs. There is no need to shoot, kill, arrest, prosecute, and spend three billion dollars a year on it (DEA budget). It is enough to simply stop buying what this brave Mexican produces and sells. I am sure he will quickly redirect his energy to a socially useful business.
On the contrary, by actively fighting such sellers, we sign our own weakness and stupidity: nothing can stop us from having something sweet for the night. So should we imprison all pastry chefs? What do pastry chefs have to do with it? Are they to blame for us being fat, lazy, and weak-willed? They only parasitize on our shortcomings, but are not their root cause. Drug dealers are the pastry chefs, and the lazy and fat ones are us.
What to do if the problem is not with the producers, but with us?
How to reduce the demand for drugs? How to convince the population that addictions are evil? Maybe we need to scare them? Or maybe lift the bans, and interest will decrease on its own?
The first path of intimidation is taken, for example, by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China, where the death penalty is provided, including for drug possession. In many other countries, punishments are less severe, but still harsh, including in Ukraine and Russia. Statistics undoubtedly show that police measures have a positive effect.
The second path is taken by Western European countries. For example, in the Netherlands or Portugal, possession of light drugs is not a criminal offense, although it entails some measures of social impact. And again, statistics show that legalization brings positive results.
I don’t believe in the first or the second path.
It’s not about intimidation or permissions, but about our needs. Drugs are needed where the needs for joy, happiness, success, self-realization, and everything else that Maslow described in his famous pyramid are not sufficiently satisfied. In one of his recent novels, Vladimir Sorokin vividly portrays the world of the future, where Telluria becomes the richest country thanks to the invention of a unique drug, the effect of which significantly surpasses all others. The whole world depends on Telluria, as it knows how to make people happy, and sells “nails from tellurium” at a very high price.
The film “Traffic (2000)” illustrates the problem well: the fight against drug trafficking turns into a battle with one of its leaders’ own family. The true enemy turns out to be not the heroin seller, but his consumer - the daughter of one of the main characters, who realizes that by defeating the producer, he will not be able to defeat the main buyer - the daughter will always find where to buy a new dose of “happiness”.
Olga Bogomolec believes that “today we need not to legalize drugs, but to expand the list of prohibited drugs and ensure effective control over their circulation and [conduct] a systematic fight against drug business organizers.” No, Olga, it’s not about legalization or fighting drug business - you won’t help the cause that way.
It’s about raising the standard of living of the Ukrainian population and satisfying their needs for education, leisure, art, and everything else that will replace drugs. We need to give people something that will delight them as much as cocaine. Obviously, it is difficult to do this, but necessary. This is where state money and our joint efforts should be invested.
Or maybe, already managing?
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/42 on 2024-04-20 at 17:40
