AMERICANS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEADLY VIOLENCE OF MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS

Art Rascon is an Emmy award winning reporter and anchor at Houston's KTRK-TV's 13 Eyewitness News. Sunday morning he hosted the program City View. The last part of that program dealt with the deadly violence of Mexican drug cartels. At the end of City View, Rascon made some personal comments which hit the nail right on the head.

If you've been reading my blogs you know that I have long advocated going after drug users because of the law of supply and demand. Americans demand the drugs that are being supplied by the cartels. If there were no demand for illicit drugs there would be no suppliers like the Mexican drug cartels.

Rascon probably would not agree with some of my recommendations for solving our nation's drug crisis, but both of us are after the same outcome - a society absent of drug dependency. He was kind enough to send me a transcript of his closing City View remarks. Here is what Art Rascon had to say:

BEFORE WE GO, SOME CLOSING THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BRUTAL BATTLE AMONG DRUG THUGS SOUTH OF THE BORDER. I'VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME REPORTING OUT OF MEXICO, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. SURE THEY HAVE THEIR TROUBLES; CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS, MASSIVE UNEMPLOYMENT, EXTREME POVERTY, BAD ECONOMIES. BUT WHAT IS BOOMING THERE IS THIS: DRUGS

THEY PLANT THEM. THEY GROW THEM. THEY MANUFACTURE THEM. THEY BOX THEM AND THEN THEY SEND THEM. AND WHERE DO THEY GO? HERE, TO HOUSTON AND TO THE REST OF THE COUNTRY. IN FACT, 90-PERCENT OF DRUG CONSUMPTION COMES FROM THE U.S. SO, YES, WE CAN EXPRESS ALL THE ANGER IN THE WORLD ABOUT HOW MEXICO AND OTHER LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES NEED TO DESTROY THE DRUG CARTELS AND BRING THE SMUGGLER'S TO THEIR KNEES...BUT FOR ALL THAT'S WORTH, ONE THING IS SURE... THERE WOULD BE NO ONE SELLING, IF THERE WAS NO ONE BUYING.

WE, AMERICANS ARE THE BUYERS. WHAT A SAD TALE THIS IS. WE ARE KEEPING THE DRUG CARTELS ALIVE. SO, IF WE WANT TO COMBAT THIS PROBLEM WHY NOT TAKE A LOOK AT OUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD, OUR OWN FRIENDS, OUR OWN FAMILIES. YES, OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, SONS AND DAUGHTERS..EVEN OUR PARENTS. AMERICANS MAKE UP A VAST MAJORITY OF DRUG USE IN THE WORLD, AND AS WE TURN A BLIND EYE, SOMEONE WE KNOW IS GETTING HIGH.

IT'S TIME TO STOP, LOOK AROUND, AND TAKE ACTION. MY RECENT CONVERSATION WITH A 15-YEAR OLD KID WENT SOMETHING LIKE THIS: WHY DID YOU START? BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL...BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT. DO YOUR PARENTS KNOW? ARE YOU KIDDING, MY PARENTS DON'T TALK TO ME." THERE IN LIES THE PROBLEM. TALK, ASK, QUESTION...AND THEN ACT. AS A FATHER OF SIX... I ASK ALL THE TIME, AND I'LL NEVER STOP.

HAVE A GREAT DAY... THANKS FOR WATCHING CITY VIEW. I'M ART RASCON