cannabisnews.com: Getting High Off NAFTA Getting High Off NAFTA Posted by CN Staff on July 03, 2003 at 14:13:16 PT By Julia Barton Source: TomPaine.com The United States is a huge importer of a Mexican product that legally isn't supposed to be here: marijuana. Much of the drug comes through Tucson, Arizona, just 70 miles from the border. As Julia Barton reports from Tucson, the long-standing pot trade isn't all bad for the local economy. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Tucson police say the flow of marijuana from Mexico slowed down temporarily. But this year it's back. In the first five months of this year, police have seized nine tons of marijuana from area houses, cars and storage sheds. Lieutenant Rick Middleton of the Tucson Police Department says much of the dope slips over the border thanks to the increased commerce under the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. "You've got a huge truck full of onions, let's say. And underneath it you've got 3,000 pounds of marijuana. Now try to smell 3,000 pounds of marijuana that's wrapped on top of 10 tons of onions," Middleton said. But that's not the only way marijuana makes its way to Tucson. Bales are often carried on the backs of illegal immigrants looking to make an extra $100 on their excruciating journey across the desert. Tucson acts as a distribution hub for pot -- which, like any product, has to be stored and divided up for resale. Lt. George White of the Pima County Sheriff's Department says local homes are used as warehouses. "It could be in a neighborhood with $500,000 homes, it could be in a neighborhood with $50,000 dollar homes," White said. In one of those neighborhoods near Tucson's downtown, a heavy-set woman we'll call Dee Rodriguez has watched marijuana change the way people around her live. Rodriguez didn't want to give her real name for this story. That's because she often calls the police to report neighbors she says are involved in the drug trade. "They were distributing it out of their houses," Rodriguez said. "During the middle of the night, during the middle of the day, all these strange people coming around." Rodriguez says marijuana has always been a part of life in this Mexican-American neighborhood. During her childhood, people she knew grew it in backyard gardens for use in folk remedies. In the '60s and '70s, she says, it started coming in from Mexico as a big business. That dropped off for a while, Rodriguez says, but now she sees the activity even affecting kids in the playground across the street. "They're living in squalid conditions, they're coming to school with 20, even 100 bucks in their possession," Rodriguez said. "You wonder where they're getting their food, if they're getting any food, but yet they have money." Marijuana has put money in the pockets of many grown-ups too. A Tucson newspaper estimates that trafficking is a $350 million-a-year business here. Lt. Middleton says much of that money never leaves town. "The people that bring the marijuana in here, a lot of them reside here and open up the illegal business here. They also buy vehicles, they also rent houses or buy houses, they also buy goods, and they buy very expensive things," Middleton said. Although he says he's against the legalization of marijuana, Middleton does regret that all the dope trade goes untaxed. He says police could use those potential tax dollars to fight the spread of addictive drugs, like crystal meth, that he sees as the cause of more crime in Tucson. Anyway, police say the marijuana trade is so big here that no matter how much they confiscate, it barely makes a dent in drug dealers' profits. Again, Lt. George White of the Pima County Sheriff's Department: "Usually folks in the narcotics business are looking at a 50 percent loss. Which would not be an acceptable loss for any business that was legitimate. But they consider that if they lose 50 percent of their product, 50 percent of their profit, they're still making a heck of a profit," White said. Here's why, according to White. A 45-pound bale of marijuana that costs $20 to buy from a Mexican farmer may be worth as much as $500 by the time it reaches Tucson. Once it's broken down and sold on the streets of, say, New York, each pound could be worth more than $2,000. Getting a share of that money has tempted more than one Tucson resident. "It's a very lucrative industry, it's incredibly lucrative. That's the only reason people do it," Mackenzie said. Ten years ago, a local distributor offered Mary Mackenzie and her former husband a small part of his profits and outfitted them with a moving truck and 325 pounds of marijuana. They drove toward the East Coast, but police caught them halfway. "We were gonna fly back, get $1,000 for the delivery and a plane ticket back, and have a nice little weekend vacation. Turned into four years for him, and I stayed there for three years," Mackenzie said. Mackenzie still knows plenty of people in Tucson who are willing to risk prison time to make a living from marijuana. One of them is "Joe," a former dealer who didn't want to give his real name. He says without the drug, many Tucsonans would be unemployed. "Most of these people aren't these local drug-dealing scumbags that everybody views them as," Joe said. "A lot of them are, you know, just basically doing what they have to to survive." Like many here, Joe supports the legalization of marijuana. But it's the illegal market that drives up profits and makes dope one of the largest sectors of the local economy. Julia Barton is a writer and producer based in Tucson, Arizona. For TomPaine.com, I'm Julia Barton in Tucson. Newshawk: VirgilSource: TomPaine.com Author: Julia BartonPublished: July 2003Contact: editor tompaine.comWebsite: http://www.tompaine.com/Contact: http://www.tompaine.com/contact.cfmDL: http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8209Related Articles:Border Crossers Fall Victim to Profit-Takers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14566.shtmlDEA Chief Lauds Fox's Help Against Smugglershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12134.shtmlAuthorities Find Arizona Drug Tunnelhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11548.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by mayan on July 03, 2003 at 18:16:11 PT Cash Cow The corrupted "powers that be" know they will never win the war on drugs. They just want to get rich from it. It's as simple as that.The way out is the way in...Senator Says White House Pre-Attack Briefings May Have 'Probative Value' as 9/11 Evidence: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories/42/4d/200307031300.fe725cc3.htmlThe Attack Has Been Spectacular: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories/e7/58/200307031312.ca565162.htmlBeyond Bush - Part I: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/070103_beyond_bush_1.html9/11 Prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 03, 2003 at 15:37:29 PT Virgil What I think about the NewsMax article is this. This is a hard to talk about subject for me. A person who shoots drugs isn't concerned with having a clean needle. All it takes is one time using a dirty need to wreck a persons life so I don't agree it is to prevent disease. I believe it is a way to look at a bad situation and make it not as bad. That is harm reduction and that I do understand. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by cloud7 on July 03, 2003 at 15:30:45 PT How blind can he be? "Although he says he's against the legalization of marijuana, Middleton does regret that all the dope trade goes untaxed. He says police could use those potential tax dollars to fight the spread of addictive drugs, like crystal meth, that he sees as the cause of more crime in Tucson. Anyway, police say the marijuana trade is so big here that no matter how much they confiscate, it barely makes a dent in drug dealers' profits."Although he's against legalization, he makes a hell of an argument for it in the next two sentences. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Virgil on July 03, 2003 at 15:24:54 PT Someone's paragraphs and a cartoon The first two paragraphs seem to complement the above. From todays article at http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/7/3/04451.shtmlIn the so-called war against illegal drugs, we have lost every battle. Clear across the globe, just about every concerted effort to eradicate drug use has failed. The given reasons for the dismal results are many, but the prevailing theory is that there is just too much money involved in the drug trade. So much so that the key people fighting the war get paid off, and the “war” is in reality just a “war” in name only. Can you still laugh? Doesn't Reader's Digest have a section saying laughter is the best medicine and does that mean mj is not only medicine but the best medicine? - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/939790/posts?page=7#7 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment