Essay, Research Paper

U.S. Scourge Spreads South of The Border

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A Written Final Project Presented to Professor Larry Herzog San Diego State

University

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MAS 355 The U.S. Mexico International Border

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by Leo P. Dano Jr. December 02, 1996

In a recent newspaper article written in the San Diego Union Tribune

called? U.S. Scourge Spreads South. ? A really distressing fact was opening drug

doors merely south of our ain community, which is why I chose to make an in deepness

survey of the relaxation of drug purchase in our southern neighbour. It & # 8217 ; s non new

intelligence but a overpowering growing in the use of drugs, particularly Rohypnol.

& # 8220 ; The Mexican boundary line town called Tijuana across from San Diego,

California, one time was a celebrated as a resort area for bibulous crewmans and college

pupils. Today, governments on both sides of the boundary line warn, it has turned

into a organized crime run by a turning figure of ruthless trusts that sell drugs. It

is no longer merely marihuana ( pot ) , but a turning job with other types of

drugs like Heroin, Crystal Methamphetamine, and Cocaine. & # 8221 ;

I late visited the neighbor metropolis of Tijuana and rode in a Tijuana

cab and was instantly met with a cab driver named Jose, a Tijuana cab

driver in an open-necked, baby bluish silk shirt, he sizes up the tourers

sloging off the overcrossing from the United States. ? Taxi, sir? You want

pharmaceutics? I get you a good pharmaceutics, ? he urges, stepping from a line of

waving cab drivers in large belts and straw cowpuncher chapeaus. ? Good monetary values! No

prescriptions! ? Do I look like I want drugs? ! I didn & # 8217 ; t even solicit the

concern. I about felt eldritch because this is precisely what I was be aftering to make

my paper on. Soon he is intruding his long xanthous Oldsmobile through scruffy

streets choked with pharmaceuticss. I asked for Somas-a drug that gives the user a

feeling of inebriation without all the spirits, and illegal in the United States.

In less than 45 proceedingss I was able to buy the drug right over the counter.

Of class, I didn & # 8217 ; t really buy the drug, but kindly told the pharmaceutics

that his monetary value was excessively high.

This merely goes to demo you how easy it was to acquire an illegal drug merely

30 proceedingss from SDSU. And alternatively of being sold by gun-toting drug sellers,

it is available in much of Latin America with a physician & # 8217 ; s prescription & # 8211 ; frequently

easy obtained. It appears to be traversing the U.S. boundary line via dining

pharmaceuticss in metropoliss such as Tijuana.

The sudden popularity of the drug ( Somas ) has returned the limelight to

Mexico & # 8217 ; s boundary line apothecary’s shops, which for old ages have done a thriving concern with

Americans but have late exploded in figure with the Tijuana occupants. ?

Tijuana occupants are about twice every bit likely to hold used an illegal drug as

Mexicans countrywide. ?

Drugs are non merely a job with our poorness ridden society here in

U.S. , but with a batch of our center to upper category are now being the focal point of

drug use. In a recent intelligence broadcast, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, and

other good to make communities are being hit with a diacetylmorphine fad with our young persons.

I couldn & # 8217 ; t believe people would really desire to lodge a acerate leaf in their arm for

joy and pleasance. It is no longer the snuff, smoke of drugs but a whole new

tendency of banging ( utilizing acerate leafs to bring on a drug ) . Even the worldwide panic of

Aids doesn & # 8217 ; t maintain the drug of diacetylmorphine from society. Dirty acerate leafs besides scar the

weaponries of the diacetylmorphine nut for life. ? At the municipal gaol, inmates detained

the dark before for minor misdemeanors such as loitering or contending in public

draw up their arms and bare weaponries covered with needle paths. ?

Rohypnol is another incubus for every parent in America which is

another easy obtained drug in the pharmaceuticss in Tijuana. This is the drug besides

known as the? date-rape drug, ? which has been televised many of times. But

unlike diacetylmorphine or cocaine, Rohypnol has a respected corporate maker & # 8211 ; the

Swiss pharmaceutical elephantine F. Hoffman-La Roche, which produces in Mexico City.

There are so many American tourers purchasing drugs that Tijuana & # 8217 ; s pharmaceuticss have

doubled in the past five old ages and now figure around 700.

With their cheap, government-controlled monetary values, they have drawn 10s of

1000s of Californians, frequently retirees, who snap up brand-name blood force per unit area,

cholesterin and other medicines, frequently salvaging 50 % of more. and thanks to

looser ordinances, the pharmaceuticss besides readily sell drugs that are unavailable

or necessitate prescriptions in the United States, from Prozac to interventions for

Aidss and malignant neoplastic disease.

On Tijuana & # 8217 ; s Avenida Revolucion, a tourer strip where merchandisers peddle

spirits and Cuban cigars amid the blaring of mariachi music, hustling apothecary’s shops

with names like Pharmacy America and New York Pharmacy pealing up an norm of

$ 3000.00 in gross revenues a twenty-four hours, a local Tijuana druggist said.

While they lack difficult cogent evidence, U.S. governments have told the Mexican

authorities at a twosome of meetings in the past month that they believe the

pharmaceuticss are selling Rohypnol to immature Americans. Mexican functionaries say they

are checking down. Well, they say they are, but are they? With so much

authorities corruptness, particularly in the metropolis of Tijuana, you can merely believe of

how much money is being made in this endeavor and who & # 8217 ; s acquiring some kick-

dorsums.

My recent visit to Tijuana indicates that Rohypnol is still readily

available. It has become a revolving door physician atmosphere. The U.S. constabularies

foremost began to descry maltreatment of Rohypnol, the trade name for drug flunitrazepam, in 1993.

Although it has ne’er been approved for usage in the United States, the sleeping

medicine is sold lawfully in 64 states.

But it wasn & # 8217 ; t insomniacs who use the drug in Florida and Texas, where

Rohypnol foremost became a job. The little, cheap pills were popped by

nuts to rise a diacetylmorphine trip, or by adolescents who wanted to experience rummy.

Rock star Kurt Cobain overdosed on Rohypnol and champagne a month before killing

himself.

The most widely know instances are that Rohypnol is blamed in legion date-

colza instances. Work force allegedly have slipped it into their comrades & # 8217 ; drinks,

rendering

them unconscious. Since the drug causes short-run memory loss, adult females

have awakened confused and dishelved, merely to larn that they have been

assaulted.

The Drug Enforcement Agency says it has logged more than 2,400 condemnable

instances affecting Rohypnol. As it progressively turns up in California,

legislators are seeking to set up prison footings for people possessing or

selling the pills, nicknamed? roofies. ? Last month, Florida put Rohypnol into

the same legal class as diacetylmorphine and cocaine.

Worried about the maltreatment, Hoffman-La Roche has slashed its Rohypnol

distributers in Mexico from 200 to 16 and said it hired a former DEA agent, who

established that there was no recreation from its Mexico City mill. The U.S.

governments don & # 8217 ; t see much of a let-up in the sum of Rohypnol from hitting

the streets.

Even with recent actions, Rohypnol has become much tougher to obtain and

sell, several apothecary’s shop proprietors said. Nonetheless, in a personal visit to 15

pharmaceuticss, I was able to happen one willing to sell it over the counter. Others

suggested nearby physicians who would supply a prescription. I went to nearby

medical office lined with oil pictures of Jesus, I filled out a brief signifier

inquiring if I had ulcers or bosom onslaughts. At no point was I asked of my symptoms.

A physician with a white coat glanced at the signifier and asked what drug I wanted. ?

Rohypnol, ? I replied. ? Each prescription is $ 25, ? he responded. The visit

lasted a brief 10 proceedingss. No remark on the exact location of the medical

office in order to protect my beginning of information.

I took the prescription to one the Tijuana pharmaceuticss and the monetary value for

Rohypnol was $ 10. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration scowls on the

pattern, there is nil halting Americans from purchasing most medical specialties from

Mexican pharmaceuticss. U.S. Customs usually allows Americans to convey in a?

personal supply? of prescription drugs-up to 90 yearss deserving, to be declared a the

boundary line. The mean age of the consumer was about 34 ( when I asked one of the

United States Customs agents ) . I feel the Rohypnol job is reasonably new in

California, but besides Californians may merely be stuffing the drug in carryall bags

or pockets.

Rohypnol is besides seemingly being smuggled to the United States from

Columbia, where Hoffman-La Roche has a works. But what is turning up in Texas

and California is from Mexico and appears to be coming through the pharmaceuticss.

The Haight Ashbury Clinics, a San Francisco group, late conducted Hoffman-La

Roche- funded surveies of Rohypnol in Florida and Texas.

I made a recent phone call to the Los Angeles Police Department and

found out that the constabulary officers were provide free kits to observe Rohypnol in

piss. In the province of Florida they use the kit to convict date-rapists.

& # 8220 ; Here we have everything, and it & # 8217 ; s really accessible, & # 8221 ; said Sanjuana

Covarrubias, manager of the Centros installation in Tijuana. & # 8221 ;

Some U.S. functionaries would wish even tougher action. Specifically, the

DEA is forcing to hold the ataractic classified as a Schedule 1 drug, as Florida

did last month. that permits prosecuting officers to seek sentences such as those

imposed for selling diacetylmorphine or cocaine.

Presently, the drug flunitrazepam is classified in the United States as

a schedule four drug, defined as substances with low potency for maltreatment and

acceptable for medical usage in the United States. When the drug is lawfully

administered, it is used for the short-run intervention of insomnia and as a mild

ataractic. Rohypnol is marketed in one mg and two mgs assortments,

with two mgs being considered a? heavy dosage. ?

During my research, I found that most of the people conveying the drug

across are really immature aged, college pupils. All they have to make is make full out a

declaration signifier ( which lists what they are conveying across the boundary line ) .

The Office of National Drug Control Policy says the usage of Rohypnol may

lead to the development of physical and psychological dependance. The hazard of

dependance additions with dose and continuance and can be considered greater in

patients with histories of intoxicant and drug maltreatment. One physical dependance has

developed, disconnected expiration of the drug will ensue in backdown symptoms

such as concerns, musculus strivings, utmost anxiousness, tenseness, confusion and

crossness. Extreme instances of backdown may see numbness and prickling

of the appendages, hypersensitivity to visible radiation and noise, paroxysms and

hallucinations. I believe that instruction on this drug and it & # 8217 ; s effects need to

be addressed in the close hereafter ; if non now, because our young persons are traveling to

suffer in the long tally and so will out communities.

Rohypnol is really difficult to observe and merely one manner to acquire a positive

reading is to make a urine sample. Even this sensing procedure is really dearly-won,

which means it is difficult to prosecute because of this ground. You have to be

specifically seeking to observe this type of drug in order to acquire a positive

reading.

In decision, it is really apparent on the job with drugs in the

boundary line town of Tijuana. I have identified the danger of drugs, relaxation in

obtaining drugs in Tijuana, U.S. side use, Mexico side use, Rohypnol,

affects and side affects and eventually the U.S. detecting the job and taking a

measure to battle the drug. I feel that the United States is non good educated on

the job with Rohypnol here in this state. Most parents would ne’er cognize

of such a drug existed, and particularly the relaxation of obtaining the drug. I

might hold heard of the drug one time being a pupil here at SDSU, but it exists

and seems to be the clandestine ; lets maintain it ourselves secret drug. We need to

take a base and acquire the media involved in this, so the parents of an unexpected

casualty doesn & # 8217 ; Ts have to hear about it from an autopsy study. The literature

and statistics are at that place, but happening it can be a different undertaking at manus. Angstrom

war on drugs can & # 8217 ; t be won unless we all take an active function in the cause!

Bibliography

Dibble, Sandra. & # 8220 ; U.S. Scourge spreads South. & # 8221 ; The San Diego Union Tribune

Sunday, November 17, 1996.

Trotta, Dan. & # 8220 ; FEATURE-U.S.-Mexico boundary line becomes fertile new killing ground. & # 8221 ;

Reuters, October 24, 1996.