Authorities discovered an estimated fourteen tons of marijuana in a tunnel along the United States-Mexico border on Tuesday. The tunnel stretched approximately 400 yards which linked warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Untied States authorities found most of the marijuana, nine to ten tons, Tuesday while the rest was discovered by the Mexican authorities on Wednesday. This was reported as one of the most significant smuggling passages, for dugs, along the border. Drug smugglers have been caught with more than seventy tunnels since 2008, which is more than the previous six years. Most of the tunnels uncovered were developed in San Diego and Nogales, Arizona, in which smugglers interfere with the underground drainage canals. At the same time last year, authorities discovered two more tunnels that linked San Diego and Tijuana which contained a combined fifty tons of marijuana, making it the largest seizure in United States history.
Approximately 158.8 million people worldwide use the cannabis drug. The United States and Mexico are the biggest producers along with Canada making North America the largest producers of marijuana. Drug use is a global social problem with most of the exports coming from South America, particularly Colombia. Over twenty nine countries are involved with the drug world and thus increasing the spread of violence. Mexico has been given most of the attention but others countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have much higher crime rates. Since 2002, more than 900,000 murders have occurred worldwide, those of which are all related to drugs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/us/us-mexico-tunnel-leads-to-tons-of-marijuana.html?_r=2&ref=americas
3 comments:
I am so happy that this Marijuana tunnel was found. We are becoming one step closer to cracking down on the drug trade that has paralyzed both the United States and Mexico. I also think that if officials continue to look between Mexico and United States that they would uncover a lot more drugs so this was a outstanding accomplishment.
It is important to crack down on the drug trade because of the violence it causes. I was not aware that the crime rate was that high due to drugs, and decreasing the amount of drug smuggling could create a large effect of lowering the worldwide crime rate.
Hearing about all the violence, terror, and even deaths that have increasingly occurred in Central and South America over the past decade has definitely made the effects of drugs seem more real. Many recreational drug users believe that their drug use does not effect or hurt anyone, that it is "just for fun." But the price of making those drugs available is human lives. I applaud the government for finding this tunnel, but I hope they are disposing of the drugs in a way that will not lead to recirculation.
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