MEDIA REACTION ON DRUGS, JULY 21, 2003

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001722 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/PDA (JGREENBLATT); WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP PREL KPAO PGOV IZ HO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON DRUGS, JULY 21, 2003 ¶1. Op-ed by Julio Escoto in Tegucigalpa-based moderate daily "El Heraldo" entitled "Trapped". "When did the US get trapped by drugs? Definitely during the 1960s and 1970s with the hippie generation and after the Marines got back from Vietnam, when the Americans got a chance to experience the horror of war and the deceit of their political class. Then, drugs became the spiritual leaders of that generation, tired of unfulfilled promises and fragile leadership." "Drugs aren't unknown to the American culture, they have always been part of the menu of that growing empire. However, there is a slight difference: in previous decades drugs addiction was a discrete activity, now it isn't. According to the DEA, there are about twenty million Americans smoking marijuana in a regular basis, forty million have tried cocaine at least once and no less than seven million have tried crack, amphetamines, LSD or other chemical or natural drug." "The figures are overwhelming, the drug business is the most profitable activity in the US. That is why the Colombian, Mexican, Israeli, Turkish and Russian mobs have made the US a paradise to sell drugs. As a result, Mexico and Central America have become the natural route to transport drugs to the US. It's believed that about 60% of the cocaine sold in the US has passed through this region." Palmer