POT ON CAMPUS NOT FROM MEXICO

To the Editor:

I celebrate Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa's '11 thoughtful column on the War on
Drugs and agree with her on many points. Like her, I think that
marijuana should be legalized and know that it is less harmful than
alcohol or tobacco. I also share the view that Brown students - and
Americans in general - should be more mindful of their role as
consumers in a trade that is responsible for tens of thousands of
deaths a year, concentrated in countries like Mexico and my native
Colombia. Why do we make such a fuss about, say, blood diamonds, when
illegal drugs are much more common on campus than precious stones from
Liberia or the Congo?

The problem with Ortiz-Hinojosa's argument lies in her assumption that
the marijuana consumed on campus actually comes from Mexico or
Colombia. In fact, my vague understanding is that most of the weed
smoked on campus is grown somewhere in New England, New York or
possibly as far away as California or Colorado. I have heard that most
people involved in bringing the herb to College Hill consumers are
neo-hippie entrepreneurs and direct friends of Brown students, so I
can confidently say that, this 4/20, very little of the marijuana lit
up on campus will have touched the hands of a murderous smuggler.

Her argument is much more readily applicable to cocaine, which is
almost exclusively grown in the Andes and nearly all of which reaches
the U.S. via Mexico or Central America. When you buy cocaine, you are
certainly putting money in the pockets of Mexican and Colombian drug
cartels and their immediate associates. Many Brown students are either
unaware or willfully ignorant of the fact that casual cocaine
consumption has a much more negative impact on human welfare and the
environment than, say, buying coffee that is not fair trade or
choosing not to recycle every now and then. As someone who has lost
friends to drug-related violence, I agree with Ortiz-Hinojosa that
this borders on hypocritical and should be part of a more open
conversation on the moral consequences of Brunonians' drug habits.

But we should be wary of the mistake of lumping all drugs together.
Indeed, this is one of the biggest flaws in the current War on Drugs.
When people talk about "drug wars" in Mexico, Colombia or American
inner cities, they are referring to battles mostly for the lucrative
trade in highly addictive substances like cocaine and heroin, not to
the small-time hydroponic marijuana rackets that feed Brown students'
weed habits. This 4/20, those on campus who choose to smoke marijuana
can do so guilt-free.

Pablo Rojas '11