US embassy cable - 03TEGUCIGALPA1722

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