America is to blame for Mexican drug cartel violence?

The Mexican drug cartels battling viciously to expand and survive have a powerful financial incentive: Across the border to the north is a market for illegal drugs unsurpassed for its wealth, diversity and voraciousness… “The damage done by our insatiable demand for drugs is truly astounding,” said Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan researcher who oversees annual drug-use surveys. ~ BostonHerald.com

The story has been regurgitated several times this year by the media and I am about to get sick of it. Two can play this game. We could just as easily blame Mexico for being a lawless country where money and drugs rule the day and all resources are dedicated to entrapping our more naive citizens in a web of addiction. And before anyone gets too fired up about 10,000 deaths over a period of three years by drug gangs in another country, I say why not address more than twice that number killed on our OWN streets every year by a drug we have already legalized… alcohol. Maybe we should blame pro football, bowling, golf, and the single scenes for these deaths, just don’t forget to add up the body count from Cinco de Mayo!

I almost forgot about it, but thanks to Jasmine’s very introspective blog regarding the long term lure of returning to “normal” drinking I went back and tracked down this most excellent story at the TimesOnline about how society treats non-drinkers.

Often in recovery groups I’ve heard those that drink and drug without extensive life issues as normal, but this has always bothered me because obviously that makes me abnormal by default… and that is how I am often treated by a society that has an unhealthy fascination with alcohol. I don’t mind being treated differently because I don’t drink, in fact I often use the attention to advocate for my cause…which often has those that were almost forcing a drink into my hand to be suspiciously absent for the rest of the evening.

In recovery I have evolved, and developed the ability to handle stress as well as relax and unwind without the use of chemical substances. So, no more will I refer to drinking as “normal”, but instead I’ll refer to my content abstinence as being an evolved and highly sought after trait.

I’m a big fan of the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, like trying out old episodes of CSI: NY on Netflix, and occasionally will sit through my wife’s favorite CSI: Miami giggling every time the sunglasses come off with dramatic flair.  Not only these shows, but there must be ten other prime time presentations that highlight how we stab, shoot, suffocate and poison one another.  It seems all of America is obsessed with capturing the killers.  On Capitol Hill, gun law and hate crime legislation are always hot topics, but the 800 lb gorilla in the room everyone ignores is the number of highway fatalities caused by alcohol.  

DUI death numbers consistently trump murder rates, by all means, year after year.   If not for a good many irate mothers (MADD)- people would probably still ignore the obvious… unwilling to jeopardize their love affair with alcohol.  I doubt we’ll see a pilot of CSI: DUI anytime soon, not that there is much mystery about how a drunk behind the wheel kills people.

The chart below was composed by Howard Nemerov, the Austin Gun Rights Examiner.

Exactly eighty years ago tonight Indiana police introduced unsuspecting New Year’s revelers to the Drunkometer, the first utilitarian device that was used to calculate the blood alcohol level of drivers by breath testing. But it wasn’t until 1954 when Robert Borkenstein developed the Breathalyzer, a more stable and portable device, that highway police were able to use the alcohol breath test as a routine procedure to accurately distinguish intoxicated drivers as “over the limit”.

As a practicing alcoholic I wasn’t scared of drunk driving or the possible deadly repercussions, but I did fear the breathalyzer and the loss of freedom it represented. In recovery and as an advocate I am all too aware of dangers of DUI and routinely deal with the aftermath, now I see the Breathalyzer as a benevolent tool. Much like Dr. Frankenstein’s creature, many see only the monster while those that look deeper will see an invention that reflects the struggle of man dealing with the vagaries of modern advances.

So on this New Year’s regardless if you view the Breathalyzer as good or evil; just be sure to stay safe and make wise decisions. If you drink designate a sober driver, because Borkenstein’s monster will definitively be haunting the roads tonight.