As students, this brings us to the point where we need to consider another timely divestment initiative. It is imperative that we urgently divest from the purchase of illegal drugs.
The purchase and use of drugs by students on campuses throughout the
According to the NDIC’s 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment, which is available on its website at www.usdoj.gov/ndic, drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs), especially those originating in
In addition to the terror brought to American cities as a result of the use of illegal drugs, the use of these drugs contributes to violence among the various cartels that do their business along the Mexican border.
Since 2008, these armed conflicts have resulted in the deaths of over 6,000 people. Young Mexicans are being initiated into these gangs and inculcated with the values and morals that come along with gang life. Not only are physical lives being lost, but the souls of young people are being given over voluntarily to the enemy.
There is a strong argument that is occasionally made for drug legalization. The case rests upon the free-market notion of supply and demand. This is an economic principle that many of us have studied in introductory courses on microeconomics.
The contention is made that by suppressing of the supply of illegal drugs through law enforcement interdiction, while there simultaneously exists a high demand for such drugs among the populace, we only drive up the prices for illicit drugs. Thus, we can conclude that the extraordinary profits that can be realized by entering into the business of supplying drugs are what drive the gangs to resort to violence.
This line of reasoning fails because the decision on what is to constitute the law of the land, both within our local communities and throughout our nation, is not based on economic principles alone, but on the values, traditions and morals of our people. If these values, traditions and morals are ordered rightly, then there is no alternative than to assert that the law of the land comes from ‘on High,’ and that it is the job of man to carry this out in our civil law.
Whether civil law reflects the highest values of our communities or the proper purpose of man, it remains up to us as students to take a strong stand on our personal divestment from the purchase and use of illegal drugs. The French poet Paul Claudel once remarked, ‘Youth was not made for pleasure, but for heroism.’ If we take these words to heart and follow our conscience, then divestment should not be difficult at all.
If we examine the situation of the young people who become ensnared in the life of drug cartels in Mexico, gangs in U.S. cities or social pressures in American colleges, there is one thing of which we can be sure: This is not what their life is meant to be. To put it succinctly, their souls are far too important to be left to such a life, which is a life in exile from its true purpose. The use of any drug, excepting out of genuine medical necessity, should be identified for what it is ‘- the handiwork of our enemy.
By continuing to purchase and use drugs, we unwittingly remain enslaved in the service of a cruel tormentor, a tyrant who reigns over us through our pleasures and desires. We believe that our actions will cause little harm to others and that we are merely exercising free choice. But, by serving this false master, we not only continue to remain enslaved ourselves, but also work to keep our fellow man enslaved.
By divesting from the use of our money in this way, we can instead choose to proclaim freedom for those who are held in bondage. Let us resolve ourselves, on this very day, to use our wealth, along with our time and our unique talents and abilities, to pay the ransom necessary to redeem the souls of our fellow young people who are held in callous exile, wherever they may live in the world, and without regard for social class or national identification.
Eric Magazu is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].
