The Marijuana News Report

By Richard Cowan

In my last column, I wrote about the violence injected into the marijuana world by the high prices and the ready black market created by prohibition. As sad as that is, it is at least "understandable." There are people who are thieves and they will even steal medicine from sick people. Or they are narks and they will abuse their power… Whatever.

However, the violence of the international drug war has spilled over into the most improbable places, the music world.

Of course, Americans have witnessed the murder of several hip-hop stars and promoters, but the world of "Gansta rap" grew out of a world created by the drug war and the very name "gansta" explains a lot.

Similarly, in Mexico the "narcocorridas" were written about the world of Mexican contrabandistas, which is a very violent world, indeed.

One of the early stars of the narcocorridos was (the late) Chalino Sanchez, who started his musical career when he was living in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. The Latin American contraband business is so big in LA that a musical subculture developed there "celebrating" it, and Sanchez became an international star.

Sadly, Sanchez was murdered in 1992 after a concert in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Sinaloa is a state on Mexico's west coast that has become infamous for the violence of its contraband business, so the murder of a narcocorrida star there is at least "understandable." However, the violence against Mexican musicians has escalated to the point that it has to be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

More than a dozen Mexican musicians have been murdered in the last two years, and – incredibly – not all of them have even been narcocorrida stars. It seems that musicians have been brutally murdered (one in her hospital room!) simply because they were popular with the wrong gang!

Now, let's be clear that Mexico had problems with violence and corruption long before the drug war, but the fact is that the entire "narcocontrabandista" world exists solely because of America's policies. Recently, I wrote an article that shows us how long this insanity has been going on.

The American drug war has spawned global violence, from Afghanistan to the Andes and now it is spreading even into the poorest parts of Africa. (Recently, the notorious Blackwater was given a contract to fight smuggling across the Sahara!) 


The brutal murder of innocent Mexican musicians simply underlines the cancerous nature of the prohibitionist violence as it has spread into the most improbable of places.

From time to time, when there is some particularly outrageous outbreak of police violence, protestors carry signs and shout "No Justice; No Peace!" That is a great slogan, but so long as it is only about "incidents" or even just police policy, it misses the greater point: Until we have real justice – especially including the end of the war on cannabis, which the demonstrators NEVER MENTION – there will be no peace.

In 2006, over 800,000 peaceful marijuana users were arrested in the US, and many more were victimized around the world. Each of these arrests was an act of state violence, although most would have been described as "non-violent,” because no shots were fired and no blood was actually shed. However, unless armed robbery and kidnapping are "non-violent,” these were acts of violence, and they did not just hurt those who were arrested. Their families and friends were also hurt – as were we all.

Each arrest is an injection of violence where none existed.

Until we understand that point, that marijuana prohibition is state violence on a vast scale and it spills over into the most improbable places, musicians will continue to die. And our music will die with them.

Richard Cowan is the former National Director of NORML and currently the publisher of MarijuanaNews.com. Email him at Cowan@MarijuanaNews.com