High Witness Report

Drug violence on the Mexican border is out of control. Innocent people are dying daily in cartel controlled areas.
The debate is weather or not legalizing and controlling drugs in America will stop the violence.
That makes lots of sense. Cartels don’t kill over drugs, they kill over the money the drugs are worth.

Due to a recent revelation, a new question has arisen. Who is trying to stop the debate? And more importantly, why?

The fine folks at L.E.A.P (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) have made us aware of an instance that we find to be very, very disturbing. Please read the LEAP article carefully…

From the Admin of L.E.A.P:

City Council Upholds Mayor’s Veto After Hint of Losing Funds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2009

El Paso, TX – On Tuesday the El Paso City Council voted, 4-4, to sustain the mayor’s veto of a resolution calling for a national debate on drug legalization as a solution to the cartel violence problem plaguing sister city Cuidad Juarez, just across the Mexico border.

Three of the four council members voting to uphold the mayor’s silencing of the discussion said on the record during council deliberations that they did so only because Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) and the city’s state legislative delegation sent letters raising the possibility that El Paso would lose federal and state money should it continue insisting that legalization is a debatable solution to illegal drug trade violence.

Councilman Beto O’Rourke, who championed the legalization debate resolution, said it is “a sad day in America when you’re threatened if you want to have an open and honest debate about an issue that affects your community.”

Rep. Reyes, who sent his deputy chief of staff to testify at Tuesday’s council meeting, also canceled a scheduled breakfast with O’Rourke on Monday, instead meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who successfully requested $1.4 billion in U.S. anti-drug aid in 2008, and who also met with President-elect Barack Obama on Monday.
“This level intervention in quashing a spirited debate about a serious policy conundrum is chilling,” said Terry Nelson, a 30-year veteran federal anti-drug agent and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a 10,000-member organization representing police, prosecutors, judges and others who fought on the front lines of the “war on drugs” and now support legalization and regulation. “With so many killings and kidnappings by the illegal drug cartels, we just can’t afford to keep avoiding an important discussion about the failures of our decades-long ‘war on drugs.’ We’re looking forward to seeing U.S. Sen. Jim Webb’s recently announced blue ribbon commission on high incarceration rates taking a good, hard look at why so many nonviolent drug offenders fill our prisons.”

Rep. Reyes and state legislators haven’t yet detailed the specifics of any funding threats against El Paso they’ve been warned about or from where they came. The states legislators’ and congressman’s letter are online HERE (PDF) and HERE (PDF) respectively.

Six votes were needed to override the mayor’s veto of the resolution calling for the national debate to continue.

For more information, please visit http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com or contact Tom Angell at (202) 557-4979 or media@leap.cc.

With Respect to the author, we would like to take this a little further.

What we need to know is exactly who made these “threats” and why. In the letter from Rep. Reyes (PDF above) he attempted to use the Stimulus Package and it’s benefits to El Paso as a reason to stop discussion of the legalization issue.
Which, of course, makes no sense at all. There’s nothing in the Stimulus Package that threatens to withhold civic funding if drug legalization is discussed.
So there is obviously some underlying reason or reasons of which we are not aware.
We certainly don’t claim to know why Reyes wants the debate stifled, but it should be looked into.

Personally, I don’t think funding is threatened at all.

Two points:
1) Reyes may just be another anti-Marijuana idiot as is reflected in his votes against the Hinchey Amendments that would prevent the federal Gov’t from funding harassment against Co-Ops, in States where medical Marijuana is legal, by the DEA.
Reyes voted against ALL progressive Drug issues his entire career…

Representative Sylvester ‘Silver’ Reyes (TX)

Current Office: U.S. House
Current District: 16
First Elected: 11/05/1996
Last Elected: 11/04/2008
Next Election: 2006
Party: Democratic

Drug Issues
(Back to top)
Date Bill Title Vote Outcome
06/10/2008 Assistance for Mexico and Central America for Anti-Drug Programs (Merida Program)
HR 6028 Y Bill Passed - House
(311 - 106)
07/25/2007 State and Federal Medical Marijuana Law Enforcement and Implementation
H Amdt 674 N Amendment Rejected - House
(165 - 262)
06/09/2006 Foreign Operations and Export Finance Appropriation Act
HR 5522 NV Bill Passed - House
(373 - 34)
12/14/2005 PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
HR 3199 Y Conference Report Adopted - House
(251 - 174)
06/15/2005 Medical Marijuana Use Amendment
H AMDT 272 N Amendment Rejected - House
(161 - 264)
09/16/1998 Illegal Drug Amendment
H Amdt 887 N Amendment Adopted - House
(291 - 133)
08/07/1998 Illegal Drug Amendment
H Amdt 869 Y Amendment Adopted - House
(250 - 169)
04/29/1998 Needle Exchange Funding Ban
HR 3717 Y Bill Passed - House
(287 - 140)
09/11/1997 Needle Exchange Amendment
H Amdt 347 Y Amendment Adopted - House
(266 - 158)

2) Sylvester Reyes has family in Mexico. One of his relations was previously kidnapped in Juarez.
Could he fear retaliation against his family in Mexico if he doesn’t stop efforts to take the profit out of the drug trade?
Is he in that deep? Threatened? Deeper than that?

There’s no telling at this point, but those in El Paso that promote legalization should not allow Reyes, members of the local gov’t or anyone else to silence the debate. It’s far too important and it’s not going away that easily.

Whatever Reyes’ motivation, it’s ethically unsound and behind the times to resist the changes that so obviously need to be made in the way drugs are viewed in this country and how the existing laws are enforced.
We urge Councilman Beto O’Rourke and his fellow progressives to reject the El Paso Ultimatum, Rep. Reyes, and any other voice of discord that stands against them. Their right as American leaders to seek solutions that benefit their people is being infringed upon by the fearful and the hopelessly unwise.

Our letter to Rep. Reyes just went out so it’s too early to expect an answer at this time. It may be too naive of us to expect any answer at all.

We do know this much. If the profit isn’t taken out of the drug trade, people will continue to die as a result.
We need legal, controlled drugs and our military on the Mexican border before it’s too late. For many it already is.