Ending the War on Drugs Beginning on the Front lines: Colombia - Annotated Bibliography Example

Ending the War on Drugs Beginning on the Frontlines: Colombia During the past decade, the drug war policy of the United States has mainly focused on eradicating the coca leaf. Consequently, the major aims have been campesinos who are exclusively reliant on the coca’s cultivation, usually in the regions that are under the control of Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces. The strategy has unavoidably lead to an increased military role by the United States in the forty-year old civil war in Colombia as the Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces are at present being dubbed the ‘narco-guerrillas’ by the United States of America (Cockburn 93). As a consequence, the country has now become a major target of the United States in the war on drugs. During the 1980s, we find that majority of the news on drugs that came from the country were all centered on the Cali and Medellin cartels. The former leader of the Medellin cartel known as Pablo Escobar was more than often depicted by the government of the United States as well as the media as the major enemy of the war on drugs. The formation of the cartels had been done during 1980s by the processors together with the traffickers of cocaine who were gaining supernormal profits from the market of cocaine that was really booming and flourishing. This led to the sights of the policy of the United States war on drugs being focused on the Cali and Medellin (Earlywine 73). Determination is not all it takes in order to be in a position of winning the war on drugs. The United States of America, since the year 2000, has sent over six billion dollars to Bogota to assist Alvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia together with his predecessor in stabilizing the Andean area, stop the drugs flow into the cities of the United States and reduce the production of drugs. In the so-called ‘plan Colombia,’ the United States sent choppers and pilots to the country, offered training to commandoes and prepared weapons for fighting terrorists and drug traffickers. President Uribe, on his part together with his predecessor increased the military budget from four to six percent of the total national Gross Domestic Product. However, instead of reducing the production of drugs in half by the year 2006, as was intended by the Plan Colombia, the piece of lands set aside for the cultivation of coca is up fifteen percent since the year 2000 and presently produces four percent more cocaine as compared to about eight years ago (Scott 83). This means that the goals of the Plan Colombia have not been fully accomplished. However, even though the United States was successful in eliminating the perceived leader of the drug cartels, Pablo Escobar, the war on drugs has not been successful as drugs are still being cultivated trafficked in large quantities, thus the need for trying to employ some other strategies, and see if they would work. For long, music has been a fundamental part of the culture of America, particularly that of the youth. The resistance by the youths has been generally attributed to the songs that are sung and the tunes that are played. Music has always helped the young people in expressing their views and feelings and also sharing the feelings together with views with other several young people all over the world. The youth is considered as a subculture that is intricately associated with the emergence of popular music and culture. The individuals in this particular group have the same experiences, they undergo peer groups and their badge is music; they use it as a way of the identification and expression of emotion. It is thus true that music works within the subculture of the youths as a means of definition of the self, creation of the collective enthusiasm, and creating a sense of togetherness and consciousness within the subculture. Nevertheless, school helped in the clear definition of the subculture of the youth by separating the youths physically so that a bigger part of their day is spent in the peers’ world. In the same way, children were separated ideologically by the mass media. The language used by the youths, their dressing styles, behavior, values and goals, together with music in particular turned out to be more and more strange to the adults. This gave the music industry a reason to make the youths their target market for their products, thus establishing a different culture of pre-teens. The youths made their culture an exceptional one by protecting their language and music (The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)). It is thus no wonder that since the period of 1970s, hip hop has taken over the bigger part of the youth consumer market. Rap as a term is synonymous with hip hop, even though this is not correct. Although it can be called a musical genre, we find that it is much more than just that. Currently, it has become so big that it is a representation of publications, films, language, political activism and even fashion. Nonetheless, most academicians and researchers all over the world have used all features or aspects of the hip hop culture for therapeutic purposes and related issues. The use of hip hop music helps in enhancing knowledge, particularly writing and critical thinking. It plays a crucial role in the setting of goals as well as making of decisions; it also gives us what is required for our lives to be successful and in the actual world. The use of drugs among the youths in Colombia has been on a steady rise over the past decades. However, it is important to have interventions that involve the values and beliefs of the young people so as to be in a good position of reducing this problem. Hip hop plays a very critical role in the lives of many young people in Colombia and the world as a whole, and offers a context within which the dangerous behaviors can be prevented. The students in the group of intervention are considerably more likely to possess higher information or understanding of the perception of the risk of drugs and more knowledge regarding its effects. Currently, hip hop is the undisputed face of the youth subculture and it is beyond reasonable doubt that any star in the industry becomes a darling to many. Therefore, it is the sole responsibility of the hip hop stars to write songs or lyrics that have positive messages regarding substance abuse. Hip hop has become so popular that it is even used to spread the gospel. Holy hip hop is used as a tool for preaching and it can also be used to portray substance abuse in bad light. A lot of children are growing up without a good educational background because they are just thinking of pursuing a record deal so as to be like the stars that they know in the hip hop field, which results in them dropping out of school at an early age. Some of them just think of growing up and living a thug way of life, choose to become a drug kingpin so as to earn a lot of money and be rich, like their superstars. However, what they do not know is that the hip hop stars do not make their future bright the way they are through such evil ways as perceived by many who consider hip hop as a shame and misleading the society. Legacies, societies and generations suffer due to the negative visualizations, the hip hop superstars who are ignorant, producers and executives of record companies, as well as the urban contemporary mediums that promote all the bad and negative things. It would actually be a huge favor and step for the changing of the face of the industry if several young hip hop musicians such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent came out and stated boldly that the industry is defined by glamour and image. It would also be important for the artist to emphasize the significance of education while working on their degrees or diploma, as this would be motivational to the young children because they will be able to see the importance of education and also deem possible the fact that they can pursue some other intended goals along with education, or even after their education. The hip hop stars know very well that they are well liked by their fans who are mostly the young people and this is the group that is mostly involved in the issue of drug use; thus it is their sole responsibility to be the ambassadors of the voices that are against the substance abuse. They should conduct themselves in manners that completely depict the use of drugs as evil and bad that should never be thought of by anyone. This can be especially good for the young children who normally grow up while looking up to them so as to be able to shape their future. Hip hop cannot only help in fighting the use of drugs among the youths through their messages or even lyrics, but in different way as well. For instance, there are several campaigns within the country and all over the world that are geared towards dealing with the rampant spread of substance abuse, and seeing that it is brought to an abrupt end; some of the initiatives or campaigns are sponsored by the government while others are sponsored by the non-governmental organizations. However, the best ways that these organizations or the government can effectively execute their missions and ensuring that the message reaches the youths is through organizing concerts. The organization or planning of the concerts should be done in ways that their themes contain words that condemn the use of drugs. Nonetheless, for the concerts to be successful in attracting large crowds of young people as well as grabbing their attention, big artists should be incorporated in the programs. Many of them such as The Game, Ja Rule and even Snoop Dog should be invited to perform as it is obvious that many of the youths would be willing to see their superstars face to face performing. During the concerts, the musicians should be expected to say a word or two regarding the negative effects of substance abuse and offer some piece of advice to the aspiring musicians, regarding how they can make their ways to the big platform of the hip hop industry. The social media has also been dominated by the youths and this is also another good platform that can help in denouncing and condemning the use of drugs by portraying it negatively. Discussions can be initiated on the social sites such as Facebook whereby the young people are engaged in debates regarding the importance of education and how substance abuse can ruin one’s life completely. The hip hop stars can also be the ones to initiate these talks on their web pages because they normally have several fans who subscribe to their pages or like their pages, as it is obvious that they would have a lot of comments from their fans who love them. Despite the negative attitude that the adults have towards the culture of the youths, it is a fact that there must be a working knowledge of this particular segment of the society or community, which contextualizes and engulfs the lives of the young individuals, if actually they are to be effectively communicated with. The information or message that they process should be understood if the objectives of making the society to be favorable for everyone, particularly the youths, are to be achieved (The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)). The social marketing rules are important and propose that efficient communication start with the identification and understanding of the audience that is targeted. Together, youths in Colombia represent a very strong and influential movement that surpasses gender, race, ethnicity, and economic or even social status. The youths are a moving representation of their world perception that has an external manifestation via a lot of things that describe them and that are also very unique and limited just to them. Works Cited Cockburn, Alexander. Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press. New York: Verso, 2008. Print. Earlywine, Mitchell. Understanding marijuana: a new look at the scientific evidence. Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Peet, Preston. Under the influence: the disinformation guide to drugs. The Disinformation Company, 2004. Print. Scott, Peter Dale. Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. University of California Press, 2009. Print. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). “Alternatives to Violence: Hope in Medellin.” A Speech by Rep. James McGovern. 13 Sep 2011. Read More