MovieChat Forums > Monti
Monti (5)
Posts
Who did you feel empathy for while watching this?
Narcos obstructs the obvious truth – The war on drugs is a crime against humanity
View all posts >
Replies
not necessary to rewatch. just watch the season 1 recap on youtube... there's also tons of wikis that will remind you of all the details.
it's a great show. don't listen to all of the negativity here. If you liked the first episode you'll probably enjoy the rest of it even more.
Just finished the third season of Narcos. Again, I thought it was pretty good as an action/crime series, but again I thought it is was an ideological disgrace.
I was hoping that by the third season of the series will start getting more critical of the drug war and its horrific consequences. Instead we get Agent Peña in season finale, ranting about “governments who don’t give a shit about the war they’re supposed to be fighting” and while Peña admits that the war on drugs “can’t be won. It’ll never be won” he again blames it on some obscure forces: “at least not until people see it for what it is. Not until they know the truth.”
What is the man talking about? Instead of blabbering on about corrupt politicians, and how, in a different universe the war on drugs could be won, it would be better if the series acknowledged and reflected a bit on the evident facts:
A. Drug-taking has been part of human culture in human communities across the globe since the dawn of mankind and for all purposes it appears to be a fundamental human need
B. that the vast majority of the people on the planet consume some kind of drug (when you include legal drugs such as alcohol and caffeine) and will continue to do despite the persecutions of people like agent Peña.
C. The vast majority of drug users will not develop destructive habits of use and when that occur this has more to do with social and personal context rather than the identity of a substance being ingested (cocaine vs. Ritalin or Adderall for instance).
D. The deaths created by illegal drugs are negligible in number (counted in the thousands) when compared with those of legal drugs such as sugar, nicotine and alcohol (counted in the millions) which puts the war on drugs in kind of a ridiculous light
E. Over the past decades the war on drugs has been responsible for dozens of thousands of innocent lives lost, incredible cruelties, and the corruption and collapse of state apparatuses. Much of this is the result of ruthless drug cartels yet the existence of drug cartels and their accompanying levels of corruption and violence is only made possible by an illegal economy brought to life by unrealistic drug laws and draconian attempts to enforce state discipline on its citizens. No drug war- no drug cartels..
F. Judging from all that we know about drug use across history and societies, a drug free world is an unachievable and therefore destructive fantasy. Those pushing for this fantasy are therefore playing with fire.
Instead of telling us at least some of these evident facts, demonstrated by countless sociologists and drug policy experts we again get a DEA agent Peña explaining how only we had more force, perseverance or political support we could win the war on drugs. What a bunch of baloney. It is people like agent Peña who are the true criminals of the drug war. People who’d rather go to all out wars against cartels and see whole countries go down in flames (see Peña’s insistence to prevent the Cali cartel from peacefully dismantling itself, and to hell with the consequences). The real danger to society are people who promote the unrealistic, paternalistic and authoritarian logic of the American drug war which has led to many dozens of thousands of deaths, collapse of entire countries, civil rights violations, corruption of democracy and racial profiling.
Coca was legal and used by south-american people for centuries without much evidence of addiction. By prohibiting cocaine as well as coca leaves through international treaties the US has destroyed such ancient traditions and led to the flourishing of malignant culture of cocaine abuse instead.
A different world is possible, but not by forcing the hands of global citizenry. It is achievable through more humane policies that will be based on inclusion, communication and commitment to social work and public health. This is a lot more difficult then barging into homes and wiretapping drug dealers. Narcos should have told us at least a bit of that story. Instead, now in season 3, it is still perpetuating the destructive narrative of the drug war. This is inexcusable.
View all replies >