To Seal a Border

AS Operation Intercept got under way, U.S. border guards and customs officers fanned out across the porous 2,500-mile Mexico border that large quantities of illegal drugs cross on their way to the U.S. Officers and trained hounds searched automobile glove compartments and trunks, children's dolls and hollow surfboards, northbound traffic was slowed for miles on Mexico's routes 2 and 15. Other agents were at the ready in Coast Guard ships, fast cars, helicopters and high-speed pursuit planes to cut off smugglers at any available pass. Eventually the U.S. hopes to encourage Mexican agents to use planes equipped with electronic sniffers to detect where marijuana is being grown and then spray the plants with a still-experimental compound that will nauseate users who later smoke the products.

"If we cut off the supply of marijuana at its source, we will drive prices sky-high and effectively take it out of the hands of 90% of the kids," says Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. Last year alone, U.S. officials estimate, 1,200 tons of marijuana were brought across the Mexican line. Only 70,210 Ibs. were detected. Also, the border leaked 20% of the heroin used in the U.S., refined from Mexican Amapola, the poppy, and an unknown amount of U.S.-made drugs such as amphetamines, which can be bought without prescription in Mexico.

Similar U.S. attempts in the past have proved frustrating, largely because drug smuggling is a high-profit, low-risk trade. The new treasure of the Sierra Madre is a traditional sideline crop for thousands of small Mexican farmers. They get up to 40 times as much for a kilo of the prized "Acapulco Gold" as they do for a kilo of corn. In Guerrero state, eager peasants using fertilizer and irrigation can harvest four crops a year. In Tijuana, enterprising merchants package marijuana in 1.8-kilo bricks --gift-wrapped at Christmas time--that cost $35 and contain enough for at least 2,000 cigarettes, or "joints." In the U.S., the same amount will bring anywhere from $400 to $1,900 for the topmost grade.

Although marijuana and opium are technically illegal in Mexico, the Mexican government has been reluctant to beef up its unsophisticated mini-force of 40 drug agents, who are so poorly paid that they are easy prey to the Mexican ethos of mordida (the bite, or payoff). Operation Intercept may discourage the amateurs who smuggle hemp across the border on major highways. It will probably have little effect on the professionals who dominate the trade. As a knowledgeable Texas border scout points out, "There are areas out there where a small army could cross without detection."

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