UTEP Professor Drawing Attention With Book About Border Drug War

by ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt

EL PASO, Texas — A UTEP professor has released a new book about the drug war along the border. It is called “Drug War Zone” and it’s creating quite a stir.

Sociology professor Howard Campbell has been reluctant in the past to talk about the rather revealing book. But now that it’s out, he decided to speak with ABC-7 about the book and the growing concerns about the situation in the Borderland.

“It’s really a scary thing and it’s gone on for almost two years,” Campbell said.

Campbell said his goal in writing the book, which took five years to complete, was to put a human face on the drug war in the Borderland.

“I’m trying to bring people’s attention, especially nationally, and internationally as well, to the great tragedy that’s going on in Juarez and the fact it really is a war.”

According to early reviews, Campbell seems to have accomplished that.

“Most people who have read the book tell me they really enjoy it because it’s in the words of the participants. It really shows the lives of people on a day to day basis in the world of the drug war.”

And through that, he hopes “that the book will cause us to think beyond the numbers of people dead and the tons of cocaine confiscated and that’s about whether drug war policy is currently constituted … makes sense for people in both countries.”

Campbell doesn’t shy away in the book from expressing an opinion.

“I’m sure there’s a way to rethink this strategy such that we can lower consumption of drugs and lower violence … Those should be our goals.”

Campbell’s book is available from the UTEP bookstore.