The Conscious Gringo: A Mindful Travel Podcast
Aug 18, 2026 · 1 hr 18 min · 11 segments
If you've lived in the USA, cartels probably form a significant part of your understanding of Mexico. American media, whether in the news or in TV and film, tends to emphasize cartel violence when…
Benjamin SmithGuest
Donnel McLohonHost
And so I want to kind of fast forward us a little bit through some of those early years, because as you say, and the book, another thing that really surprised me is the almost like the best analogy I could think of is like this Robin Hood esque.
And And how, of course, there was drug money certainly going directly into his pocket once he got involved in the drug trade.
But you also make the point that he did a lot to build up schools and an education system to repair roads or build roads and all these sort of social benefits.
And as I was reading the book, I was trying to connect some dots with what I experience in Mexico.
And one thing that has also struck me about Mexico, which is still true, is the informal economy that exists here.
And I'm curious, do you feel like that's a sort of driving factor into why Of course, a big reason that the drug trade exists is because there's so much demand by the northern neighbor here for drugs.
I mean, the reason, you know, if you look at the stats on drug consumption in the USA versus Mexico, it's staggering.
I think it's like seven times the amount of drugs consumed in the USA versus Mexico.
also be very wary about Mexican stats on drugs, which they do tend to play it down because there is a slight...
To your kind of conscious gringo, I'm being the unconscious, non-conscious gringo.
But I mean, I think they quite deliberately play down the amount of drug use.
I mean, I've been up to places, very rural places in Mexico where methamphetamine abuse is absolutely kind of part of culture now.
I think that a few years ago, the Mexicali mayor actually thought that a lot of people who were homeless or were drug addicts or were returning migrants were dying.
And he got forensics to go and test all the bodies in the morgue and found that 20 percent had fentanyl in their body.
And so I want to kind of fast forward us a little bit through some of those early years, because as you say, and the book, another thing that really surprised me is the almost like the best analogy I could think of is like this Robin Hood esque.
And And how, of course, there was drug money certainly going directly into his pocket once he got involved in the drug trade.
But you also make the point that he did a lot to build up schools and an education system to repair roads or build roads and all these sort of social benefits.
And as I was reading the book, I was trying to connect some dots with what I experience in Mexico.
And one thing that has also struck me about Mexico, which is still true, is the informal economy that exists here.
And I'm curious, do you feel like that's a sort of driving factor into why Of course, a big reason that the drug trade exists is because there's so much demand by the northern neighbor here for drugs.
I mean, the reason, you know, if you look at the stats on drug consumption in the USA versus Mexico, it's staggering.
I think it's like seven times the amount of drugs consumed in the USA versus Mexico.
also be very wary about Mexican stats on drugs, which they do tend to play it down because there is a slight...
To your kind of conscious gringo, I'm being the unconscious, non-conscious gringo.
But I mean, I think they quite deliberately play down the amount of drug use.
I mean, I've been up to places, very rural places in Mexico where methamphetamine abuse is absolutely kind of part of culture now.
I think that a few years ago, the Mexicali mayor actually thought that a lot of people who were homeless or were drug addicts or were returning migrants were dying.
And he got forensics to go and test all the bodies in the morgue and found that 20 percent had fentanyl in their body.
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