Stupid or Naive?

Last night on National Geographic, I saw a repeat of an episode of “Locked Up Abroad.” It was the first episode I had seen of the show and the one that turned me on to watching it.

This episode dealt with two young American women who ended up in prison in Peru because they were caught smuggling nearly 20 lbs of uncut cocaine out of Peru and into America. How they got to the point of trying to smuggle nearly 20 lbs of uncut cocaine out of Peru is what leads me to ask if they were really that stupid or that naive.

The two women are offered an all expense paid vacation to Peru by a man neither knew particularly well. In exchange for this luxury vacation, the two are asked to bring something back — the cocaine.
One of the women in the show says the amount that was found in their luggage by Peruvian law enforcement was significantly more than they were told they would be bringing back. They spent 3 years in a Peruvian prison.

Here is my question: At what point is it ever a good idea to agree to smuggle drugs? Sure Peru seems like an interesting country and I would like to visit sometime, but I will pay for it myself. If my best friend in the world offered me a free trip to some foreign country in exchange for smuggling something back be it drugs, jewels or midget sex slaves, I would not only say no, I would say hell no. I certainly wouldn’t agree to it with someone I didn’t know all that well.

And this whole series is filled with stories like this. Another one featured a 22-year-old Texan who was caught smuggling heroin out of Bangladesh. The amount she was found with made her eligible for death. During her proceedings, she was continually asked if she was 18 or if she was really 22. It was asked in such a way that it seemed the judge was giving her an out. If she were 18, she would be free to go. She refused to lie. She was sentenced to 30 years in jail. She narrowly escaped the death penalty. It wasn’t until her case caught the attention of then Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., who met with the president of Bangladesh on her behalf and secured her release. She spent 4 years in that prison.

Again, the whole free trip to a foreign country to bring back something is stupid. The people who say yes to that have to be either stupid themselves or incredibly naive to think they can pull it off. Most can’t as the series shows. Then when you are caught to not take the one out presented to you. That is dumb. I am all for honesty and I try to be honest in everything I do, but if I am facing life in a foreign prison where I have no rights or the death penalty, I will cheat, steal and lie to save my ass. I am certainly not gonna worry about principles over something as simple as age. If saying I am 18 would get me out of trouble, then by God, I am 18.

I just have to wonder what goes through people’s minds when they make certain decisions. Nothing is worth breaking the law to a point where I could face death, life in prison etc. And definitely not for a complete stranger.

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