Maria Full Of Grace Analysis
Book/Film Interpretation Project
Maria Full Of Grace
Director Joshua Marston takes a refreshing approach to film making by deliberately avoiding stereotypical representations and overly violent depictions in his documentary-style movie Maria Full of Grace. Marston, born in 1968 in California and a newcomer to film making with editing and writing to his credits, was sharply dedicated to creating a realistic representation of the Colombian way of life. He spent five years on the project and I am taken by Marston’s commitment to reality…depicted in every aspect of his filming but in particular to his willingness to involve regular, ongoing and evolving input from the cast through improvisation and regular rewrites. Even the inclusion of the …show more content…
Don Fernando character, the Colombian “go-to” person in Queens, N.Y., was rewritten into the script to include the real life Fernando, Orlando Tobon, following numerous conversations and collaborations with Tobon. But more about Tobon later.
Marston’s focus on avoiding generalizations, thereby ensuring authenticity to the representation of daily life in Colombia, is evident throughout every component of the movie including the casting, the language, the music, the sets, even the order in which he tells the story. The attention given to the small details of every day life is critical to depicting those involved in the drug trade either as people, providing a human face to an industry that is generally faceless.
The characters are developed with complexity in a way that avoids typical characterizations lending to an authentic sense of realism as well as to the palpable tension that builds and is maintained throughout the movie. The tension is even more notable as it is accomplished without the use of particularly violent images.
Maria (played by Bogotá native Catalina Sandino Moreno), one example of complex character development, is a typical Colombian teenager. She is rebellious and serious; not a particularly good employee working long hard hours in a rose plantation. Maria goes to church, as do virtually all Colombians since 96% of the population is Roman Catholic; yet she has sinful interactions with her boyfriend. Maria lives with her extended family in a modest home as is typical. She loves her family and respects her mother, but resents having to work hard and provide for her sister and nephew; as any teenager would regardless of his/her family’s expectations. Maria’s entry into the drug trade is not plainly evident, but instead a subtle manipulation with a focus on economic benefits.
One other significant character development, among many, is Fernando Orlando factually based on the life of Orlando Tobon and played by Tobon himself. Orlando is a central character with a strong sense of responsibility to Colombians, both alive and dead. This sense of responsibility is not uncommon in Colombian culture. In an article from MSNBC.com titled “Helping Colombian ‘drug mules’”, Tobon is described as a good Samaritan who has been in the United States for more than 30 years, and acts as a lifeline for Colombians in Queens, N.Y. For those who need work or help with taxes and travel, he is always and without condition available. For the unfortunate victims of the body packing trade, Tobon/Orlando works to find and notify their families and raise the funds necessary to repatriate the bodies.
According to his commentary, Marston felt it was important to humanize the drug mule and subsequently depict the solution as economic and social, not military and criminal as he views the solution as economic and social. The argument made throughout is that subtle manipulation, not overt violence, is what brings everyday, middle class people to participate in the drug trade.
The inclusion of the rose plantation, the factory environment in which Maria works, is a notable opening for the movie as the flower industry is a major contributor, along with oil and coffee, to the economics of Colombia. According to an article titled “Colombia” from MSN Encarta, economic progress during the last 100 years has been substantial primarily due to globalization.
Changes enacted in 1991 by the Colombian government implemented economic reforms which allowed new openings for globalization. Although a bit outdated, a table below from a June 1997 article titled “Colombia” by Julissa Castellanos from American University at Washington D.C, helps to show the economic contribution of the rose plantations:
A Glance at Colombia 's Rose Trade Figures
Income from flower exports
US$ 315 million (1992)
Number of Companies
250 Plus 80 smaller companies
Total number of nurseries
400
Average nursery size
8 hectares
Acreage used for rose production (1990)
3914…expected growth in 1991 - 5%
Rose production (1990)
102,000 tons
85% of this harvest was exported
Production has gone up 35% since 1988.
Main rose producing areas
Bogotá 87%
Medellin 7%
Cali 3%
Note: Other primary economic industrial sources for Colombia include oil and coffee.
Globalization has been at a cost to Colombian families, particularly to women and their families. According to the same article by Julissa Castellanos, in Colombia 80% of the 80,000 workers in the flower industry are women. As depicted in the movie, these women are working extremely long hours for low wages. They are exposed to pesticides and in many cases are the victims of labor rights violations. Women can start working as young as 14, particularly if the money is needed for the family. Women suffer silently through many hardships including days that start as early as 3:30 a.m., 1 – 2 hour commute to and from work, few breaks, hot sun, exposure to chemicals products and so on. Four out of five of the households that depend on the flower industry are headed by women creating a cycle of dependency that is directly driven by and affects the stability of the family. In a perverse, relative way, the rose industry may be considered a win/win situation by some. It is this lifestyle that Maria is rebelling against.
Colombian lifestyle, too, is filled with passionate joys. Colombians love music and dance…a rich tradition of folk music. The scene of Maria and her friends Salsa dancing is not an unusual event and adds warmth to the movie further portraying Maria as a normal Colombian teenager.
In order to understand why anyone would tolerate working conditions like those on the rose plantations, it is important to understand the Colombian view of family as well as the economic and political environment which drives day to day life for the poor to middle class living in Colombia. First about family, then to the economic and political environment.
In Colombian families, roles are sharply delineated. Women play a substantial, but subordinate role. Marston uses Maria break up with her boyfriend to genuinely speak to women’s secondary role when he insists they live together with his family if they are to be married as living with her family, although there are fewer in the house, carries too much social stigma causing inevitable disdain for him and his family.
In Colombian culture, family and children are a top priority for women.
Ultimately, the welfare of all members of the family falls to the women and it is not a responsibility taken lightly. As depicted in the movie, women will provide for the family even if this means living together in confined quarters, sharing modest amounts of food, suffering through labor injustices for hard earned monies and so on. Although most in Colombian society are poor, given the unemployment rate by the end of the 1990s rose to 20% per an article titled “Colombia” published by MSN Encarta, the lacking financial situation becomes more manageable by living together.
According to another article titled “Colombia”, this one published by Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, people in Colombia live on the equivalent of $1 a day…working in hard, strenuous conditions with a strong sense of family with little opportunity to overcome the oppression. Simply conducting the math calculation makes the economics of it understandable. If a dollar is the approximate equivalent of 2.3 pesos (2005 average per “Colombia” MSN Encarta), just imagine what $5,000 earned from one smuggling trip can do for someone and his/her …show more content…
family.
According to the Census Bureau, the total number of immigrants to the United States as of April 2006 is estimated to be 17,973,882M, with a rate of change from 2001 – 2006 at 6.4%. The number of Colombian immigrants in the US according to Marton’s commentary is in excess of 4.4 M. The immigration rates are easy to understand given that for most of the early to mid 2000s, many describe Colombia as in midst of a full scale civil war. According to more detailed statistics from the Census Bureau, during the late 1990s, South America accounted for approximately 3 – 5% of the total number of individuals granted asylum in the United States, with Colombians accounting for approximately 19% of that total. That number began to increase notably in 2002 with a sharp increase in 2002 until present with the total number of South Americans hovering in the 12-13% range: more than 85% of that number was Colombians.
INDIVIDUALS GRANTED ASYLUM DEFENSIVELY BY REGION AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: FISCAL YEARS 1997 TO 2006
Region
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
OF THE TOTAL: NUMBER FROM SOUTH AMERICA
Total
6,559
7,291
8,421
9,236
10,001
10,977
13,376
13,015
11,737
13,240
South America
243
230
406
492
583
1,162
1,802
1,747
1,448
1,207
3.70%
3.15%
4.82%
5.33%
5.83%
10.59%
13.47%
13.42%
12.34%
9.12%
OF THE TOTAL SOUTH AMERICANS: NUMBER OF COLOMBIANS
South America
243
230
406
492
583
1,162
1,802
1,747
1,448
1,207
Colombia
48
35
87
186
396
1,019
1,590
1,472
1,150
775
19.75%
15.22%
21.43%
37.80%
67.92%
87.69%
88.24%
84.26%
79.42%
64.21%
As outlined in the MSN Encarta article “Colombia”, Colombia has been plagued by an illegal drug trade that flourished in the country as a consequence of the growing demand for narcotics, particularly in the United States. After 1980, Colombia began exporting large amounts of illegal drugs, primarily cocaine. The estimated value amounted to almost half the value of legal exports from 1980 to 1995.
According to an article published by NCBI, body packing is a distinct method for smuggling drugs.
Marston depicts the process in the movie in a remarkably accurate way. The large, latex drug pellets, 60 – 100 at a time, are prepared, swallowed and passed all as shown in the movie. Every detail is meticulously documented right down to practicing with grapes to numbing of the throat with chloraseptic to the use of toothpaste to assist with swallowing a second time. Sadly, the drug trade is an ingrained, everyday part of Colombian culture; so much so that it is not uncommon to see signs throughout the Bogotá airport trying to deter mules from their accepted assignments. It is interesting to note that Marston too uses posters and advertisements at the airport throughout the movie…it is the details that are interesting and had it not been for Marston’s commentary and my subsequent third view of the movie, I would not have noticed. “It 's what 's on the inside that counts" (es lo que hay dentro que cuenta) is viewable behind Maria as she is walking through the airport…an interesting double entendre referring to Maria’s strength and good heart as well as her
baby.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, President Alvaro Uribe, an independent, was inaugurated as president in 2002 and worked to reestablish the involvement of the United States, specifically financial. In May 2006, Uribe won again easily with 60% of the vote. Colombian voters credited Uribe with ending much of the daily violence. There are signs of positive movement throughout the country. Many Colombians have a very strong sense of patriotism as is depicted through the lives of many in the movie who stay and endure to help. Likewise, some become drug smugglers to help.
The political environment, and the everyday nature of the violence, is yet another detail Marston weaves into the movie. During one scene where teenagers are working on their vehicles, there is a radio playing in the background talking of the guerilla violence. It is just part of their day to day lives.
One of Marston’s stated objectives is to provide an answer to the question, “Why would someone become a drug mule?” His consistently illustrated point is that the answer is not complicated and is woven into the everyday fibers of the Colombian culture. To speak in this paper to all of the examples of thoughtful detail used throughout the movie intended to provide a fair unbiased picture of Colombian culture just is not feasible, but it is remarkable.
Marston’s self proclaimed arduous process to avoid generalizations allows Maria Full of Grace to be a movie that can in fact talk to the Colombian culture in a way that is honest and non inflammatory, providing for a humanized view of the drug mule. Most viewers can relate to the depictions of hardships in day to day life. Given the circumstances of Colombian poor and middle class, one can then empathize with the painstaking process of making the decision to enter the drug trade. It is in fact sickening to me that it is primarily women and children who are subtly manipulated into this life changing decision. It should be noted that Maria Full of Grace won numerous awards including Winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and 2005 Academy Award Nomination. For what it’s worth, I believe the deserved accolades are because of Marston’s ability to elicit the viewer’s empathy and understanding for an otherwise indefensible and reprehensible choice.
Works Cited
Castellanso, Julissa. June 29, 1997. American University, Washington, D.C. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.american.edu/TED/rose.htm>
Census Bureau. “National and State Population Estimates. Cumulative Estimates of Population Change for the United States, Regions, States and Puerto Rico and Region and State Rankings: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (NST-EST2006-02)”. January 2007. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-pop-chg.html.>
Census Bureau. “Individuals Granted Asylum Defensively by Region and Country of Origin: Fiscal Years 1997 to 2006.” January 2007. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/2006/Table19D.xls.>
"Colombia." Britannica Book of the Year, 2002. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 1 July
2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9383601>.
“Colombia.” Encarta 2007. 2007. Encarta MSN.com. 26 June 2007.
<http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761564636>
“Drug smuggling by body packing: what radiologists should know about it.” Hergan K,
Kofler K, Oser W. 2004 April14:736-42. Epub 2003 Oct 18. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14566426&dopt=Abstract.>
“Caring for ‘drug mules’ who perish on the job.” Carmen Sesin. 2004 May 25. 27 June 2007.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5050399/from/ET/.>
Maria Full Of Grace
Director Joshua Marston takes a refreshing approach to film making by deliberately avoiding stereotypical representations and overly violent depictions in his documentary-style movie Maria Full of Grace. Marston, born in 1968 in California and a newcomer to film making with editing and writing to his credits, was sharply dedicated to creating a realistic representation of the Colombian way of life. He spent five years on the project and I am taken by Marston’s commitment to reality…depicted in every aspect of his filming but in particular to his willingness to involve regular, ongoing and evolving input from the cast through improvisation and regular rewrites. Even the inclusion of the …show more content…
Don Fernando character, the Colombian “go-to” person in Queens, N.Y., was rewritten into the script to include the real life Fernando, Orlando Tobon, following numerous conversations and collaborations with Tobon. But more about Tobon later.
Marston’s focus on avoiding generalizations, thereby ensuring authenticity to the representation of daily life in Colombia, is evident throughout every component of the movie including the casting, the language, the music, the sets, even the order in which he tells the story. The attention given to the small details of every day life is critical to depicting those involved in the drug trade either as people, providing a human face to an industry that is generally faceless.
The characters are developed with complexity in a way that avoids typical characterizations lending to an authentic sense of realism as well as to the palpable tension that builds and is maintained throughout the movie. The tension is even more notable as it is accomplished without the use of particularly violent images.
Maria (played by Bogotá native Catalina Sandino Moreno), one example of complex character development, is a typical Colombian teenager. She is rebellious and serious; not a particularly good employee working long hard hours in a rose plantation. Maria goes to church, as do virtually all Colombians since 96% of the population is Roman Catholic; yet she has sinful interactions with her boyfriend. Maria lives with her extended family in a modest home as is typical. She loves her family and respects her mother, but resents having to work hard and provide for her sister and nephew; as any teenager would regardless of his/her family’s expectations. Maria’s entry into the drug trade is not plainly evident, but instead a subtle manipulation with a focus on economic benefits.
One other significant character development, among many, is Fernando Orlando factually based on the life of Orlando Tobon and played by Tobon himself. Orlando is a central character with a strong sense of responsibility to Colombians, both alive and dead. This sense of responsibility is not uncommon in Colombian culture. In an article from MSNBC.com titled “Helping Colombian ‘drug mules’”, Tobon is described as a good Samaritan who has been in the United States for more than 30 years, and acts as a lifeline for Colombians in Queens, N.Y. For those who need work or help with taxes and travel, he is always and without condition available. For the unfortunate victims of the body packing trade, Tobon/Orlando works to find and notify their families and raise the funds necessary to repatriate the bodies.
According to his commentary, Marston felt it was important to humanize the drug mule and subsequently depict the solution as economic and social, not military and criminal as he views the solution as economic and social. The argument made throughout is that subtle manipulation, not overt violence, is what brings everyday, middle class people to participate in the drug trade.
The inclusion of the rose plantation, the factory environment in which Maria works, is a notable opening for the movie as the flower industry is a major contributor, along with oil and coffee, to the economics of Colombia. According to an article titled “Colombia” from MSN Encarta, economic progress during the last 100 years has been substantial primarily due to globalization.
Changes enacted in 1991 by the Colombian government implemented economic reforms which allowed new openings for globalization. Although a bit outdated, a table below from a June 1997 article titled “Colombia” by Julissa Castellanos from American University at Washington D.C, helps to show the economic contribution of the rose plantations:
A Glance at Colombia 's Rose Trade Figures
Income from flower exports
US$ 315 million (1992)
Number of Companies
250 Plus 80 smaller companies
Total number of nurseries
400
Average nursery size
8 hectares
Acreage used for rose production (1990)
3914…expected growth in 1991 - 5%
Rose production (1990)
102,000 tons
85% of this harvest was exported
Production has gone up 35% since 1988.
Main rose producing areas
Bogotá 87%
Medellin 7%
Cali 3%
Note: Other primary economic industrial sources for Colombia include oil and coffee.
Globalization has been at a cost to Colombian families, particularly to women and their families. According to the same article by Julissa Castellanos, in Colombia 80% of the 80,000 workers in the flower industry are women. As depicted in the movie, these women are working extremely long hours for low wages. They are exposed to pesticides and in many cases are the victims of labor rights violations. Women can start working as young as 14, particularly if the money is needed for the family. Women suffer silently through many hardships including days that start as early as 3:30 a.m., 1 – 2 hour commute to and from work, few breaks, hot sun, exposure to chemicals products and so on. Four out of five of the households that depend on the flower industry are headed by women creating a cycle of dependency that is directly driven by and affects the stability of the family. In a perverse, relative way, the rose industry may be considered a win/win situation by some. It is this lifestyle that Maria is rebelling against.
Colombian lifestyle, too, is filled with passionate joys. Colombians love music and dance…a rich tradition of folk music. The scene of Maria and her friends Salsa dancing is not an unusual event and adds warmth to the movie further portraying Maria as a normal Colombian teenager.
In order to understand why anyone would tolerate working conditions like those on the rose plantations, it is important to understand the Colombian view of family as well as the economic and political environment which drives day to day life for the poor to middle class living in Colombia. First about family, then to the economic and political environment.
In Colombian families, roles are sharply delineated. Women play a substantial, but subordinate role. Marston uses Maria break up with her boyfriend to genuinely speak to women’s secondary role when he insists they live together with his family if they are to be married as living with her family, although there are fewer in the house, carries too much social stigma causing inevitable disdain for him and his family.
In Colombian culture, family and children are a top priority for women.
Ultimately, the welfare of all members of the family falls to the women and it is not a responsibility taken lightly. As depicted in the movie, women will provide for the family even if this means living together in confined quarters, sharing modest amounts of food, suffering through labor injustices for hard earned monies and so on. Although most in Colombian society are poor, given the unemployment rate by the end of the 1990s rose to 20% per an article titled “Colombia” published by MSN Encarta, the lacking financial situation becomes more manageable by living together.
According to another article titled “Colombia”, this one published by Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, people in Colombia live on the equivalent of $1 a day…working in hard, strenuous conditions with a strong sense of family with little opportunity to overcome the oppression. Simply conducting the math calculation makes the economics of it understandable. If a dollar is the approximate equivalent of 2.3 pesos (2005 average per “Colombia” MSN Encarta), just imagine what $5,000 earned from one smuggling trip can do for someone and his/her …show more content…
family.
According to the Census Bureau, the total number of immigrants to the United States as of April 2006 is estimated to be 17,973,882M, with a rate of change from 2001 – 2006 at 6.4%. The number of Colombian immigrants in the US according to Marton’s commentary is in excess of 4.4 M. The immigration rates are easy to understand given that for most of the early to mid 2000s, many describe Colombia as in midst of a full scale civil war. According to more detailed statistics from the Census Bureau, during the late 1990s, South America accounted for approximately 3 – 5% of the total number of individuals granted asylum in the United States, with Colombians accounting for approximately 19% of that total. That number began to increase notably in 2002 with a sharp increase in 2002 until present with the total number of South Americans hovering in the 12-13% range: more than 85% of that number was Colombians.
INDIVIDUALS GRANTED ASYLUM DEFENSIVELY BY REGION AND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: FISCAL YEARS 1997 TO 2006
Region
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
OF THE TOTAL: NUMBER FROM SOUTH AMERICA
Total
6,559
7,291
8,421
9,236
10,001
10,977
13,376
13,015
11,737
13,240
South America
243
230
406
492
583
1,162
1,802
1,747
1,448
1,207
3.70%
3.15%
4.82%
5.33%
5.83%
10.59%
13.47%
13.42%
12.34%
9.12%
OF THE TOTAL SOUTH AMERICANS: NUMBER OF COLOMBIANS
South America
243
230
406
492
583
1,162
1,802
1,747
1,448
1,207
Colombia
48
35
87
186
396
1,019
1,590
1,472
1,150
775
19.75%
15.22%
21.43%
37.80%
67.92%
87.69%
88.24%
84.26%
79.42%
64.21%
As outlined in the MSN Encarta article “Colombia”, Colombia has been plagued by an illegal drug trade that flourished in the country as a consequence of the growing demand for narcotics, particularly in the United States. After 1980, Colombia began exporting large amounts of illegal drugs, primarily cocaine. The estimated value amounted to almost half the value of legal exports from 1980 to 1995.
According to an article published by NCBI, body packing is a distinct method for smuggling drugs.
Marston depicts the process in the movie in a remarkably accurate way. The large, latex drug pellets, 60 – 100 at a time, are prepared, swallowed and passed all as shown in the movie. Every detail is meticulously documented right down to practicing with grapes to numbing of the throat with chloraseptic to the use of toothpaste to assist with swallowing a second time. Sadly, the drug trade is an ingrained, everyday part of Colombian culture; so much so that it is not uncommon to see signs throughout the Bogotá airport trying to deter mules from their accepted assignments. It is interesting to note that Marston too uses posters and advertisements at the airport throughout the movie…it is the details that are interesting and had it not been for Marston’s commentary and my subsequent third view of the movie, I would not have noticed. “It 's what 's on the inside that counts" (es lo que hay dentro que cuenta) is viewable behind Maria as she is walking through the airport…an interesting double entendre referring to Maria’s strength and good heart as well as her
baby.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, President Alvaro Uribe, an independent, was inaugurated as president in 2002 and worked to reestablish the involvement of the United States, specifically financial. In May 2006, Uribe won again easily with 60% of the vote. Colombian voters credited Uribe with ending much of the daily violence. There are signs of positive movement throughout the country. Many Colombians have a very strong sense of patriotism as is depicted through the lives of many in the movie who stay and endure to help. Likewise, some become drug smugglers to help.
The political environment, and the everyday nature of the violence, is yet another detail Marston weaves into the movie. During one scene where teenagers are working on their vehicles, there is a radio playing in the background talking of the guerilla violence. It is just part of their day to day lives.
One of Marston’s stated objectives is to provide an answer to the question, “Why would someone become a drug mule?” His consistently illustrated point is that the answer is not complicated and is woven into the everyday fibers of the Colombian culture. To speak in this paper to all of the examples of thoughtful detail used throughout the movie intended to provide a fair unbiased picture of Colombian culture just is not feasible, but it is remarkable.
Marston’s self proclaimed arduous process to avoid generalizations allows Maria Full of Grace to be a movie that can in fact talk to the Colombian culture in a way that is honest and non inflammatory, providing for a humanized view of the drug mule. Most viewers can relate to the depictions of hardships in day to day life. Given the circumstances of Colombian poor and middle class, one can then empathize with the painstaking process of making the decision to enter the drug trade. It is in fact sickening to me that it is primarily women and children who are subtly manipulated into this life changing decision. It should be noted that Maria Full of Grace won numerous awards including Winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and 2005 Academy Award Nomination. For what it’s worth, I believe the deserved accolades are because of Marston’s ability to elicit the viewer’s empathy and understanding for an otherwise indefensible and reprehensible choice.
Works Cited
Castellanso, Julissa. June 29, 1997. American University, Washington, D.C. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.american.edu/TED/rose.htm>
Census Bureau. “National and State Population Estimates. Cumulative Estimates of Population Change for the United States, Regions, States and Puerto Rico and Region and State Rankings: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (NST-EST2006-02)”. January 2007. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-pop-chg.html.>
Census Bureau. “Individuals Granted Asylum Defensively by Region and Country of Origin: Fiscal Years 1997 to 2006.” January 2007. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/2006/Table19D.xls.>
"Colombia." Britannica Book of the Year, 2002. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 1 July
2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9383601>.
“Colombia.” Encarta 2007. 2007. Encarta MSN.com. 26 June 2007.
<http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761564636>
“Drug smuggling by body packing: what radiologists should know about it.” Hergan K,
Kofler K, Oser W. 2004 April14:736-42. Epub 2003 Oct 18. 26 June 2007.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14566426&dopt=Abstract.>
“Caring for ‘drug mules’ who perish on the job.” Carmen Sesin. 2004 May 25. 27 June 2007.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5050399/from/ET/.>