Mexico is locked in a desperate struggle with vicious drug cartels which has seen over 4,152 drug related deaths since Felipe Calderon took office in December of 2006.[1] The cartels are waging war, not just for control over lucrative shipping routes to the United States, but also against the Mexican state who is seemingly powerless to stop them. Since Calderon’s offensive against the cartels over 450 police, soldiers and prosecutors have been gunned down.[2] In the Mexican state of Sinaloa the cartels are lauded for their generosity as they rebuild houses, give away cash and extravagant Christmas presents to the poor people of the region. The people of Sinaloa sing songs of praise known as narco corridos, or drug ballads, about the valientes, or the brave ones, the foot soldiers of the cartels. The cartels have learned the first lesson of a guerrilla war – win the hearts and minds of the populace. The Mexican state on the other hand has failed to do that. The Mexican government is considered corrupt and despotic by the Mexican people. All of the top officials are viewed to be on the take and the people do not trust them. The Mexican police and military are routinely thought of as abusive and corrupt showing little regard for the average Mexican with the courts protecting the wealthy and extorting and abusing the poor. With the death toll rising Mexico is now putting pressure on the United States to help fight their war.
President Bush has proposed the Merida Initiative which was suppose to include $500 million for training, equipment and technical advice for Mexico to aid in fighting the cartels eventually paying out over $1.4 billion to aid in Mexico’s war.[3] The US cannot put American solders on the streets of Mexico because of Mexican law and strong Mexican nationalism so the fighting would have to be done by the Mexican military and police. But because the drug trade is somewhere in the neighbor hood of $80 billion a year the Mexican cartels have plenty of money to buy off judges, cops, military officers and the average foot soldiers. Los Zetas, a paramilitary group who sides with the Gulf Cartel and acts as its enforcers even though it is believed they also conduct their own drug and human smuggling operations, is now reaching out to Mexican police and military personnel. Los Zetas is comprised of former Mexican special forces trained by the United States at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia where American special forces are trained. These highly trained soldiers defected to the Gulf Cartel lured in by promises of extremely high pay. Recently you could see signs hung off of overpasses in Juarez which read “The Zetas Want You – We Offer Good Salaries to Soldiers.” Mexico has stepped up by offering more money to soldiers and police officers but they continue to defect to the cartels in large numbers bringing inside knowledge about Mexican operations with them.[4]
The United States should play a major role in the war with the cartels. After all, it is Americans who are buying the drugs that are fueling it. But throwing more tax dollars at the problem isn’t going to fix anything. The solution to the problem is adopting the libertarian view that a person has the right to do whatever they wish with their body. If that includes polluting it with drugs – any drug – that is entirely their right to do so. Yes, the way to win the drug war is to legalize all drugs – not just marijuana – in the United States.
Legalizing narcotics in the United States will take away much of the business of the cartels as legitimate businesses are established in this country for the production and/or importation of drugs from other countries. The cartels derive their power from the prohibition the United States has on all narcotics. The prohibition of alcohol in the 1920’s and ‘30’s brought about nothing but violence as various mafia gangs were organized to bring in liquor from other countries or produce it domestically here at home. But when prohibition was finally done away with the violence that was created by these rival gangs stopped since there was nothing to fight about anymore. Instead legitimate businesses took over and things returned to normal. We would have the same results here and in Mexico if both nations would simply legalize liberty and allow their people to make mistakes. Libertarians reject to the notion of a “victimless crime” and drug use is one such thing. For something to be a crime there must be a victim but when someone smokes weed or shoots smack into their veins they are harming no one but themselves.
The numbers also do not work in favor of drug prohibition. The two legal drugs in this country, tobacco and alcohol, are also two of the leading causes of death. In fact those two drugs kill over 30 times as many people every year than illicit drugs do. According to a study released in Journal of the American Medical Association in the year 2000 tobacco killed an estimated 435,000 people and alcohol killed another 85,000. The death rate from illicit drugs use saw only 17,000 deaths. While I’m not arguing that “only” 17,000 people died from using drugs, which is a tragedy, the fact remains that the two drugs we do allow people to enjoy kill over half a million people a year.[5] If the state was really concerned about saving lives both of those drugs would be outlawed and it would fight them as much, or harder, than it does narcotics. But should the state ever attempt to do that then the people would rise up declaring it is their “right” to smoke and drink as much as they want. Well, if partaking in two of the leading causes of death in this country is your “right” then why is it not the right for another person to smoke marijuana, snort cocaine or shoot heroine?
Drugs have also contributed to the rise of most of the street gangs in this country. Gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, MS-13, 18th Street Gang, the Mexican Mafia, Latin Kings and dozens of others receive the bulk of their funding by distributing and selling the narcotics brought in from Mexico. These criminal street gangs battle each other for lucrative territories within American cities and are responsible for hundreds of deaths each year.
I believe the Mexican and American government should act quickly and decisively to end the war on the border before it either becomes a full blown war or spills over on to American streets. Congress should act quickly to legalize all narcotics and recognize the right of every man and woman in this country to decide for themselves what they can or cannot do with their own bodies. Mexico should likewise do the same legalizing narcotics in their nation as well as the production and exportation of these drugs. The sooner these two government bring about the end of drug prohibition the sooner their war with the cartels will end.
[1] Aspin, Chris & Beech, Eric. “Mexicans believe drug gangs winning war with gov't.” 1 June 2008. Reuters. 1 June 2008 (http://www.reuters.com)
[3] Carlsen, Laura. “Plan Mexico.” 30 October 2007. Foreign Policy in Focus. 1 June 2008 (http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4684).
[4] Associated Press. “Drug lords go after Mexican police officers.” 18 May 2008. MSNBC.com. 1 June 2008 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24695115/)
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