The Real Mexican Problem

Across this great nation, and particularly down here in Arizona, there is a great fear of, and anger at, the Mexicans.

There is a reason for that fear.

But that reason has nothing to do with an invasion of child molesters and drunk drivers, the burden on our education and health care systems, immigrants cornering the toilet cleaning and melon picking markets, NAFTA, the reconquista of the Southwest, or as some numb brains have suggested-- the price of gas:



The real reason is that large portions of Mexico are controlled by murderous drug cartels, with tentacles reaching into all fifty states, and which the Mexican federal government, despite heroic efforts, and massive assistance by the United States, is unable to control.

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in 2006, more than 4,000 people have died in drug-related violence. Just last Tuesday seven federales were killed by the Simola Drug Cartel in Culiacan.

These brutal gangs essentially run and control large segments of northern Mexico, shipping tons of coke, smack, and pot into the US, less than 10% of which is seized by the DEA, border patrol, Mexican officials, or other law enforcement agencies.

The real Mexican problem is that there is a huge demand for the wares these gangs peddle in the United States. And with billions and billions of dollars to be made, no fence, no matter how big, is going to stop the flow.

The United States and Mexico, for over thirty years, have been fighting a loosing battle to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, and curb these mega-criminals, with virtually no success.

In America we have tried a lot of get tough remedies. One out of a hundred Americans is residing in prison, and 20% of them are there on drug charges.

A ton of money has been poured into the effort. Last year over 16 billion dollars was expended by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. That same year we sent $397 million to Mexico, and Bush is asking Congress to appropriate an additional $1.4 billion.

Nancy Reagan told us to “just say no” and there was DARE, and all the other drug education efforts. There is zero tolerance in the schools— fourteen year old girls are strip searched in an effort to find illicit Motrin. Recently I saw a proposal to increase the local sales tax a few notches, to fund some new snazzy program to keep the kids off drugs.

But, the gangs continue to thrive, along with their culture of death and corruption, on both sides of the border, and they will continue to, as long as Americans want to get high.

We've been down this road before. It was called prohibition. It didn't work then, and its not working now.

Of course liberals feel the way to end this is to crack down on the sales of guns in the United States, and having no choice but to admit that demand for drugs is the biggest component of the problem, they want to throw more money at rehab programs.

Lame.

The only way to put these thugs out of business, is to regulate these lethal substances, in the same way we do tobacco and alcohol.