[piercehawkeye45]

http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/node/15096

Drug-related violence is spreading throughout Mexico. In 2008, drug-war-related deaths topped 5,600 -- more than the five-year total of U.S. casualties in Iraq. Drug cartels are undermining the state: They infiltrate local and regional governments, corrupt police officers and judicial officials, and threaten and kill independent journalists. Those in public positions often face the ultimate Faustian bargain -- "la plata o el plomo" -- money or death.

The United States has been slow to recognize its responsibility as the main consumer of these illegal drugs. But the U.S. Congress did pass the Merida Initiative last May, increasing security aid to the country's embattled neighbor from a paltry $40 million to $400 million a year.

Sounds like real help, right?

Unfortunately, these numbers pale in comparison with the funds the United States supplies to Mexico's bad guys. U.S. drug consumers send at least $12 billion a year back to Mexico's cartels, and the U.S. government does little to stop it. Dealers gather individual sales of $20, $50, $100, or more from the streets of New York, Chicago, Charlotte, or Fresno. Through bank transfers, money wiring, and even Greyhound bus, the cash is amassed at the southern border, then put into cars and trucks, and shipped south -- without a glance from U.S. customs officials. This money keeps the cartels in business, funding corruption and violence.

As Cloud personally experienced and commented on last year, the drug problem is becoming a real issue in the southern United States and Mexico. The drug wars are clearly failing and a new solution is needed. We cannot stop the demand of drugs without an impossible cultural change, something we have tried and failed at for the past twenty years, and by trying to restrict the supply will only push the trade deeper in the black market. The only solution I see is legalization of these drugs. On a individual level, it will probably worsen the drug problem but it will immensely help on a social level. At this point in time, it is the only rational solution I see.