Nov
10
Follow the (Drug) Money
“This lawlessness and violence isn’t being fueled by Mexico. American money and American drug addiction have paid for the growth of huge criminal organizations of extraordinary violence and cruelty.” — Newt Gingrich
Cartel violence in Mexico
We have the equivalent of a Syria or Lebanon on our doorstep but with a much bigger population. The Mexican drug cartels are every bit as brutal as Muslim terrorists, and they have made certain areas of their own country (e.g., the region bordering the U.S.) into a “narco-State” warzone. They have arguably more resources than our own law enforcement and are constantly developing new methods of communication and transportation, such that our people are always playing catch-up. They have judges, lawyers, politicians, police, military, etc., in their collective pocket, either via bribes, blackmail, or threats. That includes some here in America, too. (Threatening family members is often used to coerce cooperation, and the cartels don’t care one whit about harming “innocents”.)
And it is paid for with American money.
These cartels couldn’t care less about our country,… except for the huge amounts of money that they make from our citizens (and other residents, of course) feeding their addictions. ICE estimates that Americans send somewhere between $19 billion and $29 billion in drug money to Mexico each year. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates that the Sinaloa Cartel alone earns more than $3 billion a year. All that cash buys a lot of crooked officials, guns, assassins, vehicles, tech, etc., not to mention a lavish lifestyle for the upper echelons.
After 48 years of America’s “War on Drugs”, we seem to be losing. Even with the Sinaloa Cartel’s leader, El Chapo, now in prison, the cartels have gotten stronger. Many U.S. policies either don’t seriously damage them, or they even help. (E.g., the creation of “sanctuary cities”, advocating for open borders, or when San Francisco gave out 5.8 million needles to drug users in 2018.)
So what do we do? What needs to change? According to Newt Gingrich and journalist Sara Carter, who specializes in the subject,
“The central front in defeating the cartels is the United States, not Mexico. As long as we are determined to buy drugs, a new generation of terrorists and thugs and gangsters will grow up, <<garbled>> kill the old generation. What’ll happen over time is, we’ll kill all the ones who are dumb, and the ones who are left really will be smarter and harder….
We’re also in danger of the cartels deciding that they can be [more] violent in the United States. And, the morning that starts to happen, we’re in a real nightmare.”
Sara Carter
“Reforming our criminal justice system, which I strongly support, does not mean we have to accept the legalization of heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, and other deadly drugs. It means we must find economic sanctions – and effective treatment – for drug users while retaining much tougher punishment for those making money while enriching the drug cartels.
We have a deep interest in helping the Mexican government defeat the drug cartels and regaining control over all of Mexico. We also have a deep interest in starving out the drug cartels before they bring their corruption and their violence further into the United States. If we are serious about wiping the drug cartels off the face of the earth, the place to start is the United States not Mexico.
If American illegal drug purchases fell radically – even to less than a billion a year – the cartels would collapse because they would not have the money to pay their troops and to support their infrastructure.
‘Follow the money’ is a good rule, and in this case, the money is made in America, spent by Americans, and needs to be cut off by Americans. Then, we will have defeated the drug cartels.”
In other words, it comes down to basic economics. Reduce the size of the target market, then demand goes down. Eventually, it becomes too expensive for the producers to provide it at a worthwhile profit.
This isn’t a detailed plan by any means, but it would be a very good start.
