THE DRUG PROBLEM

          This newspaper and many other media sources most often view the drug problem from the user’s prospective.  The focus is on drug related crime and young addicts overdosing or trying to get clean.  Don Winslow has written two powerful books: THE POWER OF THE DOG and CARTEL which expose the drug problem from the supply prospective.  While both books are fiction, they are fact based and review the historical background of the war on drugs over the last twenty years.

          What Winslow makes clear is that as Mexican drug cartels are defeated and large shipment confiscated, an unimpeded flow of marijuana, amphetamines and heroin continue to flow north to the States and an estimated 15 to 20 billion dollars annually flow south to Mexico.  As one kingpin gets knocked down, another takes his place.  The Mexican government, often with DEA acquiescence, supports the least objectionable of the cartels.

 There is simply too much money involved, providing payoffs to law enforcement, judges and elected officials to do otherwise.  Those who take the moral high ground and refuse the bribe are threatened with death. The most successful Mexican political families rise on the back of the drug trade as the Kennedy family rose on the back of prohibition.

          The supply will always be there to meet the demand, no matter what interdiction strategies are implemented by the United States.  Our efforts have wasted millions and guaranteed that Mexico remains a war zone with thousands of innocent casualties. 

Only two policies can possibly break the back of the drug trade. First, state sponsored decriminalization and regulation of the sale of all illegal drugs.  The November 7 issue of the Economist editorializes that: “If governments really want to limit the harm from drugs-saving addicts lives, crushing dealers profits and slashing the number of people who take them in the first place- then they must seize control of the markets themselves.”

 The Second policy is to convince Americans that there are healthy alternatives to recreational drug use.  Unfortunately, both approaches are pipe dreams and show little promise of altering the supply or demand of illegal drugs.