Pubdate: Mon, 11 Nov 2013
Source: Daily Cardinal (U of WI, Madison, Edu)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Cardinal Newspaper Corporation
Contact:  http://dailycardinal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/712
Author: Ryan Bullen

CARTELS ARE WINNING THE WAR ON DRUGS

Monsters and angels, good and bad-these are the separations that make 
our society feel comfortable. Seeing acts of crime and horrific 
violence perpetrated by certain groups of people, it becomes easy to 
create a mentality of disconnect between "us," the morally superior 
community, and "them," the violent monsters that appear only in our 
worst nightmares. However, it is not so easy to accept the 
realization that the line between angel and monster relies entirely 
upon one's own perspective. Even harder still is the acceptance that 
the actions of angels fuel the reactions of devils.

This metaphor of good coinciding with evil is perfect for the current 
drug war raging in Mexico.

The sheer scale of death from drug related violence in Mexico is 
almost unfathomable. Since 2006, there have been over 80,000 
drug-violence related deaths in Mexico alone.

To put that in an American perspective, there have been 7,528 deaths 
among coalition forces in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

In fact, Mexico's death toll is on par with the amount of casualties 
in the current Syrian civil war. With numbers this devastating one 
would think that the American media would be making a bigger deal 
about covering the carnage and demonizing the various cartels.

However, the policy of turning a blind eye to Mexico is in fact 
beneficial to our representation because a deeper inquiry reveals 
rather embarrassing information for the United States.

Here in America we love our illegal drugs.

In fact, the United States alone accounts for over half of the 
world's drug consumption. Because of this, Mexican drug cartels have 
been able to make a fortune off of their American customers.

So much of a fortune, in fact, that as of September 2013, cartels 
were estimated to make anywhere from $15 to $60 billion in revenue annually.

This number becomes even more astonishing when you look at the annual 
earnings of tech giant Microsoft at $60 billion.

In fact, Joaquin Guzman Loera, the leader of the Sinaloa Federation, 
which is a large cartel in Mexico, actually made it onto the Forbes 
list of billionaires. The stereotype of these organizations being 
groups of mindless thugs is clearly false.

Many of the cartels themselves recruit soldiers and officers in the 
Mexican military in order to establish muscle for the brains of the 
organization. Given that the United States is the largest market for 
the cartels' drugs, strategic distribution territory like that of 
land along the border with the United States as well as coastal ports 
is intensely fought over. The illegality makes traditional methods of 
transport impossible, so the cartels must resort to total 
geographical dominance in order to guarantee the safe transport of 
their products.

This geographical dominance is often reached through acts of violence 
so extreme and so horrific that they leave not only carnage but 
crippling fear in their wake. This tactic of course is incredibly 
effective in creating lasting control in hotly contested areas. 
Additionally, given the importance of border position, violence tends 
to spill over onto American soil. Suddenly, the terrors of war that 
seemed like such an afterthought to most Americans come crashing into frame.

One would assume that Mexican citizens would be disgusted with the 
behavior of the cartels and that mass public outrage would be a 
given. Towns and cities throughout Mexico have, of course, began to 
call for an end to the bloodshed, however, support for the cartels 
themselves is not unheard of and in fact somewhat prevalent. 
Following a particularly intense encounter with Mexican police in a 
coastal town in the state of Michoacan, a large rally in order to 
establish peace was made up of an equal split in the amount of 
supporters for and against the cartels.

Why such loyalty and support for these brutal organizations? The 
answer is that given the poor economy and standard of living in 
Mexico, the cartels can essentially buy loyalty by providing basic 
services such as food and a steady paycheck.

With the bureaucratic corruption and incompetence that has constantly 
held Mexico back from achieving its economic potential all while 
leaving its citizens at the wayside, is it really that stunning that 
one would side with the cartels? Monsters and men suddenly become intertwined.

Most Americans are incredibly uncomfortable with the prospect of 
legalizing the same drugs that we have waged a federal war against 
since the late 1970s. Continually, we instead live with the same 
failed tactics that continue to solidify the enormous worth of these 
drugs and the incentive to continue to sell them. Legalizing such 
drugs like heroin or methamphetamine is a hard pill to swallow for 
the average American. Yes, drugs are evil. They have and will 
continue to ruin lives, and developing an addiction to these 
substances is a serious possibility. But the war to wipe them from 
our society has failed completely. To continue to support legal 
policies that not only encourage cartel expansion throughout Central 
and South America but also promote horrific acts of violence simply 
cannot be accepted any longer.

I believe that through a policy of openness and education we can end 
the drug wars. By declaring these drugs legal in the United States, 
these cartels will be left to either disband or to begin legally 
selling product without having to kill each other for supply lines. 
If we do this we can finally start to rid our world of some of its monsters.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom