Easy Way to Curb Mexican Drug Violence

Hillary Clinton is in Mexico City, saying that part of the blame for all of the Mexican drug cartel violence falls on America.  She says our “insatiable desire” for illegal drugs is what is fueling all of this violence.

Actually, what has caused all this violence is our own War on Drugs.  If we did not have prohibition on drugs, there would be no reason for the Mexican drug cartels to exist!  Just look at all of the organized crime that rose up during the prohibition of alcohol.  Why is our prohibition against drugs any different?

Rather than making drugs illegal and wasting our tax dollars policing them and locking up non-violent offenders, we should direct our efforts towards counseling and rehab services.

Just because a drug is legal does not mean every person in the country is going to be doing it.  A perfect example is alcohol and cigarettes.  These are two of the most addictive drugs known to man, yet we don’t have everyone just sitting around drinking and smoking all day. Legalizing weed or other drugs will not lead everyone to do those drugs.

Society still functions and we provide help for those with addiction to alcohol and nicotine addiction.  If Alcoholics Anonymous can help those whow battle alcoholism, why can’t there be similar support groups for those addicted to other drugs?  How is throwing them in jail helping us as a country?

Also, many of our country’s most violent street gangs exist because they control the drug trade in a certain area or neighborhood.  Rather than going after gang members, we should go after what gives them power.  If we took away their main source of power, they would collapse because there would be no purpose for them.

If we legalized drugs in the US, we would instantly stop the drug trade and all of the cross-border violence associated with it.  We would also save billions of dollars in the policing and jailing drug offenders.  We need to encourage family and community support along with counseling and rehab services, instead of relying on our police and jails to tackle the problem.