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August 1, 2005
Of Course You Know, This Means War
Apparently the drug cartels operating out of Mexico have turned to using Mexican deserters (trained as counter-narcotics special forces, ironically) to safeguard their wares in the US. This involves, among other things, placing high prices on the heads of US law enforcement officers, such as, say, my father in law or one of my best friends (CPT4ever is, in addition to being an officer in the National Guard, a law enforcement officer).
Let me be very clear, here: the US is not currently fighting a drug war, despite all of the rhetoric. We are in fact trying to put on the appearance to the public of fighting a drug war, but the resources we are committing to such a struggle are miniscule. Making it take me 30 minutes to buy sudafed (can be used to make meth) pisses me off, but barely impacts the meth makers at all, who can always add a couple of extra steps (like growing their own ephedra) to get around the problem, and enjoy the higher prices. If we want to fight a drug war, we have to go after it much more thoroughly than we are.
And I don't think that we should: drug criminalization is unconstitutional by any reasonable reading of the Constitution (that is to say, not using the reading that activity undertaken entirely in one state and without any value exchange constitutes interstate commerce!), is counterproductive (in that it encourages drug use by making drugs "forbidden" but easy to obtain) and is unnecessary (in the same way that prohibition of alcohol was unnecessary, and for the same reasons).
But - and this is a big but - even though I think that the "drug war" is wrong, that does not mean that I or most Americans would tolerate the drug cartels attempting to undermine our law enforcement. Mexico is essentially a failed state in the southern and northern extremities, and we will not go that way. We have gone to great lengths to help Mexico, but eventually we will help ourselves. If the Mexican government does not take over the border area effectively, it will eventually become necessary for the US to intervene militarily in the area to stop the escalating attacks on American law enforcement personnel (and inevitably, eventually civilians). This might be 5-10 years out, but it is inevitable if the violence keeps escalating and the Mexican government cannot regain control. And the anti-immigration lobby in the US would be right on board with such actions.
So it would be a really, really good idea for the Mexican government to regain sovereignty before there is a second Mexican war.
(hat tip: QandO)
UPDATE: Mark in Mexico is thinking along the same lines.
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Comments
As you noted, our favorite over-the-counter stuff now will be a pain in the ass to obtain. I guess I'm now going to have to beg the salesdrone to sell me my monthly ration of Claritin-D.
And I suspect it won't make a dent in the meth availability, other than perhaps to remove some of the smaller labs so they won't compete with the big ones down in Mexico. But I wonder how long it will be before some of the larger of the small labs start hijacking delivery trucks?
Nothing is ever as simple as legislators think it will be when it comes to drugs. People don't simply stop doing something because it's illegal. They just shift their behavior to get around the law.
Posted by: Aubrey Turner at August 1, 2005 4:06 PM