Thoughts on the US / Mexico Drug War

In the last 5-years there have been over 50,000 Mexicans murdered as a direct result of the insatiable American lust for drugs, especially Cannabis and Cocaine. So here’s one person’s advice on how Mexico should deal with this deadly drug violence, centered in Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California, the northern Mexican Border States abutting the US. 

A possible answer - since the United States may never legalize marijuana (even temporarily) Mexico should simply legalize Cannabis, opium, and Cocaine for export. The profit margins would still hold for American cross border trade, but Mexican producers could sell legally into a legally, government sanctioned distribution network.

Following this line of reasoning, American Passport holders could simply buy their ‘medicine’ in Tijuana, Juarez, Mexicali, Laredo, or Matamoras. The only problem I could envision would be the weeklong traffic-jams between Mexico and the US at all border crossings.

But there is a bright side to all of this; think of all the freeway construction necessary on the US side to all Mexican points of entry. Look at all the jobs that would be created – freeway construction; motels; restaurants; head shops; and last, but not least – 25,000 new Customs and Border Patrol Agents (CBP). 

There is also a strong legal precedent here: the US licensed Mexican opium and morphine production during the Second World War to supply the US military’s battlefield surgical  needs in field hospitals - and in the field.

Oh, and I almost forgot – an added benefit, a thousand fold increase in US tourism, ‘South of the Border, Down Mexico Way.
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Now don’t ‘Bogart’ that joint my friend…(a bit of tongue-in-cheek here)