The cartels now control the country. They have the money, they have the weapons and they now control the public officials via bribery and threat of death........and there's no telling how many of Mexico's military officials are under the control of the cartels........
In my opinion, the only way to rid the country of the drug trade is to send in U.S. swat teams and kill every individual who may be involved in drugs.......and if that means innocent civilians by mistake, oh well.
The cartels also have tremendous influence in several U.S. cities (and they aren’t just on the border!).