[Brad from Tennessee]

Marijuana represents roughly 60 percent of the cartels’ profits in the U.S. market. Legalization in the U.S. would cause economic damage to the illicit Mexican drug industry greater than 45 years of interdiction wars. Legalization would have to follow a licensing, taxing and marketing model along the lines of the U.S. alcoholic beverage and tobacco products industries. Any hippie-dippy, free form marketplace will quickly be dominated by criminals.

If marijuana is removed from the “war” public resources can be focused on narcotics. When Nixon waged his “War on Drugs” the funding was roughly 75 percent for education/treatment and 25 percent for law enforcement/interdiction. Over the years this ratio has reversed with law enforcement getting the lion's share and the result has been zilch. As controversial as methadone clinics are they remove the addict and his money from the outlaw market and give him the breathing space to build a productive life.

Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's newly elected president, has reached out to the U.S. for help with the cartels. If he's serious the U.S. could mount the type of high-tech military programs (electronic eavesdropping) that helped diminish the Colombian cartels and restore order in Colombia. An important component in Colombia was the emergence of a large, armed vigilante group that turned the cartels’ own terror tactics against them. It was unpleasant but it worked.

What throws a wrench in any of these ideas is the monetary power of the cartels and their ability to influence U.S. policy through bribery and other forms of corruption.

[headsonpikes]

“What throws a wrench in any of these ideas is the monetary power of the cartels and their ability to influence U.S. policy through bribery and other forms of corruption.”

I assume the existing body of law and policy is the result of just such subornation and corruption.

You should, too.