The cartels should be wiped out by the Mexicans themselves. The violence they conduct in order to maintain their illicit financial operations is absolutely unspeakable.
I can't imagine what the response would be in America if such large criminal organizations committed murder—even mass murder—with such impunity.
It seems like the People themselves might rise up.
I'm just astounded by everything I read about these cartels—who are every bit as brutal as ISIS—and the way they are apparently completely intertwined with corrupt government—at all levels—in Mexico.
Ironically, one of the reasons that Mexican drug cartels are flourishing is because increased demand for heroin in the wake of crackdowns on prescription opioids.
The demand doesn't disappear, of course; it simply shifts to an alternate supplier or product—in this case, one which makes it even more risky with respect to overdoses, and also benefits organized crime.
When someone overdoses on a pharmaceutical, they really have to make a bona fide effort. It rarely happens by sheer accident, because the addict knows what they're taking.
But some stoned idiot in a back room mixing up bags of heroin—by making a tiny miscalculation or careless mistake—can cause the deaths of dozens of people by overdose in a very short period of time.
Nanny-staters can try the failed authoritarian Prohibition route for the rest of eternity, but it will never be the solution, and it will always produce unintended consequences. An "inconvenient" truth...
Exactly.