. Obama said that U.S. demand fuels the drug trafficking that plagues communities on both sides of the border, and he vowed that the United States would work harder to reduce drug use among its citizens. He announced that, in addition to the appointment of a new border czar and tough new financial penalties against three Mexican drug cartels, he would push the U.S. Senate to approve a long-delayed inter-American treaty to curb regional weapons trafficking. The treaty, known by its Spanish acronym, SIFTA, was signed by the United States in 1997 but not ratified by Congress, and its passage...
