Troubled Neighbor: Mexico's Drug Violence Poses a Threat to the United States, Executive Summary

• NCJ Number: 226111
• Author(s): Ted Galen Carpenter
• Date Published: February 2009
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Cato Institute
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Cato Institute Policy Analysis, No. 631, February 2, 2009

Annotation

This paper examines the prevalence of drug violence in Mexico, the threat it poses to the United States, and realistic and unrealistic solutions to stem the drug violence.

Abstract

There has been an alarming spike in violence in Mexico in recent years, most of which is associated with the trafficking in illegal drugs and the efforts of the Mexican government to shut down that trade. The violence involves turf fights among the various drug-trafficking organizations seeking to control access to the lucrative United States market. To an increased extent, the violence also entails fighting between drug traffickers and Mexican military and police forces. Alarmed at the growing power of the Mexican cartels, United States officials have pressured the Mexican Government to wage a more intense antidrug campaign. Regardless of other proposed solution, including preventing the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico and establishing tighter control over the border, abandoning the prohibitionist model of dealing with the drug problem is identified as the only effective way to stem the violence in Mexico and its spillover into the United States. Ending drug prohibition would de-fund the criminal trafficking organizations and reduce their power. 71 notes