Are We Responsible for the Chaos in Mexico?

*First off I just wanted to state that I think drugs are disgusting and why anyone in their right mind would use them is completely beyond me. That being said, I wonder if our War on Drugs is part of the current problem in Mexico and along the US/Mexico boarder.

It seems that we, the United States, has royally screwed Mexico in two ways with regards to the current violence and unrest. One, is the worldwide global recession (that really is our fault), and the other involves the ongoing War on Drugs. Both have major consequences on their own, but combined create an incredible powder keg.

By waging a war on illegal drugs have created a vast and lucrative black market. This has allowed what were once simple petty thugs to rise and become powerful, wealthy, and very dangerous cartels almost overnight. If you you don't believe that is the case, simply look at what happened to crime after the 18th Amendment (Prohibition of alcohol) was passed in 1919. Before the amendment, most crime was done by thugs and was mostly unorganized. But after the amendment passed, suddenly there is a rise in organized crime full of very wealthy, powerful, and dangerous people such as Al Capone. When the 21st Amendment (repeal of the 18th) was passed in 1933, all these groups took a massive hit in the wallet because after alcohol became legal again, their black market cash cow disappeared. By stopping the drug war and legalizing drugs, we not only cause the black market on drugs to crash but was also help our own government by creating a new area of tax revenue. We can also use regulate quality and safety of the drugs which in turn is better for your health (in a manner of speaking). The revenue could even be used to help fund treatment centers to eliminate or drastically reduce drug addiction [thanks for that idea Carey lol].

The Recession has only made this whole situation drastically worse. Due to our own actions, greed, and deregulation, we were the spark that ignited the powder keg. All the drug cartels have always competed for profit but in good economic times people are willing to spend more and not be as picky about price. As a result there is enough demand and profit so that the cartels can somewhat coexist with each other. During bad economic times, such as right now, people spend less and religiously hunt for bargains on any and everything. This in turn drastically cuts into the profits of the cartels and causes them to start fighting for their share in the market. No different than a regular business, except when cartels fight for the market they use lethal force and are ruthless. As a result anyone in the way gets caught in the crossfire and the effects spread from there. Just like a group of innocent bystanders getting trapped between two (or more) rival street gangs.

So to me it seems that we have three options that we can choose to try and stop what is happening down there. 1) Continue as we are, change nothing, just simply try and keep the situation contained so that it doesn't get any worse. 2) Stop the war on drugs, legalize drugs, which causes their profits in the black market to crash, which destroys the profits and power of the cartels. Or 3) Some other form of action that no one has yet thought of.

Logically, I would think that option 2 would be the best path to take but this is a decision for smarter people in the government need to make. All I know for sure is that if the status quo is allowed to continue, I fear that it could cause not only the drastic weakening, or failure, of Mexico but also many other countries in Central and South America that are dealing with this very same problem.