In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
Since 2006, a growing issue of drug smuggling and trafficking has arisen between Mexico and the United States. Not only does this issue affect the economies of the two countries but also the social life of the populations.
In many states especially Texas and Florida, citizens are trying to keep their right to have guns for self defense. As a result their crime rates are way down compared to the national average, and Florida was leading the nation in crime until the gun owners arose and took
Drugs have influenced daily life and society since the day of their discovery centuries ago. Their impact ranges from medical to industrial, to recreational to political, and to criminal. Drugs can not only influence the individual, but even cities or countries as whole. A prime example of the power of drugs is the establishment and occupation of the drug cartels in Mexico. Not only have the effects of these cartels infamously changed Mexico, but they have traveled to the United States (US), and change continues to be exchanged between the two. The following report attempts to answer the question, what are the Mexican drug cartels, and how are the United States and Mexico effected by them? A brief history and introduction of Mexican drug cartels
Relations between the United States and Mexico have become increasingly strained, due in part to American’s contribution to ever-growing cartel violence in Mexico. The United States has been the main contributor to the cartels’ takeover of Mexico, and the current policy approach of limiting the United State’s role has failed. History has exhibited our inability to make peace with Mexico, and without considerable reform to our approach to the “War on Drugs” relations between the countries will not improve.
Drug related violence “has been exploding” and a pentagon report likens “the Aztec nation to the terrorist infested basket case Pakistan”-Time Magazine. The different drug cartels fighting between themselves has created problems for Mexico. According to both the NYDT and Time corruption is present “in all law enforcement agencies” and has been described as “endemic to Mexican politics”. Further to this NYDT has obtained information of gruesom...
A former director of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency’s Mexican office once stated:” The heroin market abhors a vacuum.” The truth in this statement can be extended to not only the heroin trade but also the trade of numerous other drugs of abuse; from cocaine to methamphetamines, the illicit drug trade has had a way of fluidity that allows insert itself into any societal weakness. Much like any traditional commodity good, illicit drugs have become not only an economy in and of themselves, they have transformed into an integral part of the legitimate global economy. Whether or not military or law enforcement action is the most prudent or expedient method of minimizing the ill-effects of the illicit drug trade is of little consequence to the understanding of the economic reality of its use in the United States ongoing “War on Drugs”. As it stands, not only has the illicit drug trade transformed itself into a self-sufficient global economy, so too has the drug-fighting trade. According to a CNN report in 2012, in the 40 years since the declaration of “The War on Drugs”, the United States Federal Government has spent approximately $1 trillion in the fight against illicit drugs. Additionally, a report in the New York Times in 1999 estimates that federal spending in the “War on Drugs” tops $19 billion a year and state and local government spending nears $16 billion a year. Given the sheer magnitude of federal, state, and local spending in the combat of the illicit drug trade, one would reasonably expect that the violence, death, and destruction that so often accompanies the epicenters of the drug economy would be expelled from the close proximity of the United States. While this expectation is completely reasonable to the ...
The Mexican drug war began in the 1960s, with America’s love for illegal drugs fueling the fire. Narco-violence has claimed the lives of thousands of citizens in recent years. Drug cartels have become comparable to Mafia figures, and have resorted to Mafia-style violence to prove to the Mexican government that they remain in control. The violence caused by drug cartels is rumored to lead Mexico to become a failed state. George W. Grayson, regular lecturer at the United States Department of State, has made more than one-hundred and twenty-five research trips to Mexico, and is considered an expert on U.S.-Mexican relations. A recent book by Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State, describes the depressing situation provoked by drug cartels, and debates the controversial argument of whether Mexico will become a failed state. Narco-violence in Mexico will be analyzed by the severity of the drug problem and the executives’ influence on the drug war, to determine if Mexico will reach the status of a failed state.
The influence of Mexican drug cartels is widespread throughout Mexico. This influence is evident on a continuing basis. Many top officials within Mexican agencies are periodically headlining global news stories when they are exposed for being under the guidance of a drug trafficking operation/cartel. Stephen D. Morris, professor at Middle Tennessee State University, authored an article titled “Corruption, Drug Trafficking, and Violence in Mexico” which illustrates the severity of...
Drug abuse is a plague that is taking over the United States; not just the possession of drugs, but also the sale and use of illegal drugs. People in America depend on the stock of drugs as a breakout for a number of reasons. For some, illegal drugs are the only concern they have through past experience. For others, it’s a way to make money and gain more power over their peers. In other words, it’s their way of climbing to the top of the socioeconomic pyramid. Illegal drugs lead to substantial problems such as health issues, death, and murders. Illegal drugs are also becoming an obstacle when coming in and out of the United States via the Mexico border. Anderson and Gardner states, “Illegal smuggling goes both ways on the United States-Mexico
The lengths the drug cartels go to are insane and radical. They will do nearly anything to stay out of trouble and gain as much money as possible. Some people think that the United States are in trouble if we legalize marijuana, they have come to the conclusion that the cartels will do anything to take out the stores. Believe it or not there are some positives that the cartel brings to Mexico but you would have to be delusional to think that they outweigh the negatives. In conclusion violence, business industries, and political corruption brought by the Drug Cartels have all been effects on the economy of Mexico.
Stell, L. K. (2004, Spring). The production of criminal violence in America: is strict gun control the solution? Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 32(1), 38+. Retrieved from
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that they overthrew the Mexican government.
Beith, Malcolm. “The Current State of Mexico’s Many Drug Cartels.” Insight Crimes. n.p., 25 Sep.
Over the last decade, Southwest border violence has elevated into a national security concern. Much of the violence appears to stem from the competing growth and distribution networks that many powerful Mexican drug cartels exercise today. The unfortunate byproduct of this criminality reaches many citizens of the Mexican border communities in the form of indiscriminate street gang shootings, stabbings, and hangings which equated to approximately 6,500 deaths in 2009 alone (AllGov, 2012). That same danger which now extends across the border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California has the potential for alarming escalation. Yet, despite the violence, evermore-brazen behavior continues to grow, as does America’s appetite for drugs. Even though drug-related violence mandates that law enforcement agencies focus on supply reduction, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should shift its present policy formulation efforts to only drug demand reduction because treatment and prevention efforts are inadequate and strategy has evolved little over the last three decades.