Yes I am concerned about the drug war in Mexico and other countries including the United States. As long as there is a demand for drugs there will be dealers to benefit. Drugs come in so many forms that you can get out your own bathroom cabinet. We need to treat this problem like liquer. Legalize it, tax it and and establish an agency to oversea it. The money from illegal drugs are what gives the cartels, gangs and thugs the tool to be a danger to society. Just like prohibition in the 20's. 2/3 the aforementioned groups would be wipe out if drugs were legalized. Once legalized funds could be used to educate the public as well as fund rehab centers and related enities. Rather than spending billions on a war that can't be won collect billions to address the needs of the people.

It seems obvious to me as US traveler that the US drug laws themselves create the prerequiste setting for these violent physics as we see in Mexico. By applying the wrong law to drug use in the US the government itself is recreating the 1920s-style prohibition gang wars. Only now, the money, power and violence seem much greater, wider and deeper.

Instead of doing the same thing over and over again in the USA why not decriminalize, regulate and control "drugs"? By making them illegal and imposing judicial punishment the law appears to drive the activities underground where they cannot be controlled. This is how and where crime reportedly attends drug use and drug use spawns criminality. To control something like drug use requires that it's use be visable.

To my thinking, the Dutch have the right idea. To me they are wise government probably because they been around alot longer than the USA. They are a pragmatic and cost-sensible government who know what works to fight dangerous hard-drug use and drug-related criminality. The USA should pay immeadiate attention to that model. I think the USA's problem is that they have created and listened to their own propaganda for so long - and created laws based on that - that irrationality and more of that status quo is all they have and all they can possibly imagine.

I am concerned that Mexican blood is being spilled for the benefit of Americans and America's youth. The real driver of the drug economy is American demand. So why make Mexico, or other countries, pay for a reduction of supply when the only thing that it accomplishes is an increase in prices? It would be best to make America pay for its sins. At the very least, America should sponsor Mexico's war through aid, like it does with Colombia, but I think that unless troops are put into Mexico to fight the deadly narcotraficantes, and Americans stop consuming drugs, the only thing this war will accomplish is the death of Mexicans for the profit and drug enjoyment of the United States.

As long as drugs are illegal in the U.S. there will be violence. Violence has already spilled over but it is not as bad as in Mexico. As Long as these violent individuals control the flow of drugs it will continue to escalate.

As far as I am concerned, Yes. I am concerned for the safety of the Mexican Citizens who are caught in the crossfire of rival gangs and cartels. Regarding it spilling into the U.S, I am not that much concerned, seeing that Washington likes to poke its head into big problems, make it even worse, and blame it on something else (Like their epic failure in Iraq; Theyre now blaming it on covert support by Iranian Insurgents, before, they blamed it on Saddam/Weapons of Mass Destruction. Does "Slam Dunk" ring a bell, anyone?). So to say concerned is stretching. It WILL eventually spill into the U.S if not it is already slowly seeping in.

My advice and my opinion; Let the Mexican government deal with it. Get as minimal help as possible with it, since they can learn a thing or two from it. Keep the U.S out. Definately.

This has already spilled over into the United States. Americans need to stop spending money on drugs; it's simply supply and demand. Our government needs to recognize that the border problem with Mexico is no longer a law enforcement problem, and militarize it. A law enforcement strategy can work with Canada, but not Mexico.

Why does everyone have such a ho-hum attitude about drugs. They destroy our children and society. I feel the only way to battle drugs is to make it a death crime if caught producing and distributing this stuff. I feel our military is so addapt at taking over other countries that they should go down there, slaughter all the drug cartells, and destroy all the plants and other things they produce drugs from.

Violence is a result of prohibition not drug use and addiction. I do not support any war on drugs and think the drug war is the problem.

Just end the war. It is similar to the crime caused by prohibition.
The drug war is what concerns me, not that there are people who use drugs but their are those who feel they have the moral authority to ruin others lives who choose to use a drug.

Never ceases to amaze me that soooo many people refuse to or are unable to learn anything from history....hence its tendency to repeat itself over and over again.

How well did prohibition work in this country when it was enacted?
It accomplished nothing but set the stage for the most violent and entrenched criminal success story of the 20th century and did absolutely nothing to curb demand.

It merely took alcohol out of a socially and legally-controlled arena and placed it into an uncontrolled criminal for-profit endeavor, exactly as the current war-on-drugs has played out.

Is legalization a better option?

Obviously when you know the alternative has proven itself to be a complete and utter failure, then ANY option is wiser.

The drug war has fostered nothing but an expensive self-perpetuating bureaucracy, a huge criminal underworld, and a complete lack of product control resulting in needless overdose deaths.

One of the most mis-guided policies I've seen play out in my 56 years of "political watch".

One of the most intelligent postings I've seen on here! Thank you! Making Marijuana legal isn't a problem, but crack cocaine scares me a little. There is a big difference between a happy drunk and a drug crazed addict. On top of that the government would seize the opportunity to create another huge bureacracy at tax payer expense, hire a bunch of lazy idiots that can't ever be fired, who would dispense "product" irresponsibly. The problem lies in a society that has deteriorated so badly that an alarming percentage of people, from the very poor to the very rich, think they need drugs to function. Sadly, I don't think that can be fixed.

I fail to understand why people assume that it's a zero-sum game. It's not. We could certainly decriminalize marijuana without decriminalizing opiates and/or horse stimulants.

I think your last point is incredibly important. If this society is so wonderful, how come so many people are so unhappy that they're either using legal or illegal drugs to change their moods? SOME ADHD drugs are just legalized meth, what's good about that?

I'd like to see differentiations made on the basis of how far the drug is from the originating plant. Coca leaves? Legal, chew 'em up. Cocaine/crack can stay scheduled. Raw opium? Legal, smoke up, lie down, and smile. Heroin can stay scheduled. Then up the penalties for refining same.

We have the ability to make fine distinctions. I suggest we do so.

It already is spilling over into the United States. Mexico's drug cartels have very complex and sophisticated networks of distributors in the US. It is not as simple as taking out the big cartels because then, smaller ones will just take their place. The reason the Mexican cartels are dominant now is because the US government was so successful in the 90s with taking out the Columbian and Cuban cartels. The US government must deal with this on the demand side (Americans' desire to consume drugs) because the supply will always be there. We can't seal off the country from the world, we are accessible by air, sea, and 2000+ miles of land border. It is just not practical what we are doing...imprisoning addicts is expensive, and so is making war on extremely well-funded drug cartels.

AS a former mexican citizen, I remember only too well the days of my childhood in Mexico, when the PRI-the ruling political party back then- did nothing about anything, including the drug situation which has been going on since then (70's). Fueled by the increasing demand on the US side, the drug war will never end, I'm sad to say!

lets take a purely pragmatic approach: if there is demand for a product, someone WILL fill it. lets focus our efforts in educating our children, reducing the demand. the drug war in mexico has been going on in this country for decades.... its only just become a REAL problem in mexico in the past few years. what does that tell us? are we trying to fix the problem the wrong way? dont get me wrong, dealers should go to jail for extended periods of time but they would cease to exist if there was no market for their products....

Q. Am I concerned about the drug war in Mexico? A. I am most concerned about the unfetered hunger for drugs here in the United States. It is this consumption of drugs which fuels and is itself the root of any unrest that we may see, be it Mexico, Peru or Colombia for that matter. Will it "spill over" into the United States? Not likely, the drug lords are doing the dirty work for the drug consumers here in the United States.