NEW YORK — The Mexican drug cartels battling viciously to expand and survive have a powerful incentive: Across the border to the north is a market for illegal drugs unsurpassed for its wealth, diversity and voraciousness.
Homeless heroin addicts in big cities, "meth heads’ in Midwest trailer parks, pop culture and sports stars, teens smoking marijuana with their baby boomer parents in Vermont — in all, 46 percent of Americans 12 and older have indulged in the often destructive national pastime of illicit drug use.
This array of consumers is providing a vast, recession-proof, apparently unending market for the Mexican gangs locked in a drug war that has killed more than 10,780 people since December 2006. No matter how much law enforcement or financial help the U.S. government provides Mexico, the basics of supply and demand prevent it from doing much good.
The latest federal figures show that 114 million Americans have used illegal drugs at some point — and 8 percent of those, or 20 million people, are current users.
"It’s a drug dealer’s dream — sell it in a place where he can make the most money for the risk taken,” said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
"There’s a tremendous amount of denial until you’re face to face with it,” Clark added. "A substance abuser can be anybody. Everybody is at risk.”
The Mexican cartels are eager to feed this ravenous appetite. Mexico is now a major producer and distributor; its gangs control cocaine networks in many U.S. cities and covertly grow marijuana.
The Mexican government is fighting the cartels and working with U.S. authorities — but all parties are aware of the role played by the U.S. market.
"When the U.S. government turns up the pressure a lot, then is when you see a return to the old formula of saying (to Americans), ‘You also have corruption, you consume the drugs, you’re the biggest drug consumer in the world,’” said Jose Luis Pineyro, a sociologist at Mexico’s Autonomous Metropolitan University.
Gil Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief recently appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. drug czar, said the Mexicans "make an excellent point.”
"Our drug abuse causes problems elsewhere — our per capita consumption is very high,” said Kerlikowske, who argues that reducing demand through education and treatment is as vital as border interdictions in quelling Mexico’s drug violence.
by the associated press
Homeless heroin addicts in big cities, "meth heads’ in Midwest trailer parks, pop culture and sports stars, teens smoking marijuana with their baby boomer parents in Vermont — in all, 46 percent of Americans 12 and older have indulged in the often destructive national pastime of illicit drug use.
This array of consumers is providing a vast, recession-proof, apparently unending market for the Mexican gangs locked in a drug war that has killed more than 10,780 people since December 2006. No matter how much law enforcement or financial help the U.S. government provides Mexico, the basics of supply and demand prevent it from doing much good.
The latest federal figures show that 114 million Americans have used illegal drugs at some point — and 8 percent of those, or 20 million people, are current users.
"It’s a drug dealer’s dream — sell it in a place where he can make the most money for the risk taken,” said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
"There’s a tremendous amount of denial until you’re face to face with it,” Clark added. "A substance abuser can be anybody. Everybody is at risk.”
The Mexican cartels are eager to feed this ravenous appetite. Mexico is now a major producer and distributor; its gangs control cocaine networks in many U.S. cities and covertly grow marijuana.
The Mexican government is fighting the cartels and working with U.S. authorities — but all parties are aware of the role played by the U.S. market.
"When the U.S. government turns up the pressure a lot, then is when you see a return to the old formula of saying (to Americans), ‘You also have corruption, you consume the drugs, you’re the biggest drug consumer in the world,’” said Jose Luis Pineyro, a sociologist at Mexico’s Autonomous Metropolitan University.
Gil Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief recently appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. drug czar, said the Mexicans "make an excellent point.”
"Our drug abuse causes problems elsewhere — our per capita consumption is very high,” said Kerlikowske, who argues that reducing demand through education and treatment is as vital as border interdictions in quelling Mexico’s drug violence.
by the associated press
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